A Question of Utter Importance: The Early History of Climate Change and Energy Policy in Sweden, 1974–1983

Author(s):  
Kristoffer Ekberg ◽  
Martin Hultman

This paper studies early arguments in Sweden for combating climate change. We show how scientific results in relation to climate change entered the political sphere as part of the debate on energy in the 1970s, a process we propose to name energysation. We argue that the use of climate science by pro-nuclear political actors served as a way of maintaining a course set by a high-energy society while simultaneously trying to outmanoeuvre the growing environmental anti-nuclear and low-energy movement. When the pro-nuclear power side met with resistance, this led to a displacement of climate change knowledge away from the realm of the national political sphere and specific energy forms, a process we conceptualise as de-energysation. By highlighting conflicts and the political framings of climate change in the early years 1974–1983, we suggest that the history of these frames influences current delay in climate change mitigation and limits the range of actions and ways of addressing the ongoing climate emergency.

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard van der Wurff

Climate change as a challenge for journalism: a review of the literature Climate change as a challenge for journalism: a review of the literature This literature review synthesizes 35 years of research on climate change reporting in industrialized countries. It focuses on the production and content of climate change news. Starting from the notion of the mediatisation of politics, the study shows that news values and media logic shape the selection of climate change related newsworthy events, while political actors and their logics determine the political framing of the issue. Next, implications for public opinion and mediated public debate are briefly assessed. Overall, the findings suggest that reporting focuses on threats and conflicts, favours national rather than transnational angles, reinforces ideological cleavages, downplays deliberative arguments, and disengages citizens. In conclusion, four lines of research are proposed that can help us better understand the role media might play in engaging citizens in a more deliberative mediated debate on climate change as important ecological and political challenge.


2017 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 440-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Howard Grøn ◽  
Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen

This article investigates whether local governments are able to act in a unified manner when responding to reputational threats posed by negative media coverage. Based on an argument that local governments facing political instability are less able to perform in unison, the article investigates a number of expectations, including various types of political instability (council, agenda and policy area instability) and their relation to different types of responses to negative media coverage from the political and administrative actors (communication behaviour, responsibility and blame-avoidant behaviour, and sanctioning behaviour). The article finds such relationships for some of these aspects. The analysis also indicates that the reputational history of a local government is related to the degree of unified behaviour. The empirical analysis is primarily based on a survey sent to all Danish public managers in the three upper levels of the local government hierarchy. Point for practitioners Reputation management has become an area for strategic management in the public sector, not least in local governments. This article demonstrates that public managers need to pay attention to the degree of political instability characterizing their local governments when dealing with reputational threats. If the local government is characterized by political instability, the need to address potential disagreements between administrative and political actors becomes vital. Furthermore, public managers need to take into account the reputational history of their organization as it may challenge the ability to coordinate a unified response across the political and administrative leadership during reputational threats.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 69-80
Author(s):  
D.G. SELTSER ◽  

The purpose of the article is to clarify the place and role of the decree in the general course of the political process and highlight its direct consequences for the fate of the CPSU and the USSR. The scientific literature on the topic is analyzed. It is concluded that scientists draw a direct connection between the final events of the history of the USSR – Yeltsin's decree about departisation, degradation of the CPSU, resistance to the Emergency Committee and the liquidation of the CPSU / USSR. The author describes the stages of the personnel actions of Gorbachev and Yeltsin. In his opinion, the nomenclature system was expected: «construction» of the elite (1985–1987), elections in the party (1988–1990), elections in the state (1989–1990), decree about departisation (1991). The decree is seen as the final stage in the denationalization of the party. The CPSU, having lost power and property, ceased to be a state. The content of the decree, the behavior of political actors in connection with its adoption and the political consequences of the decree are considered. In conclusion, it is concluded that the decree was a domino effect, a provocation to the instant collapse of the USSR.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 661-679 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL MORAT

Martin Heidegger and Ernst Jünger rightly count among the signal examples of intellectual complicity with National Socialism. But after supporting the National Socialist movement in its early years, they both withdrew from political activism during the 1930s and considered themselves to be in “inner emigration” thereafter. How did they react to the end of National Socialism, to the Allied occupation and finally to the foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949? Did they abandon their stance of seclusion and engage once more with political issues? Or did they persist in their withdrawal from the political sphere? In analyzing the intellectual relationship of Heidegger and Jünger after 1945, the article reevaluates the assumption of a “deradicalization” (Jerry Muller) of German conservatism after the Second World War by showing that Heidegger's and Jünger's postwar positions were no less radical than their earlier thought, although their attitude towards the political sphere changed fundamentally.


ICL Journal ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanaa Ahmed

AbstractDespite a rich history of judicial review, the activism witnessed during the tenure of former Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (2005-2013The Chaudhry court’s activism is mapped against the historic trajectory of judicial review in Pakistan, particularly the cases pertaining to military takeovers and administrative law. It is contended that the seeming expansion of the frontiers of judicial review merely mark the renegotiation of political power between the judiciary, the military as well as political and economic elite. Further, it is argued that the economy was the most convenient amphi­theatre for this battle for greater political relevance by and among the political actors in contemporary Pakistan and not, as alleged, what was actually being fought over.


1993 ◽  
Vol 38 (S1) ◽  
pp. 105-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gottfried Korff ◽  
Harry Drost

The last two centuries have produced, transformed and destroyed a myriad of political symbols of a linguistic, visual and ritual form. Between, say 1790 and 1990 the political sphere witnessed both an explosion in the generation of symbols and a radical decline of symbols. This calls for explanations.


2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 500-503
Author(s):  
Larry Arnhart

John Hibbing's essay is a persuasive defense of biopolitical research. I argue, however, that Hibbing does not go far enough in recognizing the broad vision of biopolitical science as a science of political animals. We need to see this as a science that moves through three levels of deep history: the natural history of the political species, the cultural history of a political community, and the biographical history of political actors in a community. I illustrate this by discussing Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation at these three levels of biopolitical science.


2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 441-448
Author(s):  
Arthur Rorsch

On 2 February 2007 the Intergovernmental Governmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) released a “Summary for Policymakers” which is a precis – written by its representatives, not all of whom were scientists – of its longer report, due for release in May. Drafts of the as-yet unpublished main report have been widely circulated and prompted much comment but views which differ from that of the IPCC and the main authors have been largely neglected. In response to the SPM ten scientists presented an alternative report based on the IPCC's draft document and this Independent Summary for Policymakers (ISPM) was released in London on February 5. The ISPM notes the limited level of knowledge of climate sciences and comments on hypotheses neglected by the IPCC SPM, and not surprisingly its conclusions contradict those of the IPCC. The rather alarmist IPCC SPM claims that it is between 90% and 95% probable that the observed climate change since 1950 has mainly been caused by mankind and in particular by the emission of CO2 produced by the burning of fossil fuel. In contrast the ISPM states that the extent to which humans are contributing to climate change is uncertain and will remain uncertain for some time. The ISPM also points out that that the observed climate changes are still within the limits of natural variability and can be explained by natural events, and suggests that some warming might be beneficial. This paper considers this controversy from the perspective of the history of science and shows precendents for questioning science orthodoxy.


2020 ◽  
pp. 11-28
Author(s):  
Colin Ray Anderson ◽  
Janneke Bruil ◽  
M. Jahi Chappell ◽  
Csilla Kiss ◽  
Michel Patrick Pimbert

AbstractIn this chapter, we introduce the origins and history of agroecology, outlining its emergence as a science and its longstanding history as a traditional practice throughout the world. We provide a brief review of the evidence of the benefits of agroecology in relation to productivity, livelihoods, biodiversity, nutrition, climate change and enhancing social relations. We then outline our approach to agroecology which is rooted in the tradition of political ecology that posits power and governance have always been the decisive factors in shaping agricultural and other ‘human’ systems.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Travis Coan ◽  
Constantine Boussalis ◽  
John Cook ◽  
Mirjam Nanko

A growing body of scholarship investigates the role of misinformation in shaping the debate on climate change. Our research builds on and extends this literature by 1) developing and validating a comprehensive taxonomy of climate misinformation, 2) conducting the largest content analysis to date on contrarian claims, 3) developing a computational model to accurately detect specific claims, and 4) drawing on an extensive corpus from conservative think-tank (CTTs) websites and contrarian blogs to construct a detailed history of misinformation over the past 20 years. Our study finds that climate misinformation produced by CTTs and contrarian blogs has focused on attacking the integrity of climate science and scientists and, increasingly, has challenged climate policy and renewable energy. We further demonstrate the utility of our approach by exploring the influence of corporate and foundation funding on the production and dissemination of specific contrarian claims.


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