Judicialising Urban Political Ecologies: Post‐Politics and Environmental Governance in South Asia

Abstract

AbstractLegal and judicial mediation and arbitration significantly influence who has access and control over resources. Taking insights from post‐political debates in political ecology and discussions at the intersection of critical legal geography and political ecology, we focus on the production of judicial ecologies. Through case studies on waste management in India, water governance in Pakistan, and urban air pollution in Bangladesh, we describe how political‐ecological questions get transferred to the courts. We describe this as a process of political bonsaification—a process that shifts political questions to the courts and contains political action to legal and technocratic forums. Our aim is to stimulate research on how courts and legal institutions form judicial ecologies by setting, enforcing, or ignoring rules that influence human–environment interactions. Understanding how judicial and legal systems intersect across class, race, gender, and different political‐ecological contexts, we argue, is the aim of research in judicial ecology.