Is environmentalism compatible with power dynamics? The environment, global politics and narratives of civilisation

The third lecture in the series ‘A World in Crisis, Civilisations in Narratives’, organised by BULAC, the Bibliothèque publique d’information and INALCO, and its DÉCRIPT Programme (AMI-SHS).
Marche écologique à Rio en 1992, pancarte La biotechnologie, c'est Godzilla
Marche écologique à Rio en 1992, pancarte La biotechnologie, c'est Godzilla © Júlio Cesar Guimarães, O Globo. Source : Wikimedia.‎

Since 1992, the Conferences of the Parties (COPs) on biodiversity, combating desertification and climate change have provided the primary framework for international negotiations on environmental protection. However, the declining participation of major powers in these forums – particularly that of the United States – seems to highlight, with each passing day, the difficulty of advancing this agenda at a global level. At the same time, countries such as China are banking on the ecological transition to secure their strategic future, whilst others are seizing upon it to challenge the world order and build alternative coalitions, whilst embedding their environmental practices and policies within grand narratives that highlight their identity-related concerns and the way in which they envisage their future. In these narratives, the concept of civilisation is often invoked. Thus, the ecological question raises anew the issues of democracy, sovereignty and collective identities.

Drawing on the narratives circulating in major countries such as China and India regarding the relationship between human societies and the rest of the living world, and on their governance at an international level, this round-table discussion aims to examine the extent to which the protection of the environment and living organisms is intertwined with power relations.

With: 

  • Juliette Genevaz,&political scientist (Université Paris Cité), member of the scientific committee for the SINOGLOBAL project – winner of the DÉCRIPT 2025 call for proposals 
  • Bérénice Girard, sociologist, specialist in environmental policy and the 
    roll-out of low-carbon energy in India
  • Jacobo Grajales, political scientist (University of Paris 1), specialist in the interaction between land and natural resources 
  • Session moderated by Joris Zylberman (Radio France Internationale) 

Conference registration: 

Registration link

This series is organised as part of the DÉCRIPT research programme, which receives state funding administered by the National Research Agency under the France 2030 programme (ANR-24-RSHS-0002).&