ABSTRACT
The Anthropocene suggests that human activities have reached levels of intensity that exceed the ‘natural’ dynamics of ecological systems and make ‘Anthropos’ the dominant force in the Earth system. What began as a geological diagnosis of the present epoch of the Earth’s history has now found its way into political and political science debates. Here, the Anthropocene is taken as an opportunity to question and transform basic understandings of politics and its analysis. As a critical contribution to this emerging debate, this chapter seeks to reflect on the conceptual relationship between the Anthropocene and governance, that is, the way societies organise and shape collective action to solve their problems. To answer the question of how the Anthropocene and governance relate to each other and how these concepts can illuminate each other, various Anthropocene views and existing notions of ‘anthropocenic governance’ are outlined. Subsequently, the implications of governance thinking for the Anthropocene and, conversely, the implications of the Anthropocene for governance thinking are examined. It becomes clear that the Anthropocene, on the one hand, lags behind existing governance visions and, on the other hand, critically points beyond them. Against this background, the article finally advocates a normative concept of sustainability-oriented anthropocenic governance.
