AEROPOLITICS 
The Western tradition of philosophy had started from the searching for the fundamental element of life and meaning, among which were proposed fire, water, air and earth. The competition between them had become the essence of philosophical and political thought. Eventually, the ‘earth’ element has ‘ultimately won’ the subjective battle for pan-European (and with later development of colonialism - global) imaginary. The Westphalian Treaty of 1648 sealed the shared reality of geopolitics. Since then, land-bound geopolitics as a fundamental design principle of political relations actively obstructs the potential of the other aethers [Ancient Greek αἰθήρ, “upper air”]. Aethers are substances of specific physical properties, which can be used for platforming the systems of relations between political agents.
In a gesture towards unlocking the alternative political imaginaries, Avenir Institute proposed the introduction of Suprapolitics [Latin supra, “above”, and Greek πολιτικά, “affairs of the cities”], a protocol of universal equality for all aethers of political relations. It doesn’t nullify the importance of geopolitics per se, but puts it in a dialogue with other forms of political thinking towards truly planetary thinking. Suprapolitics emphasises the subjective, arbitrary and functional nature of ‘grounding’ politics in any aether. In the context of planetary challenges that humanity faces today, it is more than obvious that unchallenged domination of geopolitical imaginary is harmful if not suicidal. We ought to introduce another principles of thinking about politics, equally respecting other aethers before it is too late.
Welcome AEROPOLITICS - the political design principle charting the political relations among citizens valuing the rights of subjectivity of the aether of air. Aeropolitics brings the subject of the rights of air in equal conversation with the rights of the geo/land/earth.
[to be continued…]
