Law, the Humanities and Political Incertitude in a Time of Climate Change

Abstract

This article addresses how climate change triggers relevant transformations in the realm of the law and affects our politico-legal paradigms. To this end, it delivers cross-disciplinary research by focusing on a non-fictional literary genre, i.e. climate-change pop-science, which has arisen very recently. The article also explores the concept of ‘strategic formalism’, i.e. a strategic legal device unable to govern societal concerns. On the one hand, it shapes our approach to climate change and migration; on the other, it adapts ecological issues to the ‘traditional’ legal framework. Against this background, the article argues that non-fictional texts also reflect the ideas of the most active forces within society, and fuel dynamism when tackling the ecological crisis. In a time of climate change, these forces stir strategic formalism, and make the law act as a bridge linking our troubled reality to an inclusive future.