Political Animals and Animal Politics

While much has been written on environmental politics on the one hand, and animal ethics and welfare on the other, animal politics, as the interface of the two, is underexamined. There are key political implications in the increase of animal protection laws, the rights of nature, and political parties and movements dedicated to animals. What are the implications of the increasing attention and popularity of ethical discourses on animal welfare and animal rights for politics and political philosophy? What is the animal's place in environmental political thought – and in 21st Century political philosophy per se? What can, rather than should, politics do for animals – what institutions and practices are suitable and desirable? Can animal ethics learn from animal politics?

Marcel Wissenburg is Professor of Political Theory in the Department of Public Administration and Political Science, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

David Schlosberg is Professor of Environmental Politics in the Department of Government and International Relations, The University of Sydney, Australia.