When the deliberately inefficient give-and-take of liberal democracy doesn't let you shoehorn neighbors into your preferred policy solutions, there are two likely reactions: You decide the coercive state isn't the right means for achieving your goals and try voluntary means instead, or you conclude that the give-and-take of disagreement and debate is the problem and double down on coercion with the safeguards removed. That second choice in favor of authoritarian end-runs is growing increasingly popular, with environmentalists among the greatest enthusiasts.
"In the Q&A session after every talk I give on climate change, someone will typically raise a rather uncomfortable question: are democracies, given the short-termist nature of electoral politics, fundamentally incapable of tackling the climate crisis?" writes Mark Lynas, author of Our Final Warning: Six Degrees of Climate Emergency, at Persuasion. "Nor is this idea limited to a political fringe. Environmentalist academics with impeccable liberal credentials also occasionally raise the question of whether classic Western liberal democracy isn't up to the job."
