Liberal Spaces in an Illiberal Regime: Environmental NGOs, State Sovereignty and the Struggle for Nature

Territory, Politics, Governance. 2023.

Tysiachniouk M., Tulaeva S. A., Kotilainen J., Henry L.

In the post-Soviet period, Russian environmental activists, supported by transnational networks, have contested the Russian government’s environmental policies. Invoking international norms and rules and advocating for the public's, Russian environmentalists in effect have struggled with the state over sovereignty. Transnational discourses, resources and collaborations have promoted a liberal model of environmental governance. However, the Russian political context has grown increasingly illiberal and exclusionary. Based on qualitative fieldwork and analysis of state documents and data, we examine this struggle in periods of constructing and transforming networks that span the global–local interplay where struggles over the non-human world take place.

Keywords: Российская Федерация, окружающая среда, суверенитет, environment, sovereignty, Russian Federation, transnational networks, транснациональные сети, illiberalism, антилиберализм