Extinction Rebellion and Climate Change Activism: Breaking the Law to Change the World

by Oscar Berglund, Daniel Schmidt

This book summarises and critiques Extinction Rebellion (XR) as a social movement organisation, engaging with key issues surrounding its analysis, strategy and tactics. The authors suggest that XR have an underdeveloped and apolitical view of the kind of change necessary to address climate change, and that while this enables the building of broad movements, it is also an obstacle to achieving the systemic change that they are aiming for.

The book analyses different forms of protest and the role of civil disobedience in their respective success or failure; democratic demands and practices; and activist engagement with the political economy of climate change. It engages with a range of theoretical perspectives that address law-breaking in protest and participatory forms of democracy including liberal political theory; anarchism and forms of historical materialism, and will be of interest to students and scholars across politics, international relations, sociology, policy studies and geography, as well as those interested in climate change politics and activism.

109 pages, ebook

Published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Eleri · Rating 4 out of 5]

For something I started reading primarily for my thesis, I was taken aback by how much I positively enjoyed this. Really delved into the rationale, strategy and decision-making process in XR, putting it in context in the literature (social movement, political economy, civil resistance, etc.). I feel like I got everything that was lacking from This is Not a Drill plus so much more. Careful and thoughtful analysis of the tensions within XR. I particularly enjoyed the discussion of the difference between direct action and civil disobedience, and then the concluding recognition of conflict between need for climate movements to engage with capitalism and the desire to avoid being perceived as anticapitalist for the sake of broader appeal.

[Chris Saltmarsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great account of XR's politics and tactics