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10 - Representing nature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
Robyn Eckersley
Edited by
Sonia Alonso ,
John Keane  and
Wolfgang Merkel
Robyn Eckersley
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Sonia Alonso
Affiliation:
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung
John Keane
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
Wolfgang Merkel
Affiliation:
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung
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Summary

Introduction

If I want to speak on behalf of orange-bellied parrots whose habitat will be destroyed by a proposed development, in what sense can I act as their political representative? I have no basis upon which to claim I am their delegate because I have no mandate or authorisation from parrots to speak on their behalf and I cannot justify my arguments or actions to them. I have no expertise in ornithology and I do not (I hope) resemble a parrot or share or understand a parrot's view of the world to claim authority to speak on the basis of a common parrot identity. Nor can I claim to be their trustee in the Burkean sense, because Burke disingenuously supposed that the trustee's authority to represent his/her constituency was based upon common interests and sympathies that were reciprocal, not one-way. All I can claim is that I care about the fate of the parrots.

This chapter seeks to explore the idea of representing (non-human) nature as a democratic task that involves persuading others to care about not just parrots but non-human species in general in order to support measures for their protection. Michael Saward has called this discursive task ‘representative claim making’, but I shall call it ‘nature advocacy’ (Saward 2006). Like the legal advocate, the nature advocate seeks to speak for someone or something by putting their case in the best possible light.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Future of Representative Democracy , pp. 236 - 257
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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References

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  • Representing nature
  • Edited by Sonia Alonso, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, John Keane, University of Sydney, Wolfgang Merkel, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung
  • Book: The Future of Representative Democracy
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511770883.011
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  • Representing nature
  • Edited by Sonia Alonso, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, John Keane, University of Sydney, Wolfgang Merkel, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung
  • Book: The Future of Representative Democracy
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511770883.011
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Representing nature
  • Edited by Sonia Alonso, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, John Keane, University of Sydney, Wolfgang Merkel, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung
  • Book: The Future of Representative Democracy
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511770883.011
Available formats
×