Temporality and democratic sustainability

Ideas of temporality are of key importance for understanding the relationship between democracy and sustainability. Moreover, engaging with different conceptions of temporality brings the centrality of issues of social and intergenerational justice for democratic sustainability transformations to the fore. As normative ideas, sustainability and democracy advocate for the possibility of an open future – a future that is formable and more just and ecologically feasible. However, for both concepts it is important to understand the lasting effects of historical inequalities and unsustainable practices on our material and institutional present environments. The past is here considered as not just preceding the present but as an integral part of any present and future politics. This chapter will compare teleological and non-linear notions of history, with the aim of developing a more inclusive understanding of different temporal experiences of democracy, justice, and sustainability. With reference to the notion of Kair ós the chapter further argues that the present can be understood not just as a bridge between past and future but as a space of opportunities that needs to be politically negotiated.