ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes this book and discusses how transformative social change may occur when new material conditions emerge in society. Social change is also driven by the evolvement of ideas and the mobilization of people in social movements. It thereafter presents some of the conditions that are needed for a social movement to be successful and argues that the characteristics of climate change have made the issue ill-suited for broad social mobilization. This chapter then explores how climate change might alter the conditions for social mobilization, creating openings for political action. These opportunities, however, could be exploited by autocratic movements, galvanized by factors such as increased migration flows. Nonetheless, aspects of the climate transition could trigger positive democratic development. The window of opportunity, however, will not remain open for long. If governments do not act promptly to reduce planetary impact, the prospects for democracy to endure climate change will become increasingly bleak.
