Nationalist-Populist Ideology and Willingness to Take Environmental Protective Action in the US and Scandinavian Countries

• In Event: Political Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Environmental Politics (Table 6)

Abstract

In the era of disembodied globalization, it is undeniable that the rising global imaginary drives the current ideological transformation, where even anti-globalist populism acts as a catalyst for spreading nationalist-populist ideology worldwide. This ideological convergence can potentially alter people’s beliefs and actions regarding environmental protection. By analyzing a subset of (n=4947) observations from the individual-level international social survey data (ISSP-2020), this study explored how do nationalist-populist ideologies predict individual attitudes toward environmental protective actions? And what roles do institutional trust and skepticism about personal control play in mediating the association in two distinctive regions—the US and the Scandinavian countries? The analysis draws on linear regression models for the two distinctive regions to assess the robustness of the findings. Results reveal that nationalist-populist ideology consistently and significantly predicts decreased willingness to take pro-environmental action, reduces institutional trust, and disempowers individuals by fostering skepticism in both regions. In contrast, institutional trust and skepticism confirm a partial mediation, the former with a positive effect and the latter with a negative effect on willingness. Additionally, among the control variables like age, sex, educational years, and appreciation of nature, females compared to males and appreciation of nature emerged as strong positive predictors of willingness across all models in the two regions. However, the coefficient size for the US was inflated with an enhanced goodness of fit compared to the case of the Scandinavian regions. These findings highlight the nuanced challenges of ideological barriers in pro-environmental action and suggest that by addressing the complex ideological boundaries of national populism, restoring institutional trust, and fostering confidence, policymakers can develop effective strategies encouraging environmental protection.

Author

• S M Anowarul Kayes Shimul, University of Hawaii at Manoa