Climate Backlash: Contentious reactions to policy action (BACKLASH)

Climate Backlash: Contentious reactions to policy action (BACKLASH)

News

2025

Forthcoming.

 

2024

 

11 DEC 2024: Ksenia Anisimova recieves the Best Paper Award at the European QCA Conference, 10-11 Dec 24 in Tilburg, The Netherlands!

 

10 DEC 24: Chapter published in high-profile policy report by the Civic Research Network in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program at Carnegie Europe titled ‘Civic Activism in an Intensifying Climate Crisis’. The chapter written by James Patterson is on ‘Civic Activism Against Climate Action and the Challenge of Backlash‘. This chapter translates insights from the BACKLASH project and reflects on the implications for future civic and governmental action.

 

4 DEC 24: BACKLASH project profiled in mapping of ERC-funded research contributing to sustainability (p.16-17):

 

2 DEC 2024: Valeria Zambianchi is awarded her PhD (joint degree between KU Leuven and Utrecht University) after a confident and compelling defense that impressed the committee!

 

12 NOV 24: Prestigious visiting research fellowship completed by Cille Kaiser at the Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics, SciencesPo, Paris. This one-month fellowship was competitively awarded, and allowed Cille to be immersed in the host research group, and complementing her current fieldwork in France. Well done Cille!

 

28 OCT 24: Policy article published in Internationale Politik (German Council on Foreign Relations) on ‘Von Windrädern und Widerständen [Of Windturbines and Resistances]’. This article translates insights from the BACKLASH project to a European policy and geopolitical context.

 

24 OCT 2024: New paper published in Climate Policy led by Ksenia Anisimova titled ‘Public responses to hard climate policies in OECD member countries: prevalence of contention at the post-adoption stage‘. This paper provides a landmark assessment of the prevalence of climate policy backlash over a 15-year period, critically informing debates about the risk of policy contestation.

 

31 OCT 24: Reply to stimulating debate on our paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences – titled ‘Reply to Majer et al.: Negotiating policy action for transformation requires both sociopolitical and behavioral perspectives‘. We argue that policy negotiation occurs in complex sociopolitical contexts and interdisciplinary insights need to be combined to understand difficult policy negotiation.

 

25 OCT 24: Invited expert interdisciplinary workshop held on the topic of ‘Dealing with conflict in societal transition/transformation: Interrogating a ‘partial settlements’ approach’, 24-25 Oct 2024, Utrecht University. Twelve scholars from fields of sustainability transformations, peace and conflict studies, and political theory came together for two days of intensive reflection and debate to try to understand how ‘partial political settlements’ (a type of non-ideal action in divided sociopolitical settings) emerge, unfold, and their effects. This workshop was jointly organised by BACKLASH PI James Patterson, sustainability transformations scholar Giuseppe Feola and peace and conflict studies scholar Chris van den Borgh, funded by the Institutions for Open Societies strategic theme of Utrecht University.

 

18 OCT 24: Three presentations given at the 2024 Earth System Governance Forum: Re-imagining Earth System Governance in an Era of Polycrisis (online) 14-18 Oct 2024 as part of the Working Group on Decarbonisation. PhD researchers Ksenia Anisimova, Jasmin Logg-Scarvell, and Cille Kaiser helped organise the panels and also gave presentations on their work.

 

12 SEP 24: Presentation given by James Patterson at the inaugural National Sustainability Society Conference, University of Washington, Seattle, United States, 9-12 September 2024. This presentation was on ‘Negotiating discord in sustainability transformations: Rethinking policy action in the face of fractious politics by learning from empirical cases’ in a special session on navigating values in sustainability transformations. It posited and built further on insights published earlier this year on this topic, trying to understand how policy action can move forward in the face of intense sociopolitical division of questions of sustainability transformation.

 

30 AUG 24: Presentation given by Cille Kaiser at Royal Geographical Society & Institute of British Geographers Annual International Conference, London, UK, 27-30 Aug 2024.

 

15 AUG 24: Several presentations given by the BACKLASH team at the European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR) Annual Conference, University College Dublin, 12-15 Aug 2024. The whole conference was again rich and inspiring with insights and debates on climate and environmental politics!

 

22 JUL 2024: New paper published in Review of Policy Research through collaboration between BACKLASH PI James Patterson and University of Manchester climate politics scholar Matthew Patterson titled ‘Embracing the politics of transformation: Policy action as “battle-settlement events”‘. This paper develops a conflict-centred approach to policy action for societal transformations on climate change, with cases from Australia and the UK.

 

28 JUN 24: Presentation of draft paper given by Ksenia Anisimova at International Public Policy Association Workshop, Guadalajara, Mexico, 26-28 June 2024 in workshop on ‘Wicked Problems in Public Policy: Definitions, Methods, Ethics and Uncertainty in Decision-Making‘. This stimulating and constructive event helped to significantly develop the paper being presented!

 

20 JUN 24: News article published in the major Dutch newspaper NRC based on interview with James Patterson about the relation between climate opposition and the emerging rightward turn in Dutch and European politics. The titled is perhaps a bit misleading but the explanation in the text is more nuanced ‘Niet iedereen die op een radicaal-rechtse partij stemt is tegen groene politiek‘. In the article, I argue that (1) climate policy did not play a major role in the recent Dutch elections even though agricultural policy did, and (2) proponents of climate policy should not automatically dismiss all voters of parties on the political right, but rather, try to find ways to appeal to them differently, especially those who are more moderate in order to weaken the influence of those on the far right.

 

25 APR 24: New paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences titled ‘Negotiating Discord in Sustainability Transformations‘ through collaboration between three ERC projects. This paper critiques consensus-oriented thinking on sustainability transformations, and argues instead for a discord-oriented perspective, where policy action has the character of ‘partial political settlements’ rather than roadmaps or solutions.

 

1 APR 24: The BACKLASH project warmly welcomes Paula Boy, student in the Global Sustainability Science program, as a student research assistant! Paula will be helping to gather and organise data, and gain experience working on a real-world research project alongside her studies. We are looking forward to her valuable contribution!

 

28 MAR 24: Stimulating paper-development workshop held on ‘Contested Societal Transformations: The Role of Conflict in Climate Policy Action‘ at the European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR) Joint Sessions of Workshops, Leuphana University, Germany, 25-28 March 2024. The workshop was Directed by BACKLASH PI James Patterson and environmental politics scholar Jens Marquardt (TU Darmstad). It brought together emerging and established scholars from across Europe working on diverse and exciting topics related to contested climate policy and transformation. Thank you to all participants and ECPR for the very inspiring week!

 

2023

 

15 NOV 23: Poster presentation given on the BACKLASH project by Ksenia Anisimova, Jasmin Logg-Scarvell, and Cille Kaiser at the Netherlands’ Research School for Socio-Economic and Natural Sciences of the Environment (SENSE) Symposium, 15 Nov 2023, VU Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 

 

13 NOV 23: James Patterson contributes to interdisciplinary social science panel discussion on ‘The next climate summit: What’s at stake? A Roundtable Discussion with Experts on the Climate Emergency’, hosted by the Environmental Humanities Network, 13 Nov 2023, Utrecht University.

 

3 NOV 23: Presentation given by Jasmin Logg-Scarvell at Netherlands Institute of Governance conference, 2-3 Nov 2023, Delft University, The Netherlands.

 

27 OCT 23: Several presentations given by BACKLASH team members at the Radboud conference on Earth System Governance, 23-27 Oct 2023, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

  • Ksenia Anisimova presented on ‘Public Responses to Coercive Climate Policies: Limited Evidence of Backlash across OECD Countries’.
  • Jasmin Logg-Scarvell presented on ‘Bureaucratic agency in climate policy backlash: types, effects and legacies’.
  • James Patterson presented three papers on: (1) ‘Ideational Politics of Domestic Climate Policy: Delegitimation and its Consequences’; (2) ‘Volatile pushback to domestic climate policy action: A conceptual framework’ (with Ksenia Anisimova, Jasmin Logg-Scarvell, Cille Kaiser); and (3) ‘Embracing the politics of transformation: Reconceptualising policy action as battle-settlement events’ (with Matthew Paterson).

Ksenia Anisimova and James Patterson also hosted a panel session on ‘Struggles over Climate Policy: Linking Institutions, Elites, and Mass Publics’ generating rich insights into issues such as mass public preferences, policy feedback, elite responsiveness, and public contention. We thank all speakers and participants for this excellent session!

 

11 OCT 23: Work from BACKLASH project is cited in an article by The Economist titled: ‘The global backlash against climate policies has begun’, 11 October 2023.

 

29 SEP 23: James Patterson gives public presentation on ‘How to avert climate backlash’ at the Betweter science festival, Tivoli Vredenburg Theatre, 29 Sep 2023, Utrecht, The Netherlands. This focused on communicating about the topic of climate backlash to a broad public audience within a program of diverse science presentations from scholars at Utrecht University and beyond!

 

8 SEP 23: Several presentations given by BACKLASH team members at the European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR) Annual Conference, 4-8 Sep 2023, Prague, Czech Republic. This was a stimulating event, in a beautiful city. Interest in climate backlash and related themes seems to be growing fast among climate, energy, and environmental politics scholars.

 

1 SEP 23: Presentation given by Cille Kaiser at Royal Geographical Society & Institute of British Geographers Annual International Conference, London, UK, 30 Aug-1 Sep 2023.

 

23 AUG 23: Outreach article about advancing climate action written in The Conversation (2021) picked up for use in new open access textbook as a learning item on the SDGs being prepared by Sussex University, UK.

 

29 JUN 23: Presentation given by Ksenia Anisimova at the 6th International Conference on Public Policy, 27-29 June, Toronto, Canada (online).

 

22 JUN 23: James Patterson contributes to interdisciplinary social science panel discussion ‘What’s in a Name? Transformations, Transitions and the Current Critical Moment’, at a conference on Law’s Role in Sustainable Globalization: Crises, Tragedy and Transformative Possibilities, 22 June 2023, University of Amsterdam.

 

25 MAY 23: BACKLASH team hosts international visit from Professor Brian Head from the University of Queensland, Australia who is a renowned expert in wicked problems in policy studies. James Patterson organised a research seminar and Jasmin Logg-Scarvell co-organised a PhD workshop with Prof. Head, both of which were vibrant and insightful!

 

13 APR 23: Presentation given by James Patterson at the Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) Conference: Institutional Challenges and Policy Responses, Utrecht University, 13 April 2023. This was a stimulating discussion about core ideas in the BACKLASH project with a wider interdisciplinary social science audience.

 

3 MAR 23: Collaborative PhD workshop held between BACKLASH and POLYCARBON projects hosted at KU Leuven, Belgium. See blog post on the workshop here!

 

1 FEB 23: New paper published on ‘Backlash to climate policy‘ in the journal Global Environmental Politics. The paper identifies policy backlash as a key issue in contemporary climate politics, develops a conceptual pathway for the emergence of policy backlash, and derives hypotheses about backlash (emergence, escalation, effects) to inform empirical work. This is a key foundational output for the BACKLASH project.

 

2022

 

14 NOV 22: Presentation given by Jasmin Logg-Scarvell at Netherlands Institute of Governance conference, 13-14 Oct 2022, Tilburg University, The Netherlands.

 

24 OCT 22: Two presentations given by James Patterson providing early insights from the BACKLASH project at the Toronto conference on Earth System Governance, 21-24 October, Toronto, Canada. These presentations were on: (i) conceptualising backlash to climate policy, and (ii) the role of contested legitimacy in contemporary climate politics. In addition, James Patterson also participated in semi-plenary session on deliberation and knowledge in ecological transitions hosted by Prof. Bernard Reber, SciencesPo.

 

5 OCT 22: Research seminar given by James Patterson at Sustainable Consumption Institute and Department of Politics, University of Manchester, UK (hosted by Prof. Matthew Paterson). This seminar discussed early insights from the project with scholars working at the intersection of climate politics and political research more generally.

 

29 AUG 22: BACKLASH project endorsed by the Earth System Governance network – the largest global network of scholars on environmental politics and governance!

 

26 AUG 22: Presentation given on ‘Backlash to climate policy‘ by James Patterson at European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR) Annual Conference, 22-26 Aug, Innsbruck, Austria. This presentation gave early insights from the project with scholars working at the intersection of climate politics and political research more generally.

 

1 JUN 22: The BACKLASH project warmly welcomes Cille Kaiser as a PhD researcher! Cille brings an outstanding background in political science and environmental governance. Cille’s work will focus on analyzing how contentious responses to climate policies arise within specific situations in the UK and France, shining light on the role of complex sociopolitical and material contexts.

 

22 APR 22: Draft paper presented on ‘Public authority in stressed political systems: The contested legitimacy of change and stability in climate governance‘ by James Patterson at European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR) Joint Sessions of workshops 19-22 Apr 2022, Edinburgh, UK. This was a very stimulating workshop on climate politics, considering the growing occurrence of both right wing populism and climate action movements.

 

29 MAR 22: Research seminar given by James Patterson in Energy Group, University of Sussex, UK (online) on the work of the BACKLASH project. This seminar discussed early insights from the project with scholars working at the intersection of energy policy and climate politics.

 

21 JAN 22: New editorial paper published on ‘Culture and identity in climate policy‘ in the journal Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change. The paper scans different lines of thinking about culture and identity in climate policy, linked to: (i) populism, (ii) contentious politics, and (iii) everyday practices in people’s lives. It aims to stimulate the study of cultural aspects of contentious reactions to climate policy.

 

2021

 

29 NOV 21: New Commentary paper published on ‘Transformative Change in Governance Systems‘ in the journal Global Environmental Change led by Claudia Pahl-Wostl from the University of Osnabrück, Germany.  This helps to link the issue of backlash to evolving notions of governance of sustainability transformations where it is likely to become increasingly prevalent.

 

17 NOV 21: Presentation given in Oak Foundation philanthropic foundation roundtable panel on ‘How to anticipate and respond to systems disruption’. This was a fascinating opportunity to share and test early insights from the BACKLASH project in the context of rapid changes in global contexts for philanthropy and civil society.

 

15 NOV 21: The BACKLASH project warmly welcomes Jasmin Logg-Scarvell as a PhD researcher! Jasmin brings an outstanding background in public policy both academically and professionally through a decade of working in the public service in climate policy and other domains. Jasmin’s work will focus on analyzing the post-adoption politics of contentious climate policies in Australia and Canada, with a particular emphasis on bureaucratic politics.

 

1 NOV 21: News item published on recent paper: ‘Climate emergencies – do they help?‘, University of Sheffield, UK.

 

19 OCT 21: New public outreach article published on ‘How to make climate action popular‘ in The Conversation (UK) as part coverage on the COP26 Glasgow climate conference.

 

20 SEP 21: News item published on recent paper: ‘Experts split over effectiveness of climate emergency declarations, new comprehensive academic review finds‘, University of Sussex, UK.

 

9 SEP 21: Three presentations given by James Patterson providing early insights from the BACKLASH project at the 2021 Bratislava conference on Earth System Governance, 7-9 Sep 2021, Bratislava, Slovakia (online). These presentations were on: (i) conceptualising backlash to climate policy, and (ii) the political effects of emergency frames in sustainability (with Carina Wyborn, Marie-Claire Brisbois, Linda Westman, Dhanasree Jayaram, and Manjana Milkoreit).  The third presentation was on Remaking Political Institutions: Climate Change and Beyond, a new compact monograph that was part of the prior work leading to the BACKLASH project.

 

4 SEP 21:News item published on recent article: ‘Study about the political effects of declaring a climate emergency‘, ClimateEmergencyDeclaration.org (which is a global website tracking climate emergency declarations).

 

3 SEP 21: Presentation given by James Patterson on ‘Climate Backlash: Contentious Politics of Ambitious Policy Action‘ at European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR) Annual Conference, 30 Aug-3 Sep 2021 (online). Additionally, James Patterson also participated in a Roundtable on ‘The ‘policy stability’ vs. ‘politicisation’ dilemma in climate politics‘.

 

1 SEP 21: The BACKLASH project warmly welcomes Ksenia Anisimova as a PhD researcher! Ksenia brings an outstanding background in public policy and international relations, with experience in both Europe and the United States. Ksenia’s work will focus on analyzing patterns of contentious responses to climate policy in OECD countries.

 

25 AUG 21: News item published on recent paper: ‘Declaring sustainability issues as emergencies: is it a good idea?‘, Utrecht University News.

 

16 JUL 21: New paper published on ‘The political effects of emergency frames in sustainability‘ in the journal Nature Sustainability. This paper tackles the topical question in contentious climate politics of climate and sustainability issues being treated as emergencies. Is this a good strategy? We find that the answer is mixed because of multiple different effects of doing so. This was a great collaboration between scholars coming from different angles on this challenging topic!

 

2 FEB 21: BACKLASH project begins!