Articulating Climate Change Issues in Authoritarian Legislatures

• In Event: Authoritarian Legislatures

Abstract

How and when are climate change issues articulated in authoritarian legislatures? Do ruling and opposition party legislators frame climate change issues differently? Existing literature on authoritarian regimes suggests that in some contexts, opposition parties cultivate distinct political issues and brands to gain electoral support. Building on this literature, this paper argues that opposition parties are more likely to raise climate change and environmental issues, and more likely to frame the effects of climate change, such as flooding and droughts, to broader concerns about the climate. By contrast, ruling government representatives are less likely to discuss climate change, and more likely to frame issues in terms of economic growth and specific support groups of the government. To evaluate this argument, I perform a content analysis of state- and national-level parliamentary debates in Malaysia between 2004-2018. The paper contributes to broader literatures on climate change and authoritarian politics by examining the differing incentives of elected political actors and the different political costs and benefits for raising climate change issues.

Author

• Sebastian Dettman, Singapore Management University