CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2023
| Author | Marhold, Franziska |
|---|---|
| Title | Right-Wing Parties' Opposition to Climate Policy in the EU: Understanding the Role of Anti-Internationalism in Environmental Politics |
| Summary | This thesis investigates the circumstances under which right-wing parties vote in favor of environmental policies. It argues that there is an important distinction between climate and other environmental issues. One factor that distinguishes the two is the requirement climate policy has for international cooperation. Since right-wing parties are rather opposed to binding treaties, international institutions, or aid for foreign countries, they are also expected to oppose climate policy. Environmental policy on the other hand does not have the same requirements for international cooperation, which is why right-wing parties can support these policies while staying in line with their nationalist and protectionist ideology. I find empirical support for this hypothesis both in roll call vote data in the European Parliament and a case study of an EU policy on energy efficiency from 2018. The thesis categorizes roll call vote data from 2014-2019 into climate and environmental issues and shows that all far-right-wing party groups prefer environmental policy over climate policy. The case study uses process tracing and provides further case-specific evidence for the hypothesis. While there are likely other causes as well, the thesis concludes that requiring international cooperation likely deters right-wing parties from voting for climate policies. |
| Supervisor | Mariyana, Angelova |
| Department | Undergraduate Studies BA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2023/marhold_franziska.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University