Contesting Aviation Expansion

Abstract

Aviation is an integral element of advanced capitalism, and for many citizens and groups it is regarded as an essential ingredient of their everyday practices. But flying impacts negatively on local communities near airports, and the vast majority of the population who do not fly, not to mention the planet. Indeed, though citizens (and governments) regularly proclaim their intention to address climate change, and the environmental impacts of aviation, many still fly. Contesting Airport Expansion explores this dilemma by analysing the different ways that public authorities continue to sponsor the aviation industry in the face of hostile political opposition, and the growing scientific evidence of the negative impact of flying on carbon emissions and climate change. The book presents a genealogy of the problems and proposed solutions of UK airports policy since the 1940s, shedding light on the technologies of government used by the state to try and depoliticise the public opposition to airport expansion. It shows how strategies to depoliticise aviation and expand airports have often failed because their proponents were unable to constitute an effective political will in the face of the fundamental challenges of politics. The spectre of politics is evident in the growing social antagonisms and ideological struggles that punctuate the battle for policy hegemony in aviation. Challenging the dominant logics of airport expansion in the UK context, the book argues for a radical re-routing of airport and aviation policy along a path of degrowth, which can lay the grounds for a more sustainable future.