We are delighted to host a workshop at the next triennial congress of the Nordic Political Science Association (NoPSA) in Iceland, Reykjavik. The conference was originally scheduled for 2020 and has been postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new dates are: 10 – 13 August 2021
Our workshop with various contributions will talk to the following theme:
State and non-state climate action in the politics of transformation toward a low-carbon society
The United Nations Framework Agreement on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement recognizes the importance of non-state (for example business civil society, trade unions, indigenous people) and sub-national (e.g. regions and cities) climate initiatives in the transition towards a low carbon society. This rapprochement of the realms of state and non-state climate action has potentially significant effects on the role of the state in national climate policy-making and global climate governance. This workshop seeks to advance the research frontier and provide policy-relevant knowledge in the post-Paris policy landscape by examining the interplay between domestic and transnational climate initiatives in the political quest for de-carbonization in Nordic countries, the EU and beyond. Within sectors such as renewable energy, transport – Sweden for example – has an ambitious political target to become one of the world’s first fossil fuel-free welfare states by involving non-state actors. The workshop invites contributions conceptualizing the relationship between state and non-state climate action involving public and private actors; assessing the effectiveness and legitimacy of non-state climate action, and appraising the political impacts and transformative potential of transnational climate action. The workshop encourages methodological innovation and pluralism by including quantitative and qualitative methods such as discourse analysis, network analysis, single and comparative case studies, and large-n studies. The workshop will enhance our theoretical and empirical understanding of how states and non-state actors can mobilize climate action toward low-carbon societal transition in a Nordic, EU, and global context.
For further information contact Professor Karin Bäckstrand (karin.backstrand@statsvet.su.se), Associate Professor Eva Lövbrand (eva.lovbrand@liu.se) or Assistant Professor Oscar Widerberg (oscar.widerberg@vu.nl)
