Stability and Politicization in Climate Governance

by Paul Tobin (Editor), Matthew Paterson (Editor), Stacy D. VanDeveer (Editor)

Overview

Tackling climate change requires long-term commitment to action, yet an array of influential parties with vested interests stand opposed to this. How best to engage and balance these positions for positive change is of increasing concern for advocates and policy makers. Exploring a discord within climate change policy and politics, this insightful volume critically examines the competing assumptions and arguments underpinning political 'stability' versus 're/politicization' as a means of securing effective, long-term climate action. A range of cases exemplify the different political systems and power structures that underpin this antagonism, spanning geographical approaches, examples of non-governmental action, and key industries in the global economy. Authored by an international team of scholars, this book will be of interest to researchers of local, national, and international legislation, specialists on climate governance policy, and other scholars involved in climate action. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781009352451
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/21/2025
Pages:	290
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 1.50(h) x 9.50(d)

About the Author

Paul Tobin is an Associate Professor in Politics at the University of Manchester. He specialises in the politics and public policy of climate change, often within Europe. Paul has co-edited two previous edited volumes, and two Special Issues, on environmental politics.

Matthew Paterson is a Professor of International Politics and Director of the Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester. His research focuses on the political economy, global governance, and cultural politics of climate change. His latest book is In Search of Climate Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2021).

Stacy D. VanDeveer is a Professor of Global Governance and Human Security in the John C. McCormack School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He was 2023–24 Zennström Visiting Professor of Climate Leadership at Uppsala University and is co-editor of Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Politics (Oxford University Press, 2023).

Table of Contents

Contents; Acknowledgements; List of contributors; 1. Introduction: stability and politicization in climate governance Matthew Paterson, Paul Tobin and Stacy D. VanDeveer; Part I. Movement Politics: 2. The Fridays for future movement and the repoliticization of climate change policy in Germany Jale Tosun and Marc Debus; 3. Climate change worldviews and the scale of environmental justice Michael Méndez; 4. 'When you think about climate change, it is a social justice issue': between the rock of stability and the hard place of politicization for muslim climate actors Paul Tobin, Nafhesa Ali, Sherilyn MacGregor and Zarina Ahmad; Part II. Political Economy: 5. Politicizing coal burning: phase-Out policies from cheap signals to emergent norms and North-South contention Stacy D. VanDeveer; 6. Peaty politics Matthew Paterson; 7. Politicizing financial innovations for transformative climate justice Jennie C. Stephens and Martin Sokol; 8. Private climate governance and policy stability in the financial sector Virginia Haufler; Part III. Comparative Politics: 9. Energy transition in Brazil and South Africa: policy stability vs. politicization Kathryn Hochstetler; 10. Steering political conflicts for climate stability: the case of China Yixian Sun, Wei Shen and Joanna I. Lewis; 11. For better or for worse – a Break with Norway's consensual climate tradition? Fay M. Farstad, Erlend A. T. Hermansen and Bård Lahn; 12. Stability and politicization in framework climate laws Diarmuid Torney; 13. The illusion of 'Apolitical' climate policy Matto Mildenberger and Matthew Lockwood; Part IV. Global Politics: 14. Politicization conflicts in global climate governance Jen Iris Allan; 15. US-China relations and the competitive turn of green industrial policymaking Jonas Nahm; 16. The politics of stability and politicization of change: the carbon trap and just transition Steven Bernstein and Matthew Hoffmann; 17. Conclusions for stability and Re/politicization in climate governance Stacy D. VanDeveer, Paul Tobin and Matthew Paterson; Bibliography.