Preempting the second contradiction: The political economy of solar geoengineering

This dissertation explores the emergence of Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI) as a solar geoengineering strategy. Once relegated to the fantasies of science fiction, solar geoengineering---the intentional modification of Earth's albedo to counteract climate change---is moving to the fore in institutions ranging from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to the U.S. Department of Energy. SAI entails the injection sulfur dioxide into the lower stratosphere to reflect and absorb solar radiation prior to reaching Earth's surface, thereby inducing a cooling effect independent of reductions in CO2. Eliciting both captivation and revulsion, SAI has the capacity to quickly, cheaply, and effectively slow the rate of climatic change; yet, it also portends the intentional management of the climate system, replete with unknown consequences.;I explore the political economy of solar geoengineering through three interwoven projects. First, through a systematic, detailed synthesis of recent work in political economy and nature-society geography, I construct a conceptual-theoretical framework contextualizing the emergence of SAI in the broader planetary-scale crises of capitalism---what I term the 'formal and real subsumption of the biosphere.' Second, I examine the politico-epistemological assumptions from International Relations (IR) theory undergirding SAI policy and governance debates via an examination of the National Academy of Science's report on SAI (2015), and an in-depth case study of SAI research and policy development at Harvard University (through primary document analysis, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews with key actors). Third, I examine the connections between SAI and U.S. national security through a case study of The RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA. Through policy document analysis and semi-structured interviews with key experts at RAND, I argue that SAI fits logically into emerging security strategies predicated on the doctrine of preemption, and can be (and is being) enrolled within emerging attempts to renew U.S. 'Grand Strategy' for the twenty-first century.;My overarching argument is as follows: As the liberal-capitalist mode of production is running up against an interwoven mesh of biophysical, economic, and political limits to its continued existence, Stratospheric Aerosol Injection is being increasingly considered as a climate management tactic because it can effectuate a preemptive spatio-temporal fix for the second contradiction of capitalism and potentially serve as a mechanism through which the US can bolster its hegemonic position in the liberal-capitalist international order. This analysis can inform the burgeoning geoengineering debate, and contribute to new discussions in political geography seeking to grapple with the emergence of 'the planetary' as an analytical scale and realm of political contestation.