Global governance in the Anthropocenes

Abstract

This article adumbrates how we can re-envision global governance in the Anthropocene. The first section explores the plurality of Anthropocenes through an initial analysis of the Great Transformation since 1950. The second section focuses on what this means for global governance through insights from the history of international thought. The first insight comes from earlier works by the international functionalists, who emphasized process over goals. The second is found in the international political geography of Derwent Whittlesey, who outlined how we could take in ecological concerns through a four-dimensional view of the industrial world. Here I will also stress the growing importance of the concept of waste and refuse in global governance, a concern that becomes visible when we think about global politics in four dimensions. The final concluding section underscores how a messy and unprecedented crisis requires an equally messy and unprecedented approach to global governance.