Do global climate change and the interest of future generations have implications for democracy?

Abstract

The inability of democratic governments to launch effective policies tackling global climate change has triggered criticism of democratic institutions and calls for increasing representation of future generations. In this article it is argued that introducing constraints on democratic institutions may sometimes conflict with the democratic interests of the generations to come. The potential conflict between environmental and political interests is further analysed using a contractualist framework. Contrary to what some contractualists have previously argued, it remains an open question to what extent we could reasonably expect future people to accept some constraints on the democratic process in return for more effective environmental policies.

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