Sara Fuller

This chapter contextualises the 21 authored contributions presented in the Handbook on Energy Justice. It commences by charting the historical and intellectual development of the energy justice field, as well as ongoing and emerging debates. The chapter then reflects on the individual contributions of each chapter in relation to the book’s overall purpose to integrate and unsettle mainstream understandings of energy justice.

Concluding our edited collection Activism and Authoritarian Governance in Asia, this chapter reflects on three key areas that emerge through the rich conceptual and empirical cases explored in the volume. First, the chapter draws attention to the importance of grounding conceptualisations of activism in Asian contexts to understand the politics of contestation in a more situated way, thus challenging existing theoretical frameworks primarily derived from Western-centric liberal contexts. Second, the chapter highlights how authoritarian governance exists in enclaves across diverse regime types within the region, which has implications for how we understand authoritarianism, state–civil society relations, and the spaces that emerge for activism and organising. Third, through the empirical case studies, it demonstrates how distinct practices of activism are emerging across Asia, which inform regional politics and governance and are likely to shape future organising and activism. Overall, the chapter sets out critical insights generated through the empirical case studies and future directions for research.

This chapter provides an introduction to the edited volume, Activism and Authoritarian Governance in Asia. Our starting premise is that while activism is a critical topic for state–society relations that has been explored across a range of geographical sites and spaces, there remains a need to critically examine how activism and authoritarian governance interact in practice. In particular, the chapter outlines the significance of Asia as a region through which to interrogate diverse and multiple activist practices, and how this may influence theorising about activism more broadly. The chapter sets out our tripartite theoretical organising framework exploring the concepts, spaces, and practices of activism. It provides a detailed overview of the contributions from an array of Asian countries that draw on a diverse range of theoretical and methodological approaches to examine in-depth case studies on activism and authoritarian governance across the region.

This interdisciplinary book offers a new analysis of the concepts, spaces, and practices of activism that emerge under diverse authoritarian modes of governance in Asia. Demonstrating the limitations of existing conceptual approaches in accounting for activism in Asia, the book also offers new understandings of authoritarian governance practices and how these shape state-civil society relations. In conjunction with its tripartite theoretical framework, the book presents regional knowledge from an array of countries in Asia, with empirically rich contributions from both scholars and activists. Through in-depth case studies, the book offers new scholarly insights that highlight the ways in which activism emerges and is contested across Asia. As such, it will be of interest to students and scholars of Asian politics, law, and sociology.

Collaboration is strongly promoted as an effective means for cities to respond to climate change. While collaboration is perceived to offer opportunities to progress climate action in cities, little is known about how collaboration can enable low‐carbon transformation in practice. Furthermore, while collaboration is largely framed as a positive endeavour, there is a need to more carefully explore the challenges and barriers that may arise. This paper explores the aims, processes, and outcomes of collaboration within urban climate governance. Drawing on a policy review and semi‐structured interviews, we present empirical findings from the case study of Hong Kong. This paper identifies three types of collaboration that are structured by regulations, oriented to policy goals, and emerge as everyday practices within the governance of climate change and the energy system. The forms of collaboration challenge the assumptions that collaboration always brings positive outcomes in mobilising action for climate change. While collaboration opens up different modes of governance within cities, the paper highlights significant barriers in terms of the diverse roles of actors, ongoing power imbalances, and shifting governance spaces for intervention. Given the prevailing interest in working together, it is critical to review carefully how collaboration facilitates cities to achieve their climate goals and create momentum for action.

Conflicts around transport mega-projects, driven by social and environmental impacts, are increasingly prevalent around the world. While environmental impacts have received significant attention, less is known about how the intangible social impacts of these projects stimulate conflict. Assessment of these impacts is crucial; however, the process is often influenced by the underlying power relationships within neoliberal governance. This paper analyses the discursive context of state-community conflicts in transport mega-projects and explores how power dynamics shape the perceptions of both the intensity and extent of its social impacts. Drawing on a case study of the WestConnex project, a controversial motorway development in Sydney, the paper analyses government policy documents and online community submissions to explore the conflicts around the project. Through critical discourse analysis, the paper provides insights into the nature of power relationships that limit the scope of impact assessment and underpin conflicts.