The worsening climate crisis has led to growing social and political demands for meaningful clima... more The worsening climate crisis has led to growing social and political demands for meaningful climate action and the decarbonisation of economies. And yet, the modern global economy is defined by fossil fuel energy which has shaped the last two centuries of economic growth and development. In this chapter, we outline how the fossil fuel industry has defined the global economy and defended its position as the most powerful industry in the world. We examine how assumptions of corporate self-regulation as the logical response to the climate crisis allow for the continuation of a 'business as usual' approach in which fossil fuel energy is maintained. We argue that this approach deliberately ignores the urgent need for government regulation of carbon emissions, and that current corporate responses to the climate crisis rely on the politics of 'predatory delay'.
review-climate-change-capitalism-and-corporations-processes-of-creative-selfdestruction-by-christ... more review-climate-change-capitalism-and-corporations-processes-of-creative-selfdestruction-by-christopher-wright-and-daniel-nyberg/
Corporate populism: How corporations construct and represent ‘the people’ in political contestations
Journal of Business Research
Business implications of the recent surge in populism in societal and academic discourse have bee... more Business implications of the recent surge in populism in societal and academic discourse have been relatively neglected. This is surprising, considering that corporations provide financial support (e.g., donations and political action committees), intellectual resources (e.g., think tanks and public relations firms) and informational channels (e.g., social media platforms) that populist parties and movements depend on. In this article, we develop a conceptualization of corporate populism as a distinct form of firm or industry practice to theorize how corporate political involvement influences democratic processes. The concept of corporate populism problematizes the prevailing treatment of corporations as political actors in corporate political activity (CPA) scholarship by attending to the democratic implications of business mobilization efforts. The practice of corporate populism is significant in that it influences democracies by constructing and reifying divisions in society, legitimizing de-politicization, and repressing representative democratic deliberations.
Elements of power: Material-political entanglements in Australia's fossil fuel hegemony
Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space
Anthropocentric climate change presents an existential threat through impacts such as rising sea ... more Anthropocentric climate change presents an existential threat through impacts such as rising sea levels, effects on agricultural crops and extreme weather events. However, governments, businesses and communities struggle to wean off fossil fuel dependency. In this article, we argue that this is due to the grip of fossil fuel hegemony. To explain this grip, we draw on the theoretical perspectives of new materialism to examine how fossil fuels and politics interact in upholding Australia's fossil fuel regime. Our analysis, based on 70 qualitative interviews conducted with politicians and political advisors, fossil fuel executives and experts and environmental activists, shows three processes – establishment, entrenchment and encroachment – through which political-material entanglements lock in a fossil fuel-based future. These processes are both discursive, with politicians and industry downplaying, if not outright denying, the climate emergency and material, with investment in ne...
Defending hegemony: From climate change mitigation to adaptation on the Great Barrier Reef
Organization
The catastrophic consequences of climate change are now evident with extreme weather events impac... more The catastrophic consequences of climate change are now evident with extreme weather events impacting communities and ecosystems. Against calls within civil society for dramatic decarbonisation, the continued expansion of the fossil fuel industry is constructed by governments and business as ‘common sense’. By analysing the political process surrounding the 2016 and 2017 coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, we show how a fossil fuel hegemony has been upheld against the counter-hegemonic forces of environmental critique and the catastrophic bleaching events. By distinguishing between politics (i.e. strategies, practices and discourses) and the political (i.e. the antagonism constitutive of societies), we explain what different hegemonic practices achieve in the process of establishing and defending hegemony. In our case, this resulted in downplaying emissions mitigation and emphasising local climate change adaptation. Through the political process, business solutions and self-r...
Beyond the discourse of denial: The reproduction of fossil fuel hegemony in Australia
Energy Research & Social Science, 2021
Abstract Despite growing public concern over the worsening climate crisis, tangible action to red... more Abstract Despite growing public concern over the worsening climate crisis, tangible action to reduce carbon emissions and limit fossil fuel use remains limited. This is particularly apparent in carbon-rich nations which promote the extraction, export and use of coal, oil and gas as key drivers of economic activity. We examine this contradiction between growing public demands for climate action and the continued dominance of fossil energy in Australia, now the world’s largest exporter of coal and gas. Through a qualitative analysis of media coverage and industry public relations during the period 2008–2019, we show how the fossil fuel hegemony has been maintained and extended in the face of growing social and political critique. We identify the key discourses that the Australian fossil fuel sector has employed in reproducing hegemony and delaying action on climate change. This extends previous theorisations of moral and intellectual leadership by detailing how the fossil fuel sector embeds particular technical claims into the climate change debate. Second, we expand knowledge of political strategy to show how corporate discourses aimed at maintaining hegemony are extended through the state as an ideological promoter.
As the polarisation of climate politics feeds into 'post-truth' politics, one response has been a... more As the polarisation of climate politics feeds into 'post-truth' politics, one response has been a call for the reassertion of a previously agreed upon 'reality'. However, it is important to recognise that knowledge has always been contested and contingent. This is particularly salient concerning climate change, where multiple truth claims compete in the media, politics, and social movements. One means of addressing this is through deliberation, where it is argued that emotional interpretations of information and lack of trust in authority can be alleviated through transparent democratic processes. Investigating a case study of climate change adaptation in a regional Australian community, we argue that while deliberation may be the preferred method of building community support, emotions can also be employed to undermine scientific authority and build a shared truth among those who see themselves as victims of the process. To this end, we suggest that more radically democratic models are needed to address climate change.
Considering the worsening climate crisis, we argue that our present conditions require a particul... more Considering the worsening climate crisis, we argue that our present conditions require a particular approach to the past in order to disrupt current intellectual trajectories. We enrol Walter Benjamin’s concept of history, via the writings of Svetlana Alexievich and Margaret Atwood, with the aim of bringing a criticality to the present to make us reconsider the ways we think about and act in our present world. Based on Alexievich and Atwood’s work, we develop research conceptualizations of forgotten and alternative histories to open up a space to consider a future climate-changed world beyond the dominant tropes of inevitable dystopian apocalypse and clever technological adaptation. We offer the concept of ‘hope without optimism’ in encouraging management and organization studies scholars to develop a discipline fit for the Anthropocene.
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Papers by Daniel Nyberg