The President and The Teenager

In 2019 a Swedish teenager became the catalyst for a global movement.  Much has been written about Greta Thunberg’s ‘emotional address’ to the UN but one the most important statements she made was largely ignored.  ‘All you can talk about is money and fairy tales about eternal economic growth.’ With that statement Greta, not unlike the little boy who was not fooled by the Emperor’s new clothes, exposed the abject failure of the climate summits to make a significant difference. 

President Putin seemingly spoke on behalf of all those naked emperors with his response to Thunberg:

The fact that young people, teenagers, pay attention to the acute problems of the modern world is right and good and we should support them. But when somebody uses children and teenagers in their own interests it deserves only to be condemned.  Nobody explained to Greta that the modern world is complicated and complex it changes fast.  People in Africa and in many Asian Countries want to be as wealthy as people in Sweden.  How can it be done?  By making them use solar energy which is plentiful in Africa.  Has anybody explained the cost of it?  But is it accessible technology for developing economies and countries?  Hardly accessible but people there want to live like in Sweden and nothing can stop them.  Go and explain to them that they must live in poverty for 20-30 years, as well as their children.  Explain it to them.  Overall of course we cannot but support the idea of developing renewable energy sources.  We just need to be realistic.

Putin’s response has all the hall marks of neoliberalism, a position savaged by Galbraith:  ‘The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.’  Yet for many it seemed a clash between the hard-headed realism of the political class and the naïve idealism of youth.  Thunberg had called Putin out for putting her future at risk.  Putin responded with a Thatcherite response: There is No Alternative (TINA).  Some found his response convincing but others, notably those promoting the Extinction Rebellion (XT) did not. 

Thunberg is right; the emperor is indeed naked. Thunberg is far from a lone voice. Brechin’s analysis of late twentieth century public opinion polls indicated that, in 1993 respondents in 24 countries rates climate change either a very serious or serious concern.  A UN study of 2007 indicates that global public opinion has further consolidated.

When we look at the history of political philosophy we find that it has been at its most febrile when we are faced with divisive political conflicts, confronted with deeply disputed questions, conflicts and questions which test our capacity to find some underlying basis for agreement.  Under those circumstances the role of political philosophy is to articulate a way forward.  We are at such a moment in history.  That Thunberg was able to spark off the Extinction Rebellion is an indication that she was articulating concerns that cut across national boundaries.  The role of political philosophy is fourfold.  It shapes our political culture and assists in settling the problem of order.  When we lose confidence in our capacity to settle the problem of order, we then use political philosophy to help us redefine how we can constructively deal with one another.  Thirdly political philosophy helps us to understand how our political institutions are designed and finally political philosophy also has a utopian feature; it aims to probe the limits of practical political possibility.  What those four roles also demonstrate is that no political philosophy is ever fixed – the most we can hope for is that it enables us to think through our current challenges.

Thunberg and the XR movement her comments spawned have lost patience with the official response.  The question becomes ‘what is the alternative?’ This is where political philosophy can contribute.  To ensure that any resultant theory is relevant we need to start with an understanding of the problem we face.