Institutionalising Multispecies Justice

This Element is the application of theories of multispecies justice to the design of political institutions and environmental governance.

The Element explores Multispecies Justice, a theory aiming to address the shortcomings of dominant justice theories in responding to planetary disruptions and extinctions. It envisions institutions that respect and care for relationships, allowing all natural entities to flourish. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.Multispecies Justice (MSJ) is a theory and practice seeking to correct the defects making dominant theories of justice incapable of responding to current and emerging planetary disruptions and extinctions. Multispecies Justice starts with the assumption that justice is not limited to humans but includes all Earth others, and the relationships that enable their functioning and flourishing. This Element describes and imagines a set of institutions, across all scales and in different spheres, that respect, revere, and care for the relationships that make life on Earth possible and allow all natural entities, humans included, to flourish. It draws attention to the prefigurative work happening within societies otherwise dominated by institutions characterised by Multispecies Injustice, demonstrating historical and ongoing practices of MSJ in different contexts. It then sketches speculative possibilities that expand on existing institutional reforms and are more fundamentally transformational. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.