Roundtable: The ‘policy stability’ vs. ‘politicisation’ dilemma in climate politics

Abstract

In current debates in climate policy, there is a clear tension between a range of literatures arguing that we need long-term, stable climate policy that can generate ‘lock-in’ to low carbon futures, and a range that focus on the necessity of ongoing political conflict in particular to dislodge the power of incumbent actors. This roundtable is designed to bring together scholars for a focused discussion of these two sets of arguments and how we should think about the dilemma this generates. Understanding the complex tensions and dilemmas that arise out of the interaction between these two dynamics in climate politics will make important contributions both to academic debates in the field and to ideas for more ambitious climate policy action.