Climate Backlash: Contentious reactions to policy action (BACKLASH)

Climate Backlash: Contentious reactions to policy action (BACKLASH)

Publications

Research papers:

Patterson, J., Paterson, M. (2024) Embracing the politics of transformation: Policy action as “battle-settlement events”. Review of Policy Research.

  • Societal transformations for climate change are intensely contested and at risk of resistance and backlash to ambitious policy action. Common models of transformative change, such as S-curves and social tipping points, assume that change is self-reinforcing. But this is a deeply questionable assumption when taking seriously the challenges of political conflict and struggle over societal change. Here, we develop a notion of transformations as unfolding through unfolding ‘battle-settlement events’ whichbetter reflect real-world political struggle within societal transformations. We draw on cases of energy system change in the United Kingdom and Australia.

Patterson, J.J., Feola, G., Kim, R.E. (2024) Negotiating Discord in Sustainability Transformations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121 (21) e2310186121.

  • Sustainability transformations widely called for, although understanding how they can be realized remains a profound challenge. Policy action faces inherent discord (i.e., conflict, pushback, resistance). This calls into question common recommendations (e.g., to build consensus, generate political will, and find win-win solutions) because these strategies simply may not be possible or realistic. How then, should we conceptualise policy action for transformation? Here, we propose a notion of ‘partial political settlements’ – imperfect and uncomfortable compromises – that can help to move transformations forward in the face of deep sociopolitical divisions.

Patterson, J. (2023) Backlash to Climate Policy. Global Environmental Politics. 23(1):1–23. [Open Access]

  • Although ambitious climate action is urgently needed in societies across the world, it can sometimes go wrong and trigger backlash. This can derail climate policy, and set back political momentum. But when and how backlash occurs is not well understood. This makes it hard to know what to expect when ambitious climate policy is introduced, and might even create fear among policymakers about how fast they can act. Therefore, this paper examines the issue of backlash to climate policy, and proposes an explanation for it: contested legitimacy. This illuminates why backlash is volatile and hostile beyond normal political disagreement. It provides a basis for future comparative analysis on the emergence, dynamics, and effects of backlash in climate politics.

Patterson, J.J. (2022) Culture and identity in climate policy (Editorial Commentary), Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change [Open Access]

  • Culture and social identity are increasingly seen as important in shaping the opportunities and limits of rapid climate action. For example, climate action can symbolise different things to different people. People may also be part of groups (e.g. local community, values-based community, or a nation) that see climate action as part of ‘who they are’ or as a threat to ‘who they are’. These kinds of shared beliefs, worldviews, values, and sense of self/others can shape behaviour alongside the tangible costs and benefits of a policy. This Commentary reflects on the ways in which scholars analyse culture and social identity in climate change research, and draws out implications for climate policy making.

Patterson, J., Wyborn, C., Westman, L., Brisbois, M.C., Milkoreit, M., Jayaram, D. (2021) The political effects of emergency frames in sustainability. Nature Sustainability 4: 841–850. [Open Access]

  • What are the political consequences of declaring climate change as an emergency? Does this help to generate collective action? Or does it have adverse effects (e.g. fear, securitisation, authoritarianism)? The literature is currently fragmented and divided. In this paper, we synthesize the range of political effects that can come with declaring sustainability issues as emergencies to provide a more comprehensive foundation for debate and decision-making.

Pahl-Wostl, C., Patterson, J.J. (2021) Transformative Change in Governance Systems (Commentary). Global Environmental Change 71: 102405.

  • Understanding transformations in governance systems is vital for advancing ambitious climate action because governance itself often needs reform. In this commentary, we reflect on the current state of knowledge on this topic, and argue that scholars need to give more attention to the contentious dynamics of such transformations.

Patterson, J.J. (2021) Remaking political institutions in sustainability transitions (Commentary). Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions. [Open Access]

  • Political institutions often fail to lead to ambitious climate action, but reforming them is often difficult. Institutional change does not happen on a blank slate, and political struggles occur because institutions have consequences for how costs and benefits are allocated. This viewpoint argues that we need to get better at applying insights on (past) institutional change to ‘think forward’ about how future changes may be accomplished.

Foundational research:

A variety of prior work led to the BACKLASH project. This includes work on: (i) the political and governance dimensions of sustainability transformations, (ii) the dilemmas and political struggles over justice in ambitious climate action, and (iii) the role of political institutions in shaping decision making in climate and environmental governance.