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Captured Futures: Rethinking the Drama of Environmental Politics
Environmental politics 'as we know it' cannot deliver. Despite all efforts, politics is unable to bend the ecological trends. Maarten A. Hajer and Jeroen Oomen argue that this is because environmental politics is 'captured'. This capture doesn't just express itself in lobbying or a lack of political will, but in a capture of the we seem unable to imagine futures that are meaningfully different from the present. Examining environmental politics as drama reveals how all actors play their particular roles in this scientists funnel narrow policy futures through their models; activists adopt politically expedient language; and policymakers look for safe, technologically-sound 'win-win' solutions. All are captured in a regime of ecological modernization that entertains too-narrow a solution space. For Hajer and Oomen, this is cause for we have entered 'a radical age' in which persistent policy failure leads to increased suggestions to engage with speculative geoengineering technologies in a desperate attempt to safeguard the future. On the other hand, they point at the growing societal backlash against environmental policies.
Yet in the third part of the book, discourse and dramaturgical analysis appear as a reason for hope, sketching an alternative perspective on environmental politics. It suggests that a new, more cultural approach to environmental politics could have more leverage on the societal imagination. Combining this with the formulation of new discourses and using alternative 'dramaturgies of change', Captured Futures highlights how to find more effective and more inspiring ideas about how to approach the future and, ultimately, liberate environmental politics.
Yet in the third part of the book, discourse and dramaturgical analysis appear as a reason for hope, sketching an alternative perspective on environmental politics. It suggests that a new, more cultural approach to environmental politics could have more leverage on the societal imagination. Combining this with the formulation of new discourses and using alternative 'dramaturgies of change', Captured Futures highlights how to find more effective and more inspiring ideas about how to approach the future and, ultimately, liberate environmental politics.
- GenresNonfiction
352 pages, Hardcover
Published August 29, 2025
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November 1, 2025
Captured Futures by Maarten Hajer and Jeroen Oomen is a magnificently important book in this time of drama of environmental politics. While there is no shortage of books that stress 'to do more' or 'to increase ambitions' in the light of the climate crisis, this books takes a radically different direction: we need to escape the capture of our current political practice and develop a new perception of where and how (and I would add: why) politics is conducted. In order to do so, we need to liberate our visions of how the future might be.
In the very first sentence the premise of the book is clear: it is time to admit that environmental politics as we know it cannot deliver. Policymaking takes place within the confines of institutional routines that reproduce a narrow understanding of what is at stake and of the perspective on the future. Environmental politics is captured by the technocratic approach of ecological modernisation and thus suffers from a lack of imagination and enactment of a meaningfully different future.
The authors develop this argument by analysing environmental politics as discourse and as drama. Images of the future are crucial in environmental politics. These images are developed in close interaction between science and policymakers. They have great power over the outline and direction of environmental politics. For example, images of 'net zero futures' have become some sort of 'realist utopia', narrowing environmental politics very much to a technology-driven future, largely at the cost of issues of justice. This approach surely brought some merit, but the technocratic capture increasingly fails to deliver: targets and goals are often illusionary and environmental politics often fails to be truly inclusive and just.
A range of examples (the 1.5C target, geoengineering as a viable option) illustrates how futuring is captured in a non-productive way. How can we break out of this capture? The authors explore three main routes. First, a cultural politics of the environment is needed to succeed the regime of ecological modernisation. We need to construct attractive, enticing possible futures about what we really want; positive futures in the face of ecological destruction that bring about voluntarism, freedom and justice. It is not only about de-constructing power relations, but rather about re-constructing new discursive relations. Second, a new discursive space is required, beyond the technocracy of ecological modernisation. The reimagination of ecological politics can be thought through diverse discourses, such as the post-growth/beyond growth discourse, critiques of colonial modernity, or eco-conservatism. Third, new dramaturgies of change need to be performed. Through dramaturgical enactment, seemingly abstract phenomena such as mentalities and imaginaries can become the objects of politics and policymaking. Various dramaturgical routes are explored, such as backlash, moral protest, litigation, financial risk and opportunity, futuring and radical incrementalism. These routes all bring together discourse and societal practices and thus show alternative pathways, new imaginaries and aspirational futures. Some may claim that there is no alternative, but others will insist that a better world is possible.
This book will be essential reading for everyone interested in how environmental politics is organized, how this brings about a fundamental trap of technocratic capture, and how it can be liberated. That may suggest a pamphlet, but don't be mistaken: this book is very thoroughly researched and solidly founded in literature. Moreover, it is extremely well written and highly organized. Highly recommended!
In the very first sentence the premise of the book is clear: it is time to admit that environmental politics as we know it cannot deliver. Policymaking takes place within the confines of institutional routines that reproduce a narrow understanding of what is at stake and of the perspective on the future. Environmental politics is captured by the technocratic approach of ecological modernisation and thus suffers from a lack of imagination and enactment of a meaningfully different future.
The authors develop this argument by analysing environmental politics as discourse and as drama. Images of the future are crucial in environmental politics. These images are developed in close interaction between science and policymakers. They have great power over the outline and direction of environmental politics. For example, images of 'net zero futures' have become some sort of 'realist utopia', narrowing environmental politics very much to a technology-driven future, largely at the cost of issues of justice. This approach surely brought some merit, but the technocratic capture increasingly fails to deliver: targets and goals are often illusionary and environmental politics often fails to be truly inclusive and just.
A range of examples (the 1.5C target, geoengineering as a viable option) illustrates how futuring is captured in a non-productive way. How can we break out of this capture? The authors explore three main routes. First, a cultural politics of the environment is needed to succeed the regime of ecological modernisation. We need to construct attractive, enticing possible futures about what we really want; positive futures in the face of ecological destruction that bring about voluntarism, freedom and justice. It is not only about de-constructing power relations, but rather about re-constructing new discursive relations. Second, a new discursive space is required, beyond the technocracy of ecological modernisation. The reimagination of ecological politics can be thought through diverse discourses, such as the post-growth/beyond growth discourse, critiques of colonial modernity, or eco-conservatism. Third, new dramaturgies of change need to be performed. Through dramaturgical enactment, seemingly abstract phenomena such as mentalities and imaginaries can become the objects of politics and policymaking. Various dramaturgical routes are explored, such as backlash, moral protest, litigation, financial risk and opportunity, futuring and radical incrementalism. These routes all bring together discourse and societal practices and thus show alternative pathways, new imaginaries and aspirational futures. Some may claim that there is no alternative, but others will insist that a better world is possible.
This book will be essential reading for everyone interested in how environmental politics is organized, how this brings about a fundamental trap of technocratic capture, and how it can be liberated. That may suggest a pamphlet, but don't be mistaken: this book is very thoroughly researched and solidly founded in literature. Moreover, it is extremely well written and highly organized. Highly recommended!
Displaying 1 of 1 review