The Planetary Costs of Nationalism

This roundtable examines the environmental and social costs of nationalism by foregrounding the material consequences of “imagined” political boundaries. Building on Benedict Anderson’s concept of imagined communities, it argues that national borders generate significant ecological harm through three interrelated processes: militarized border enforcement, colonial and postcolonial terraforming, and warfare. These practices produce large, often unaccounted-for carbon footprints, while also enabling the destruction and reconfiguration of ecosystems and cultures—what can be understood as forms of omnicide. The paper situates nationalism within broader histories of extractive capitalism and environmental transformation, emphasizing how geopolitical divisions intensify planetary crises. In response, it proposes a reorientation toward “planetary politics,” drawing on frameworks such as terrapolitanism, earth democracy, and cosmopolitanism from below. Such approaches envision nations as localized caretakers within a shared biosphere, advocating for governance and ethical orientations that prioritize ecological repair, historical accountability, and more-than-human interdependence.