An Imagined Political Community: The Concept of a Nation
An imagined political community that is naturally constrained and sovereign is referred to as a nation (Pellow, 51). Without outside influence, a nation's citizens exercise self-government.
Pluralism and Sources of Authority
Many people believe that the American government is a pluralistic state. A system in which multiple sources of authority coexist is known as pluralism. Churches, commercial organizations, trade unions, and activist groups are a few examples of sources of authority (Pellow, 47). For access to government power and resources, all of these authorities engage in competition. Power is divided in a pluralistic society to prevent the domination of one single group or the government. The citizens get different platforms to express their views through interest groups and associations, and they participate actively in the political system. According to Pellow, the United State government is less pluralist, and it contributes to racial and ecological violence.
Racial and Ecological Violence
Some frameworks have been developed to support the nation's contribution to racial and ecological violence. A theoretical framework, the Treadmill of Production, was developed by Allan Schnaiberg and Kenneth Gould. The framework was mainly to capture interactions between the political institutions of a country and market forces. When these two interacts, a minority of the people benefit by accumulating wealth and power. The majority, however, get fewer wages and less power on their hands. These few individuals with wealth and power end up becoming anti-ecological and anti-humanist (48). The treadmill of production developed after WWII when labor unions, industries, and the governments were writing agreements.
A study of the impacts of the treadmill of production was conducted to highlight the different outcomes of policy making on the minority groups such as people of color, ethnic groups, and the have-nots. They suffer a high burden on environmental inequality, and when decisions are made regarding their environment, they are not consulted. Researchers found out that when predicting where waste sites would be located, the race was considered in the United States. This was called environmental racism. An example is a small group of people living in U.S, the Kanaka Maoli, live in an area with hazardous waste sites (Pellow, 57).
Another framework is the risk society by Ulrich Beck (Pellow, 50). This framework analyses how the state, civil society, and the environment are related to one another. According to Beck, as the state tries to be modern, there is the use of more chemicals and toxins, and also there is suppression of the minority. These chemical poisons find their way to every social institution, people's bodies, and the environment. The production processes are for the benefit of the rich minority at the expense of people and lands seen to be less valuable. An example is when Occidental Petroleum, a Los Angeles company, planned to drill oil on a traditional land. This land belonged to an indigenous group of people in Colombia, the U'wa people (Pellow, 56). This project was highly opposed by the U'wa people to the extent that they were ready to commit suicide. Through the two frameworks by Gould and Schnaiberg and Beck, environmental inequality is visible. The state, therefore, contributes to both social and ecological violence.
Conclusion
To end the racial and ecological violence throughout the world, human rights activists and movements must get involved. Movements across the world must collaborate to challenge states to have policies that are socially and ecologically harmful. They must offer alternatives for sustainable and social justice and articulate a vision of global and human rights. States also need to undergo transformations to embrace democracy in their borders.
