Militarism is the elephant in the room of global warming. Of all government sectors, 'Defence' has the highest carbon footprint and expenditure, yet has largely been exempt from international scrutiny and regulation. Marty Branagan uses Australian and international case studies to show that nonviolence is a viable alternative to militarism for national defence and regime change. 'Active resistance', initiated in Australian environmental blockades and now adopted globally, makes the song 'We Shall Not Be Moved' much more realistic, as activists erect tripod villages, bury, chain and cement themselves into the ground, and 'lock-on' to machinery and gates. Active resistance, 'artistic activism', and use of new information and communication technologies in movements such as the Arab Spring and 'Occupy' demonstrate that nonviolence is an effective, evolving praxis.

Militarism is the elephant in the room of global warming. Of all government sectors, 'Defence' has the highest carbon footprint and expenditure, yet has largely been exempt from international scrutiny and regulation. Marty Branagan uses Australian and international case studies to show that nonviolence is a viable alternative to militarism for national defence and regime change. 'Active resistance', initiated in Australian environmental blockades and now adopted globally, makes the song 'We Shall Not Be Moved' much more realistic, as activists erect tripod villages, bury, chain and cement themselves into the ground, and 'lock-on' to machinery and gates. Active resistance, 'artistic activism', and use of new information and communication technologies in movements such as the Arab Spring and 'Occupy' demonstrate that nonviolence is an effective, evolving praxis.

This book is the first to establish the nature and causes of violence as key features in the political economy of Australia as an advanced capitalist society. Australia’s neoliberal corporate security state in seen to represent the emergence of a post-democratic order, whereby minds and bodies are disciplined to the dominant ideology of market relations. Locating questions of the democracy and of the country’s economy at the heart of Australia’s political struggle, the author elaborates how violence in Australia is built into a hegemonic order, characterized by the concentration of private power and wealth. Identifying the commodification of people and nature, the construction and manipulation of antagonisms and enemies, and the politics of fear as features of a new authoritarianism and one-party-political state, Erik Paul explores alternatives to the existing neoliberal hegemonic order. Positing that democratization requires a clearly defined counter-culture, based on the political economy of social, economic and political equality, the book draws out the potential in non-violent progressive social movements for a new political economy.

This book addresses the need to develop a holistic approach to countering violence that integrates notions of peace, justice and care of the Earth. It is unique in that it does not stop with the move toward articulating ‘Just Peace’ as a human concern but probes the mindset needed for the shift to a ‘Just and Ecologically Sustainable Peace’. It explores the values and principles that can guide this shift, theoretically and in practice. International in scope and grounded in the reality of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific context, the book brings together important insights drawn from the Indigenous relationship to land, ecological feminism, ecological philosophy, the social sciences more generally, and a range of religious and non-religious cosmologies. Drawn from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, the contributors in this book apply their combined professional expertise and active engagement to illuminate the difficult choices that lie ahead.

Rethinking Wilderness and the Wild: Conflict, Conservation and Co-existence examines the complexities surrounding the concept of wilderness. Contemporary wilderness scholarship has tended to fall into two categories: the so-called ‘fortress conservation’ and ‘co-existence’ schools of thought. This book, contending that this polarisation has led to a silencing and concealment of alternative perspectives and lines of enquiry, extends beyond these confines and in particular steers away from the dilemmas of paradise or paradox in order to advance an intellectual and policy agenda of plurality and diversity rather than of prescription and definition. Drawing on case studies from Australia, Aoteoroa/New Zealand, the United States and Iceland, and explorations of embodied experience, creative practice, philosophy, and First Nations land management approaches, the assembled chapters examine wilderness ideals, conflicts and human-nature dualities afresh, and examine co-existence and conservation in the Anthropocene in diverse ontological and multidisciplinary ways. By demonstrating a strong commitment to respecting the knowledge and perspectives of Indigenous peoples, this work delivers a more nuanced, ethical and decolonising approach to issues arising from relationships with wilderness. Such a collection is immediately appropriate given the political challenges and social complexities of our time, and the mounting threats to life across the globe. The abiding and uniting logic of the book is to offer a unique and innovative contribution to engender transformations of wilderness scholarship, activism and conservation policy. This text refutes the inherent privileging and exclusionary tactics of dominant modes of enquiry that too often serve to silence non-human and contrary positions. It reveals a multi-faceted and contingent wilderness alive with agency, diversity and possibility. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of conservation, environmental and natural resource management, Indigenous studies and environmental policy and planning. It will also be of interest to practitioners, policymakers and NGOs involved in conservation, protected environments and environmental governance.

It is now commonly asserted that climate change will fundamentally change international relations. It has been predicted that global warming will increase conflict within and between states, intensify food insecurity, menace the global trading system and unleash waves of migration. As a result governments are beginning to incorporate these warnings into their foreign policy initiatives. The appropriateness of their incipient responses needs to be examined in finer detail. This book looks at the impact of climate change on European Union (EU) security policy. It explores how governments are reconfiguring their geo-strategy and broader international relations in the wake of climate change warnings. The book demonstrates that although many aspects of EU foreign policies have begun to change, ‘climate security’ is not yet accorded unequivocal or sufficient priority. In doing so, Youngs argues that if climate change policies are to have significant effect they can no longer be treated as a separate area of policy but must be incorporated into the more mainstream debates pertinent to EU common foreign and security policy (CFSP). This book will be of key interest to students, scholars and practitioners of climate change and policy, energy and environmental policy, EU governance and foreign policy, European studies, international relations, geography, security studies/policy and environmental economics.

Cultivating Peace: Contexts, Practices and Multidimensional Models moves away from negative connotations associated with the concept of post-conflict peacebuilding. It embraces a multiplicity of trans-disciplinary approaches to peacebuilding, mostly coinciding with the eco-horticultural metaphor of peace cultivation. Ultimately, the idea of cultivating peace embodies love and compassion, while utilising local knowledge, expertise and wisdom to do no harm. Using various case studies from across the world, the narratives and insights in this book present diverse facets of peacebuilding, yet all contribute constructive lessons. The chapters cover three general themes. Some examine the structural and discursive causes of violence and how to improve situations where violence is evident, or to prevent it from breaking out. Others deal with the aftermath of violence and how to reconcile and restore shattered lives and societies. The third group deals with positive social change by nonviolent means, which is much more constructive than the “negative peace” of ceasefires and peace enforcement used to manage direct violence. Promoting the ideal of peace cultivation, this volume emphasises ways to improve things, to suggest alternatives, and to employ initiatives to plant and grow positive changes both during the fighting and in the aftermath of violent conflicts.

This book provides a systemic view on the digital future from the perspectives of various socio-humanitarian sciences: economics, social sciences, pedagogics and law. Presenting selected papers from the multi-disciplinary international conference “Climate changes and economy of the future: global transformation”, which was held at Pskov State University (Russia) on November 13–14, 2019, it offers a comprehensive overview of the current problems and the future potential of digital transformations of economic activities. This multidisciplinary book includes the latest research on the opportunities of the digital economy and the social and ecological consequences of its implementation, and as such offers a “road map” for development. It also features scientific and practical recommendations to allow effective management of the digitization process according to the current priorities.

Environmental art or ‘ecoart’ is a burgeoning field and includes a wide variety of practices, some of which are exemplified in this collection: from sculptures or installations made from discarded rubbish to intimate ephemeral artworks placed in the natural environment, or from theatrical presentations incorporated into environmental education programs to socially critical paintings. In some cases, the artworks aim to create indignation in the viewer, sometimes to educate, sometimes to create a feeling of empathy for the natural environment, or sometimes they are built into community building projects. This timely book examines various roles of the arts in building ecological sustainability. A wide range of practitioners is represented, including visual and performing artists, scientists, social researchers, environmental educators and research students. They are all united in this text in their belief that the arts are vital in the building of sustainability – in the way that they are practiced, but also the connections they make to ecology, science and indigenous culture.