Environmental Issue and the frailty of Democratic State

an analysis based on the socioeconomic crisis of capitalism and the dismantling of labour rights

Abstract

Introduction: This article analyses the multiple crises of capitalism since the 1970s, focusing on two dimensions intensified in the 2010s and 2020s: the environmental crisis resulting from climate change and the political crisis resulting from the dismantling of democracies.

Objective/Methodology: Taking as theoretical references the notion of crisis and the understanding that the capitalist system needs to continually seek new possibilities for capital accumulation, the article deploys the deductive method and the literature review technique to examine how the economic crisis caused the dismantling of Welfare State and of labour rights, contributing to environmental and political crises.

Results: As a result, the study states that, since the economic crisis of the 1970s, there has been the reduction of social protections linked to Welfare State and the downgrading of labour rights.  This juridical crisis has led to the continuous worsening of living conditions of population in general, breaking the promises of modernity outlined after World War II. An era of diminishing expectations then begins, exacerbated by the occurrence of extreme weather events, which highlight the contradiction between capitalism's ongoing search for new activities and natural resources and the preservation of environmental conditions necessary for the continuity of human life. The inability of nation states to provide viable solutions to these socioeconomic and environmental crises favours the rise of authoritarian governments throughout the world, causing the fraying of social pact and the crisis of democracy itself.

Conclusion: In conclusion, it argues that the solution to the multiple crises of capitalism depends on the renegotiation of the social contract for the 21st century, in order to recover the centrality of labour in the legal order and reinforce the protection of nature.

 KEYWORDS: capitalism; crisis of democratic State of Law; environmental crisis; social labor rights; socioeconomic crisis.