Climate policy opposition from the populist radical right

Abstract

Populism of the radical right has been identified as an important driver for climate change denial and opposition to climate policies, both among political parties (e.g., Cetkovic and Hagemann, 2020; Forchtner, 2019; Gemenis et al., 2012) and among citizens (e.g., Huber, 2020; Kulin et al., 2021; Sælen and Aasen, 2023). In contrast, the populist radical right positions on nature conservation are more ambivalent (Buzogány and Mohamad-Klotzbach 2022; Lubarda and Forchtner 2022). The surge in populism of the radical right poses a serious challenge to democracy and international collaboration generally (Eckersley 2019; Kaltwasser et al. 2017; Müller 2017), and to climate change governance particularly. Climate change has increasingly become a politicized, contentious policy issue that triggers resistance from right-wing populist (RWP) movements, indicating that increasing polarization might reduce the political feasibility of effective climate policies (Egan and Mullin 2017; McCright et al. 2016). It has been argued that RWP parties’ positions reveal that climate policy is no longer a valence issue but a positional issue (Fraune and Knodt 2018). This development stands in sharp contrast to the message from climate science that avoiding dangerous climate change require an unprecedented societal transition, and it represents one of the major stumbling blocks to progress under the Paris Agreement (Coglianese 2019). However, the reasons for and drivers of RWP opposition are not well understood in the academic literature. This panel addresses three issues that are core to understanding climate policy opposition from the populist radical right: 1. explaining why there is a link between RWP and climate policy opposition 2. exploring the relative importance of privileged versus marginalized groups as drivers climate policy opposition from the populist radical right 3. comparing attitudes of RWP supporters on climate science and policy with their attitudes on nature conservation. The panel covers both the demand side (voters) and supply side (parties) of RWP. The first paper includes a comparison of a variety of countries regarding the relationship between RWP and opposition to climate policy issues. Two papers draw on novel data from a survey of the general populations in Australia, Germany, Norway, and the USA, while one paper presents a case study of political parties in Australia.

Title	Details
Nationalism and Climate Policy: Unraveling the Paradox of Nationalist-driven Public Opposition in Progressive Societies	View Paper Details
Populism of the radical right and opposition to climate policy in Australia	View Paper Details
Which actors drive the populist radical right’s opposition to climate policy?	View Paper Details
Comparing and contrasting populist radical right views on nature conservation versus climate change	View Paper Details