Traversing more than speed bumps: Green politics under authoritarian regimes in Burma and Iran

Abstract

It is generally assumed that in the era of globalisation politics crosses borders at will. While the borders of some nation-states are mere speed bumps to the rapid movement of transnational capital and other commodities - including ideas - the borders of other nation-states remain less permeable. The success of transnational crossings, or the manifestations thereof, will obviously be determined by national difference (and this cannot be overstated), but also by the type of political regime which governs particular nation-states. This article seeks to redress an imbalance in the literature by seeking to understand how the politics of environmental concern have crossed into the hinterlands of two authoritarian regimes: Burma and Iran. It examines the political challenges faced under repressive regimes and investigates activists' attempts at addressing human and environmental security issues, as well as more narrow, post-materialist green agendas. Green movements under authoritarian regimes are often in the vanguard of democracy movements - clearly visible in the first flush of civil society itself - but in both Burma and Iran the prospects for this outcome are less assured, with the Iranian regime in particular using environmentalism to consolidate existing power structures.