생명과 생태를 생각하는 대안적 민주주의로서의 생태민주주의

Ecological democracy as an alternative democracy considering life and ecology

These days, with the development of sci-tech culture, mankind faces unprecedented environmental and ecological crises such as global climate change. However, on the one hand, mankind again improve their physical environment relying on science and technology to overcome or solve these crises. On the other hand, others believe that the root of the crisis lies in the human way of thinking and attitude, and offer philosophical and ethical solutions. But I think here the issue of environment or ecology is a matter of politics and democracy. Therefore, I argue the solutions may be also an alternative democratic approach that requires changes in the mode of our practice and recognition as the political subject. That very alternative democracy is ecological democracy. First, ecological democracy requires to extend the subject of democracy from the present generation human to the future generation and the nonhuman existence,unlike the existing so called election centered democracy or liberal democracy. And ecological democracy requires that all citizens and people, not experts, bureaucrats or professional politicians, have to have the power to make decisions on their own in order to create a desirable biotic community where they live together. And ecological democracies see that these decisions are made possible through alternative democracy, which is referred to as deliberative democracy and sortition democracy. So here I critically examines whether these democracies can overcome current democracy and produce ecologically desirable results and whether it can be realized in reality today.