About the lecture
The problem of “constituting” or “bounding” the demos has been much discussed in democratic theory, namely, how to determine who “the people” should be by some criterion that is not self-referential, i.e. that does not answer by referring back to “the people”. Not surprisingly, the debate so far has focused almost exclusively on nation-states and their policies of inclusion and exclusion. But, what about humanly uninhabited places? Who should the demos be in them?
In this talk, I suggest that Antarctica provides a unique opportunity for thinking about this question. After summarizing the current representation mechanisms at play in the Antarctic Treaty, I examine the main criticisms against them, interpreted through the lenses of democratic theory. I suggest that, while these criticisms should be taken seriously, they rely on methodological nationalism and methodological anthropocentrism, and should therefore be questioned.
Getting inspiration from the Protocol for Environmental Protection, I consider the possibility that the Antarctic demos ought not only to include humans, but also nonhuman beings and maybe also other natural entities, living or not. I examine how this extension in the membership of the political community should be reflected in the way it is represented, and the challenges this raises.
I conclude, tentatively, that the Antarctic demos should be an ecumenical congregation, composed of human and nonhuman beings in and beyond Antarctica. Ideally, I suggest, this should also be the case in other places, beyond Antarctica. That for practical reasons we see this as an unfeasible goal should not prevent us from aiming at it as a heuristic ideal.
About the presenter
Alejandra Mancilla is professor of philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo.
She works on global justice, human rights, territorial rights, animal and environmental ethics. Currently, she leads the five-year project “Dynamic Territory”, aimed at rethinking territorial governance in times of climatic, geographic, and demographic change. She is the author of The Right of Necessity: Moral Cosmopolitanism and Global Poverty (Rowman & Littlefield 2016). Her work has been published in the Journal of Political Philosophy, Ethics and International Affairs, Grotiana, The Journal of Applied Philosophy, and Polar Record, among others.