Astropolitics: One step closer to high-tech imperialism or a path toward interstellar flourishing?

Abstract

The paper provides an overview of the current and potential social practices in the realm of space politics from the perspectives of critical theory of international relations and critical geopolitics, with the aim to find an answer to the question of what the purpose of collective human action in space ought to be to secure the cosmic flourishing of civilisation instead of opening new areas for imperial politics. The author employs a broader definition of space politics, understood as a complex of social and institutional practices related to decision-making on public issues concerning the design and implementation of national, transnational, and international programmes for the exploration and governing of outer space. The departing hypothesis is that there are a series of ethically challenging spots in space politics, which may be sparked by a utilitarian calculus, instrumentalised to preserve the neoliberal continuum of exploitation of natural resources, production and world trade in the age of late capitalism. The analysis focuses on the points of collision between the utilitarian calculus - embodied in the corporate innovative endeavours and technological achievements - and the principles embedded in the imperative of responsibility, as well as the concepts of the global commons, space sustainability, and interstellar flourishing. The author concludes that the harmful long-term or even permanent effects of the plausible development of space imperialism, grounded on the misuse of scientific and technological knowledge to pursue national or corporate interests to the detriment of marginalised groups of the world population, could be prevented only by the intellectual and political rejection of anthropocentrism in favour of the idea of interstellar flourishing.