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Both a Catastrophe and a Possibility: Ecological Crisis and Climate Refugees as a Beckian Risk

Year 2023, Volume: 16 Issue: 1, 333 - 349, 30.06.2023

İbrahim Oğulcan Erayman Ahmed Burak Çağlar

https://doi.org/10.37093/ijsi.1211445

Abstract

This paper aims to show that the Beckian idea of the "Risk Society" offers a valuable theoretical framework for tackling the ecological crisis, especially regarding climate refugees. The study centers around two primary concerns in pursuit of its primary objective. Initially, we attempted to conduct a comprehensive assessment of ecological risks within the framework of Beck's theory, with a particular focus on the risk society categories. Furthermore, the Beckian framework aims to explore the potential opportunities and areas that may arise from the climate crisis and climate refugeeism in addressing global risks. The study has found that two conflicting approaches to the climate crisis and climate refugeeism may exist simultaneously in the future. The first approach is that the already existing xenophobic and anti-immigration discourses and actions will worsen due to the displacement caused by the climate crisis. The second approach is that despite this pessimistic outlook, the risks associated with the climate crisis may lead to a sense of global solidarity and responsibility.

Keywords

risk society ecological crisis climate refugees emancipatory catastrophism both/and logic

References

  • Balcılar, A. N. (2022). İklim adaleti bağlamında sınırlar ve iklim göçü. Uluslararası Eşitlik Politikası Dergisi, 2(1), 118–132. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/2497396
  • Beck, U. (1992). From industrial society to the risk society: Questions of survival, social structure and ecological enlightenment. Theory, Culture & Society, 9(1), 97–123. https://doi.org/10.1177/026327692009001006
  • Beck, U. (1997). Global risk politics. The Political Quarterly, 68(B), 18–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.00113
  • Beck, U. (2006). Living in the world risk society. Economy and Society, 35(3), 329–345. https://doi.org/10.1080/03085140600844902
  • Beck, U. (2008, November 12). Risk society’s ‘cosmopolitan moment’ [Lecture at Harvard University]. http://www.labjor.unicamp.br/comciencia/files/risco/AR-UlrichBeck-Harvard.pdf
  • Beck, U. (2009). World at risk (C. Cronin, Trans.). Polity Press.
  • Beck, U. (2011). Risk toplumu: Başka bir modernliğe doğru (K. Özdoğan & B. Doğan, Çev.). İthaki Yayınları.
  • Beck, U. (2013). Siyasallığın icadı (N. Ülner, Çev.; 3. bs.). İletişim Yayınları.
  • Beck, U. (2014). How climate change might save the world. Development and Society, 43(2), 169–183.
  • Beck, U. (2015). Emancipatory catastrophism: What does it mean to climate change and risk society? Current Sociology, 63(1), 75–88. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392114559951
  • Bhowmik, D. (2020). Problems of refugee and the climate change. In S.K. Das &, N. Chowdhary (Eds.), Refugee crises and Third-World Economies (pp. 45–72). Emerald Publishing.
  • Biermann, F., & Boas, I. (2010). Preparing for a warmer world: Towards a global governance system to protect climate refugees. Global Environmental Politics, 10(1), 60–88. https://doi.org/10.1162/glep.2010.10.1.60
  • Brown, O. (2008). Migration and climate change. International Organization for Migration.
  • Burgess, A., Wardman J., & Mythen, G. (2018). Considering risk: Placing the work of Ulrich Beck in context, Journal of Risk Research, 21(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2017.1383075
  • Caney, S. (2010). Climate change, human rights and moral thresholds. In S.M. Gardiner, S. Caney, D. Jamieson & H. Shue (Eds.) Climate ethics: Essential readings (pp. 163–177). Oxford University Press.
  • Cohen, M. J. (1997). Risk society and ecological modernisation: Alternative visions for post-industrial nations. Futures, 29(2), 105-119. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-3287(96)00071-7
  • Cooper, T., & Bulmer, S. (2012). Refuse and the ‘Risk Society’: The political ecology of risk in inter-war Britain. Social History of Medicine, 26(2), 246–266. https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hks112
  • Cutter, S. L. (2018). Risk. In N. Castree, M. Hulme & J. D. Proctor (Eds.), Companion to environmental studies (pp. 86–89). Routledge.
  • Çelik, H. (2016). Ulrich Beck: Küresel kriz ve kozmopolitan politika. Marmara Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, (6), 82–100. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/marusad/issue/395/2772
  • Çuhacı, A. (2007). Ulrich Beck’in risk toplumu kuramı. Sosyoloji Dergisi, 3(14), 129–157.
  • Docherty, B., & Giannini, T. (2010). Confronting a rising tide: A proposal for a convention on climate change refugees. Harvard Environmental Law Review, 33(2), 349-405.
  • Doğan, S., Doğan, E., Tüzer, M. (2020). Küresel ısınma ve iklim değişikliği: Bilimsel uzlaşmadan politik ayrışmaya. İstanbul Ticaret Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 19(39), 1453-1484. https://doi.org/10.46928/iticusbe.759056
  • Ekberg, M. (2007). The parameters of the risk society. Current Sociology, 55(3), 343–366. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392107076080
  • Ekşi, N. (2016). İklim mültecileri. Göç Araştırmaları Dergisi, 2(2), 10–58. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/648074
  • Esgin, A. (2013). İmal edilmiş belirsizlikler çağının sosyolojik yönelimi: Ulrich Beck ve Anthony Giddens Kaynaklı “Risk Toplumu” Tartışmaları. Gaziantep University Journal of Social Sciences, 12(3), 683–696
  • Faist, T., & Schade, J. (2013). The climate-migration nexus: A reorientation. In T. Faist & J. Schade (Eds.), Disentangling migration and climate change (pp. 3-29). Springer.
  • Gandy, M. (1999). Rethinking the ecological leviathan: environmental regulation in an age of risk. Global Environmental Change, 9, 59-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0959-3780(98)00023-5
  • Gökpınar, F. B. (2020). 21. Yüzyılda yeni bir güvenlik sorunu: İklim mültecileri (Yayın No. 636615). [Yüksek lisans tezi, Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü]. Yükseköğretim Kurulu Başkanlığı Tez Merkezi.
  • Gross, M. (2016). Risk as zombie category: Ulrich Beck’s unfinished project of the ‘non-knowledge’ society. Security Dialogue, 47(5), 386–402. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010616645020
  • Guterres, A. (2009). Climate change, natural disasters and human displacement: A UNHCR perspective. UN High Commissioner for Refugees. 23 Temmuz 2002’de erişim adresi, http://www.unhcr.org/4901e81a4.pdf
  • Ilık Bilben, M. S. (2018). Antropojenik iklim değişikliği bağlamında göç tartışmaları. Sosyal Siyaset Konferansları Dergisi, 75, 237–268. http://dx.doi.org/10.26650/jspc.2018.75.0015
  • Kaya, Y. (2018). İklim değişikliğine karşı kentsel kırılganlık: İstanbul için bir değerlendirme. International Journal of Social Inquiry, 11(2), 219–257.
  • Mayer, S. (2016). World risk society and ecoglobalism: Risk, literature, and the anthropocene. In H. Zapf (Ed.), Handbook of ecocriticism and cultural ecology (pp. 494-509). De Gruyter.
  • Mythen, G. (2004). Ulrich Beck: A critical introduction to the Risk Society. Pluto Press.
  • Mythen, G. (2018). Exploring the theory of metamorphosis: In dialogue with Ulrich Beck. Theory, Culture & Society, 35(7–8), 173–188. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276418810420
  • Mythen G., & Walklate, S. (2016). Not knowing, emancipatory catastrophism and metamorphosis: Embracing the spirit of Ulrich Beck. Security Dialogue, 47(5), 403–419. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010616651027
  • Özerdem, F., & Barlas B. (2021). Kopenhag Okulu çerçevesinde 2020 ve sonrası dünya politikasının yeni sorunu: İklim değişikliği ve iklim göçmenleri. Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 41, 273-302. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/sbe/issue/67717/997189
  • Rasborg, K. (2018). From ‘the bads of goods’ to ‘the goods of bads’: The most recent developments in Ulrich Beck’s cosmopolitan sociology. Theory, Culture & Society, 35(7–8), 157–171. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276418810418
  • Rasborg, K. (2020). Risk. Cambridge Handbook of Social Theory (pp. 313-332). https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316677452.017
  • Rasborg, K. (2021). Ulrich Beck: Theorising World Risk Society and Cosmopolitanism. Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Rasmussen, J. F., Jein, M. A. R., & Parfitt-Murray, T. S. (2014). Environmental refugees: Justice and responsibility.
  • Selchow, S. (2016). The paths not (yet) taken: Ulrich Beck, the ‘cosmopolitized world’ and security studies. Security Dialogue, 47(5), 369–385. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010616647859
  • Sørensen, M.P., & Christiansen, A. (2013). Ulrich Beck. An introduction to the theory of second modernity and the risk society. Routledge.
  • Stanley, E. (2021). Climate crises and the creation of ‘undeserving’ victims. Social Sciences, 10(4), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10040144
  • Türkeş, M. (2022). İklim diplomasisi ve iklim değişikliğinin ekonomi politiği. Bilim ve Ütopya, 332, 31-45.

Hem Felaket Hem İmkân: Beckçi Bir Risk Olarak Ekolojik Kriz ve İklim Mülteciliği

Year 2023, Volume: 16 Issue: 1, 333 - 349, 30.06.2023

İbrahim Oğulcan Erayman Ahmed Burak Çağlar

https://doi.org/10.37093/ijsi.1211445

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Beckçi ‟Risk Toplumu” konseptinin, genelde ekolojik kriz özelde ise iklim mülteciliği meselelerine karşı önemli imkânlar barındıran bir teorik arka plan sağladığını gösterme amacıyla yazılmıştır. Çalışma kapsamında bu temel amaç doğrultusunda iki ana meseleye odaklanılmıştır. Bunlardan ilki olarak, Beckçi kuramsal çerçevede merkezi bir yeri olduğunu düşündüğümüz ekolojik risklerin risk toplumu kategorileri etrafında genel bir değerlendirilmesi yapılmaya çalışılmıştır. İkinci olarak ise, Beckçi çerçeveden genelde iklim krizinin, özeldeyse iklim mülteciliğinin, küresel risklere karşı ne gibi yeni imkânlar ve alanlar açabileceği sorgulanmaya çalışılmıştır. Çalışma bu ana tartışmalar etrafında, iklim krizine ve iklim mülteciliğine yönelik gelecek yıllarda iki birbirinden taban tabana zıt yaklaşımın eşanlı olarak bir arada bulunabileceği sonucuna ulaşmıştır: İlk olarak, hâlihazırda zaten dolaşımda olan yabancı düşmanı ve göç karşıtı söylem ve eylemlerin, iklim krizine bağlı yer değiştirmeler ile daha da tırmanması; ikinci olarak ise, tüm bu olumsuz tabloya rağmen iklim krizine bağlı risklerin, kozmopolit bir dayanışma ve sorumluluk atmosferini de tetikleme ihtimalinin bulunması.

Keywords

risk toplumu ekolojik kriz iklim mülteciliği özgürleştirici felaket hem/hem mantığı

References

  • Balcılar, A. N. (2022). İklim adaleti bağlamında sınırlar ve iklim göçü. Uluslararası Eşitlik Politikası Dergisi, 2(1), 118–132. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/2497396
  • Beck, U. (1992). From industrial society to the risk society: Questions of survival, social structure and ecological enlightenment. Theory, Culture & Society, 9(1), 97–123. https://doi.org/10.1177/026327692009001006
  • Beck, U. (1997). Global risk politics. The Political Quarterly, 68(B), 18–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.00113
  • Beck, U. (2006). Living in the world risk society. Economy and Society, 35(3), 329–345. https://doi.org/10.1080/03085140600844902
  • Beck, U. (2008, November 12). Risk society’s ‘cosmopolitan moment’ [Lecture at Harvard University]. http://www.labjor.unicamp.br/comciencia/files/risco/AR-UlrichBeck-Harvard.pdf
  • Beck, U. (2009). World at risk (C. Cronin, Trans.). Polity Press.
  • Beck, U. (2011). Risk toplumu: Başka bir modernliğe doğru (K. Özdoğan & B. Doğan, Çev.). İthaki Yayınları.
  • Beck, U. (2013). Siyasallığın icadı (N. Ülner, Çev.; 3. bs.). İletişim Yayınları.
  • Beck, U. (2014). How climate change might save the world. Development and Society, 43(2), 169–183.
  • Beck, U. (2015). Emancipatory catastrophism: What does it mean to climate change and risk society? Current Sociology, 63(1), 75–88. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392114559951
  • Bhowmik, D. (2020). Problems of refugee and the climate change. In S.K. Das &, N. Chowdhary (Eds.), Refugee crises and Third-World Economies (pp. 45–72). Emerald Publishing.
  • Biermann, F., & Boas, I. (2010). Preparing for a warmer world: Towards a global governance system to protect climate refugees. Global Environmental Politics, 10(1), 60–88. https://doi.org/10.1162/glep.2010.10.1.60
  • Brown, O. (2008). Migration and climate change. International Organization for Migration.
  • Burgess, A., Wardman J., & Mythen, G. (2018). Considering risk: Placing the work of Ulrich Beck in context, Journal of Risk Research, 21(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2017.1383075
  • Caney, S. (2010). Climate change, human rights and moral thresholds. In S.M. Gardiner, S. Caney, D. Jamieson & H. Shue (Eds.) Climate ethics: Essential readings (pp. 163–177). Oxford University Press.
  • Cohen, M. J. (1997). Risk society and ecological modernisation: Alternative visions for post-industrial nations. Futures, 29(2), 105-119. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-3287(96)00071-7
  • Cooper, T., & Bulmer, S. (2012). Refuse and the ‘Risk Society’: The political ecology of risk in inter-war Britain. Social History of Medicine, 26(2), 246–266. https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hks112
  • Cutter, S. L. (2018). Risk. In N. Castree, M. Hulme & J. D. Proctor (Eds.), Companion to environmental studies (pp. 86–89). Routledge.
  • Çelik, H. (2016). Ulrich Beck: Küresel kriz ve kozmopolitan politika. Marmara Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, (6), 82–100. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/marusad/issue/395/2772
  • Çuhacı, A. (2007). Ulrich Beck’in risk toplumu kuramı. Sosyoloji Dergisi, 3(14), 129–157.
  • Docherty, B., & Giannini, T. (2010). Confronting a rising tide: A proposal for a convention on climate change refugees. Harvard Environmental Law Review, 33(2), 349-405.
  • Doğan, S., Doğan, E., Tüzer, M. (2020). Küresel ısınma ve iklim değişikliği: Bilimsel uzlaşmadan politik ayrışmaya. İstanbul Ticaret Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 19(39), 1453-1484. https://doi.org/10.46928/iticusbe.759056
  • Ekberg, M. (2007). The parameters of the risk society. Current Sociology, 55(3), 343–366. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392107076080
  • Ekşi, N. (2016). İklim mültecileri. Göç Araştırmaları Dergisi, 2(2), 10–58. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/648074
  • Esgin, A. (2013). İmal edilmiş belirsizlikler çağının sosyolojik yönelimi: Ulrich Beck ve Anthony Giddens Kaynaklı “Risk Toplumu” Tartışmaları. Gaziantep University Journal of Social Sciences, 12(3), 683–696
  • Faist, T., & Schade, J. (2013). The climate-migration nexus: A reorientation. In T. Faist & J. Schade (Eds.), Disentangling migration and climate change (pp. 3-29). Springer.
  • Gandy, M. (1999). Rethinking the ecological leviathan: environmental regulation in an age of risk. Global Environmental Change, 9, 59-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0959-3780(98)00023-5
  • Gökpınar, F. B. (2020). 21. Yüzyılda yeni bir güvenlik sorunu: İklim mültecileri (Yayın No. 636615). [Yüksek lisans tezi, Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü]. Yükseköğretim Kurulu Başkanlığı Tez Merkezi.
  • Gross, M. (2016). Risk as zombie category: Ulrich Beck’s unfinished project of the ‘non-knowledge’ society. Security Dialogue, 47(5), 386–402. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010616645020
  • Guterres, A. (2009). Climate change, natural disasters and human displacement: A UNHCR perspective. UN High Commissioner for Refugees. 23 Temmuz 2002’de erişim adresi, http://www.unhcr.org/4901e81a4.pdf
  • Ilık Bilben, M. S. (2018). Antropojenik iklim değişikliği bağlamında göç tartışmaları. Sosyal Siyaset Konferansları Dergisi, 75, 237–268. http://dx.doi.org/10.26650/jspc.2018.75.0015
  • Kaya, Y. (2018). İklim değişikliğine karşı kentsel kırılganlık: İstanbul için bir değerlendirme. International Journal of Social Inquiry, 11(2), 219–257.
  • Mayer, S. (2016). World risk society and ecoglobalism: Risk, literature, and the anthropocene. In H. Zapf (Ed.), Handbook of ecocriticism and cultural ecology (pp. 494-509). De Gruyter.
  • Mythen, G. (2004). Ulrich Beck: A critical introduction to the Risk Society. Pluto Press.
  • Mythen, G. (2018). Exploring the theory of metamorphosis: In dialogue with Ulrich Beck. Theory, Culture & Society, 35(7–8), 173–188. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276418810420
  • Mythen G., & Walklate, S. (2016). Not knowing, emancipatory catastrophism and metamorphosis: Embracing the spirit of Ulrich Beck. Security Dialogue, 47(5), 403–419. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010616651027
  • Özerdem, F., & Barlas B. (2021). Kopenhag Okulu çerçevesinde 2020 ve sonrası dünya politikasının yeni sorunu: İklim değişikliği ve iklim göçmenleri. Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 41, 273-302. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/sbe/issue/67717/997189
  • Rasborg, K. (2018). From ‘the bads of goods’ to ‘the goods of bads’: The most recent developments in Ulrich Beck’s cosmopolitan sociology. Theory, Culture & Society, 35(7–8), 157–171. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276418810418
  • Rasborg, K. (2020). Risk. Cambridge Handbook of Social Theory (pp. 313-332). https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316677452.017
  • Rasborg, K. (2021). Ulrich Beck: Theorising World Risk Society and Cosmopolitanism. Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Rasmussen, J. F., Jein, M. A. R., & Parfitt-Murray, T. S. (2014). Environmental refugees: Justice and responsibility.
  • Selchow, S. (2016). The paths not (yet) taken: Ulrich Beck, the ‘cosmopolitized world’ and security studies. Security Dialogue, 47(5), 369–385. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010616647859
  • Sørensen, M.P., & Christiansen, A. (2013). Ulrich Beck. An introduction to the theory of second modernity and the risk society. Routledge.
  • Stanley, E. (2021). Climate crises and the creation of ‘undeserving’ victims. Social Sciences, 10(4), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10040144
  • Türkeş, M. (2022). İklim diplomasisi ve iklim değişikliğinin ekonomi politiği. Bilim ve Ütopya, 332, 31-45.
There are 45 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language Turkish
Subjects Political Ecology
Journal Section Articles
Authors

İbrahim Oğulcan Erayman 0000-0002-6687-9973

Ahmed Burak Çağlar This is me 0000-0002-1911-8135

Publication Date June 30, 2023
Submission Date November 29, 2022
Published in Issue Year 2023 Volume: 16 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Erayman, İ. O., & Çağlar, A. B. (2023). Hem Felaket Hem İmkân: Beckçi Bir Risk Olarak Ekolojik Kriz ve İklim Mülteciliği. International Journal of Social Inquiry, 16(1), 333-349. https://doi.org/10.37093/ijsi.1211445
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