Intersectionality and climate policy-making: The inclusion of social difference by three Swedish government agencies

Singleton, Benedict; Rask, Nanna; Magnusdottir, Gunnhildur Lily; Kronsell, Annica

doi:10.1177/23996544211005778

Cited by 12 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…Thus, the framing of justice arguments contributes to politicizing transition governance in ways that render some policy options impossible. The situation is similar in Swedish government agencies (Singleton et al, 2022), who mention energy and climate justice at a general level in different documents, without affecting concrete policy proposals.…”

Section: Output Legitimacy and Distributive Justicementioning

confidence: 93%

The ‘Nasty Politics’ of Swedish Climate Governance: A Threat to the Climate and Democracy

von Malmborg

2024

Preprint

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Sweden has long been hailed as a role model in climate policy. But the new right-wing government supported by a far-right populist party is undertaking a paradigm shift in Swedish climate policy and governance. This paper critically analyses this paradigm shift and its impacts on legitimacy, accountability and justice. These are democratic norms important in the analysis of a just transition to climate neutrality. Severe democratic deficits of the policy process and the policies proposed and adopted are identified, suggesting ‘nasty politics’ characterised by populist, divisive, and contentious rhetoric that entrenches polarization and us/them narratives. Climate scientists and the climate justice movement are discriminated in the policy process, the latter also being accused of terrorism and seen as a threat to democracy by the government. The deficits are partly explained by the neo-corporatist political system of Sweden and the dominance of the (neo)liberal discourse of ecological modernization in Swedish environmental policy, but primarily with the ongoing process of autocratization driven by anti-democratic far-right populist parties throughout Europe. The anti-democratic climate policy reforms in Sweden are foreboding an unwelcome development in the EU given the boost of far-right populist parties in the upcoming elections to the European Parliament in June 2024.

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Section: Output Legitimacy and Distributive Justicementioning

confidence: 93%

The ‘Nasty Politics’ of Swedish Climate Governance: A Threat to the Climate and Democracy

von Malmborg

2024

Preprint

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“…Thus, the framing of justice arguments contributes to politicizing transition governance in ways that render some policy options impossible. The situation is similar in Swedish government agencies [230], who mention energy and climate justice at a general level in different documents, without effecting concrete policy proposals.…”

Section: The Sweden Democrats and The Tidö Governmentmentioning

confidence: 95%

Strategies and Impacts of Policy Entrepreneurs: Ideology, Democracy, and the Quest for a Just Transition to Climate Neutrality

von Malmborg

2024

Sustainability

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The concept of policy entrepreneurs has gained increasing attention in studies of policy change, including climate policy and governance. It foregrounds the role of agency in understanding policy change. However, agency of policy entrepreneurs in the policy process is political and conceals the power that shapes how public problems and policies are framed and defined. Thus, policy entrepreneurs should be confronted with the challenge of generating legitimacy, accountability, and justice in their actions and the implementation of their targeted policy change. Drawing on political–philosophical theories of liberal and deliberative democracy as well as environmental and ecological democracy this paper outlines a conceptual framework for critical analytical as well as normative research on strategies and impacts of policy entrepreneurs on democratic governance, primarily in climate policy but also more generally. Empirical research on the strategies and impacts of policy entrepreneurs in recent policymaking on climate change mitigation in the EU and Sweden identifies several deficits related to the democratic principles of legitimacy, accountability, and justice. It is found that policy entrepreneurs from different social spheres use cultural–institutional entrepreneurship to influence beliefs and perceptions on problems and policies. In addition, it is found that public sector policy entrepreneurs use structural entrepreneurship on ideological grounds to change existing power relations in climate governance. In all, the paper brings ideology and politics into research on policy entrepreneurs. It is suggested that not only the strategies used, but also the ideologies of the actors that use them, are decisive for the impacts of policy entrepreneurs, and thus, whether their advocacy will adhere to democratic norms and facilitate or hamper a just transition to climate neutrality and sustainability. The paper ends with proposals on how policy entrepreneurs can act more democratically, how to deal with populist policy entrepreneurs wanting to erode democracy, and conditions for climate justice movements to take responsibility and act in a more entrepreneurial way.

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“…Intersectionality in climate governance and the possibility for young people, indigenous people, and people of colour to participate in policy processes has been widely discussed (e.g. Shepard & Corbin-Mark, 2009;Kaijser & Kronsell, 2014;Whyte, 2019;Magnusson, 2022;Singleton et al, 2022).…”

Section: A Strong Theory On Policy Entrepreneursmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Role Model to International Scapegoat: Analysing the Paradigm Shift in Swedish Climate Policy and Governance

von Malmborg

2024

Preprint

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Sweden has long been hailed as a role model in climate policy. But the new right-wing government supported by a far-right populist party is undertaking a paradigm shift in Swedish climate policy and governance. This paper critically analyses this paradigm shift from perspectives of legitimacy, accountability and justice. These are democratic norms important in the analysis of a just transition to climate neutrality. Severe democratic deficits of the policy process and the policies proposed and adopted are identified. The deficits are explained by the neo-corporatist political system of Sweden, the dominance of the (neo)liberal discourse of ecological modernization in Swedish environmental policy, and an ongoing process of autocratization driven by anti-democratic far-right populist parties throughout Europe. The paper ends by suggesting how climate policy and governance can be democratized and re-politicized, that also give room for climate justice advocates to take part in policy processes.

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Intersectionality and climate policy-making: The inclusion of social difference by three Swedish government agencies

Cited by 12 publications

References 77 publications

The ‘Nasty Politics’ of Swedish Climate Governance: A Threat to the Climate and Democracy

The ‘Nasty Politics’ of Swedish Climate Governance: A Threat to the Climate and Democracy

Strategies and Impacts of Policy Entrepreneurs: Ideology, Democracy, and the Quest for a Just Transition to Climate Neutrality

From Role Model to International Scapegoat: Analysing the Paradigm Shift in Swedish Climate Policy and Governance

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