Humanity as a political subject in the Anthropocene: from planetary subjectivity to global sovereignty.

Abstract

Abstract: In the Anthropocene, the unprecedented disruption of planetary systems caused by an ongoing social activity seems to demand from human beings an equally unprecented effort to avert catastrophe -in the form of a «hothouse Earth» scenario that would render the Earth uninhabitable. But is humanity up to the task? In other words: Does even «humanity» as a functioning political category exist? If not, can it be brought into existence? This paper will explore this question. It will begin by pointing out the need for a massive and concerted effort on the part of living generations of humans, since otherwise it will not be possible to counteract the accumulated effect of the species' footprint. Hints of this global sovereign can be found in the climate agreemens and other forms of governance, but the rise of climate populism -as witnessed in the yellow vests movement in France- suggests that an unified action against planetary deterioration has not yet been achieved. The question, then, is how to create such a global political subject. Which form should this demogenesis adopt to be effective? The goal of making the Anthropocene sustainable can, in fact, be the unifying motif that increasingly fragmented and pluralistic human societies have been lacking for sometime now.