Ingrid Helene Brandt defends her PhD thesis at the Department of Political Science
Candidate
Ingrid Helene Brandt
Title
"Lingering Democracy. Stories of democratic participation amid climate and ecological crisis".
The thesis
The thesis can be loaned from the Royal Danish Library.
Time and venue
Wednesday 18 December 2024 from 12:00-15:00 at Centre for Health and Society, Øster Farimagsgade 5, DK-1353 Copenhagen K., room 1.1.18. Kindly note that the defence will start precisely at 12:00.
Assessment committee
- Professor Michele Betsill (Chair), University of Copenhagen
- Professor Amanda Machin, University of Agder
- Chair of Political Theory Michaela Mihai, University of Edinburgh
Abstract
A deliberative wave is currently sweeping across the Western world, where climate and ecological crises are used as an opportunity to revitalize democracy through climate deliberation. In Denmark, we are also seeing climate deliberation emerge, both locally and nationally, as a tool to promote the green transition. But the successes vary, and questions arise: Are they just political maneuvers or can they really contribute to the green transition?
The thesis Lingering Democracy: Stories of democratic participation amid climate and ecological crisis allows itself to dwell in the middle and between these questions through fieldwork conducted in collaboration with the research group “Democratic Innovations in a Green Transition”. It uncovers both the enthusiasm that characterized the start of the Climate Commons, the challenges and tensions that arose along the way, and the emerging ecological sensitivities that developed among citizens. The thesis contributes an approach to democratic theory that insists on leaving things unstable, conflictual, and slow in a world preoccupied with stable and quick solutions.