Radical Climate Disobedience: An Analysis and Defence in Times of the Socio-Ecological Emergency

Abstract

In recent years, movements such as Ende Gelände, Extinction Rebellion, Letzte Generation and Just Stop Oil have profoundly shaped European climate activism. Their tactics, including coal mine blockades, highway sit-ins and adhesive protests, reflect a deliberate embrace of high-cost disruption, with imprisonment as a deliberate tactic. I investigate the role of radical activism amid the socio-ecological crisis, framing its radicalness as a distinctive and underexplored phenomenon. I introduce the concept of radical climate disobedience, distinguishing it from both more moderate forms of disobedience, such as civil disobedience, and more extreme protests, such as violent resistance or eco-terrorism. This new concept offers an insightful framework for analysing the radicalisation of contemporary climate justice movements. I argue that the standard, liberal view of civil disobedience fails to adequately capture such activism. Therefore, I examine existing conceptions of the understudied framework of radical disobedience to identify its conceptual core.