Generative decay: toward a politics of and for earth

Abstract

This article assesses the possibility of transforming International Relations (IR) and Global Environmental Studies (GES), reflecting on the contributions to this special edition. It argues that despite passionate efforts by critical scholars, activists, practitioners, and others to transform these disciplines, they remain structurally and epistemically rooted in oppressive logics that are fundamentally at odds with the planet and its processes, and aligned with the ‘CRAACHE+ formation’ (a set of interlocking modes of structural violence compromising colonialism, racism, ableism, anthropocentrism, capitalism, heteropatriarchy, eugenics, and their alloys). Instead of working to recuperate IR and GES, the article calls for an ecological approach to knowledge production in which the knowledge and resources accumulated within these disciplines is made available for repurposing by communities and movements working to align their politics with earth processes.