Even though there is a strong public support for more ambitious policies to mitigate climate change, the politics do not yet follow. Climate assemblies (CA) have been suggested to improve climate change governance by bringing the citizens into the policymaking. However, in systems of representative democracy, the effect of CAs is largely decided by whether the politicians choose to follow the CA’s recommendations. Therefore, the politicians’ attitudes to CAs are of importance. This study is based on interviews with politicians in four Swedish municipalities who are about to conduct their first CA. The politicians’ attitudes to CAs are explored regarding how they view the democratic qualities of the CA and what their expectations are. The results show that CAs are mainly valued as a tool to create innovative policy proposals that are unlikely to stem out of the regular processes. Furthermore, the politicians see it as advantageous compared to regular citizen participation processes that the participants are well-informed and many social groups are represented. Regarding the role of the CA, the politicians frequently contrast the CA’s narrow focus on climate with their responsibility for the whole municipality. The argument is that the CA is not knowledgeable enough to make prioritisations concerning the whole municipality. Thus, the CA produces recommendations that the politicians will consider, but not necessarily follow. The study also highlights implications of the results for the design of CAs, for example in terms of recruitment and scope. There is no one size fits all approach, instead there are trade-offs that need to be acknowledged in the design to increase the chances of the CA to reach its set purpose.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-530701 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Theander, Daniel |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | Examensarbete vid Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 1650-6553 ; 2024/08 |
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