Climate Change-Climate Obstruction

Chapter 7 reframes climate change not only as an environmental or scientific crisis, but as a political struggle fundamentally shaped by lies, deception, and structural violence. Focusing on the United States, Russia, and China, the chapter analyses how state and corporate actors use deception and lies to obscure responsibility, delay action, and maintain existing power structures. It introduces the concept of the state–capital nexus to describe the alignment of fossil fuel interests with state governance, arguing that this alliance actively manufactures doubt, suppresses dissent, and distorts truth in order to protect entrenched economic power. The chapter contrasts different political models: ‘fossil fascism’ in the United States and Russia, where authoritarian tendencies and disinformation reinforce climate inaction, and ‘green authoritarianism’ in China, where ecological progress is pursued through controlled narratives and censorship. Across these contexts, the chapter identifies structural deception as a key mechanism by which domination is maintained, policy is undermined, and democratic accountability is weakened. It concludes that the climate crisis is ultimately a crisis of power, in which the suppression of truth plays a central and enduring role.