Behind the headlines, a struggle between two opposing philosophical visions has shaped the course of international efforts to save the planet from global warming. The liberal cosmopolitanism of the great Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant has been up against the darker vision of an authoritarian global order of great power rivals developed by Carl Schmitt, 'Crown Jurist of the Third Reich'.
Clive Hamilton shows how the influence of Schmitt's once-taboo ideas has recently spread around the world – in Trump's America, in Xi Jinping's China, and in Europe with the rise of right-wing populism. His book maps how the actions of these three great powers have defined the course of global climate negotiations.
The Kantian vision, best represented by the European Union, has common sense on its side – a threat to everyone that can be solved by collective responses. In practice, however, UN agreements have triggered resistance from surging anti-globalist forces influenced by the Nazi jurist's ideas, a world defined by friends and enemies and where weaker states submit to powerful ones.
As the Earth hurtles towards a hot and perilous future, which of these worldviews prevails, Kant's or Schmitt's, could determine humanity's fate.
By:
Clive Hamilton
Imprint: Polity Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 215mm,
Width: 137mm,
Spine: 23mm
Weight: 340g
ISBN: 9781509572762
ISBN 10: 1509572767
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 24 April 2026
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
1. Defunct philosophers? 2. Kant's beautiful vision Cosmopolitanism A league of nations A digression Sovereignty and the climate Atmospheric ethics Interventions 3. Schmitt and the great powers Schmitt the Nazi Volk versus 'humanity' Against liberalism Großraum and globalism Nomos of the earth Schmitt and the climate Conspiratorial thinking 4. Europe, land of Kant The Kantian model The global climate leader Neutralization in the EU The ghost who walks Visigrád: Schmitt central? 5. United States, in two minds Contending worldviews The culture of denial The global of global warming Exempting the USA An American Großraum? The charismatic leader Trump's Schmitts Sex, gender and climate change 6. Schmitt fever in China Kant out Schmitt in Civil society and NGOs From Großraum to tianxia Ecological civilization 7. The negotiations from Rio to Copenhagen From Rio to Kyoto The Byrd-Hagel resolution The Kyoto breakthrough After Kyoto The Copenhagen debacle Copenhagen fall-out 8. Trends and influences China: from defence to offence Climate colonialism and climate justice The Russian enigma The Greta effect 9. From Copenhagen to Paris and after Realignments The 2014 US-China agreement At Le Bourget Top-down versus bottom up Legally binding versus sovereign After Paris Dubai and the carbon club 10. When Schmitt prevails A hot world Adapting Technofix Collapse
Clive Hamilton is Professor of Public Ethics at Charles Sturt University in Canberra.
Reviews for Negotiating the End of the World: Kant, Schmitt, and the Global Climate Struggle
""The global backlash against climate policy is fuelled by rising geopolitical discord, illiberalism, and economic nationalism. Hamilton's powerful book provides an unflinching account of the darker intellectual forces that are undermining the liberal international order and threatening the collective fight against global warming."" Robert Falkner, London School of Economics and Political Science ""Not only does Hamilton compellingly cast international climate politics as mired in a clash of worldviews represented by Kant and Schmitt, he captures the wider rupture between incumbent liberal cosmopolitanism and the insurgent authoritarianism that has arisen to oppose it."" Steve Vanderheiden, University of Colorado
