IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/poango/v8y2020i2p215-228.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Political Debate on Climate Change in Italy: A Discourse Network Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Stefano Ghinoi

    (Department of Economics and Management, University of Helsinki, Finland)

  • Bodo Steiner

    (Department of Economics and Management, University of Helsinki, Finland)

Abstract

Climate change is considered by policymakers as one of the most pressing global issues of our time. International institutions and national governments are, to varying degrees, committed to tackling climate change, but it has only been possible to define a shared system of collective goals across countries through the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21). A growing interest in climate change policy has been present in the Italian political debate, yet we have little evidence regarding the nature of related climate change debates across Italian policymakers. By using Discourse Network Analysis (DNA) to investigate Italian policymakers’ discourses in the Chamber of Deputies during the 17th Italian Legislature (2013–2018), this study shows that debates on climate change-related strategies are largely unpolarized, except for certain issues, and that coalitions emerge over time around core strategies. Groups of policymakers with similar policy beliefs emerge independently from their political affiliations. Our analysis is thus the first to apply DNA to provide empirical evidence of the convergence across Italian policymakers and the potential for the bridging of political discourses on climate change.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefano Ghinoi & Bodo Steiner, 2020. "The Political Debate on Climate Change in Italy: A Discourse Network Analysis," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 215-228.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v:8:y:2020:i:2:p:215-228
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2577
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ghinoi, Stefano & Wesz Junior, Valdemar João & Piras, Simone, 2018. "Political debates and agricultural policies: Discourse coalitions behind the creation of Brazil’s Pronaf," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 68-80.
    2. Hess, David J. & Renner, Madison, 2019. "Conservative political parties and energy transitions in Europe: Opposition to climate mitigation policies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 419-428.
    3. Robert O. Keohane & Michael Oppenheimer, 2016. "Paris: Beyond the Climate Dead End through Pledge and Review?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(3), pages 142-151.
    4. Hess, David J., 2014. "Sustainability transitions: A political coalition perspective," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 278-283.
    5. Guri Bang & Jon Hovi & Tora Skodvin, 2016. "The Paris Agreement: Short-Term and Long-Term Effectiveness," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(3), pages 209-218.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Philip Leifeld, 2020. "Policy Debates and Discourse Network Analysis: A Research Agenda," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 180-183.
    2. Rachel Germanier & Niccolò Moricciani, 2023. "Perceiving and Adapting to Climate Change: Perspectives of Tuscan Wine-Producing Agritourism Owners," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-14, January.
    3. Clarissa Caimol, 2022. "The policies, the actions, and the political-administrative organization of Emilia-Romagna region to combat the climate change: a social network approach," SEEDS Working Papers 0922, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Sep 2022.
    4. Lifang Guo & Hewu Kuang & Zehua Ni, 2023. "A step towards green economic policy framework: role of renewable energy and climate risk for green economic recovery," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 3095-3115, October.
    5. Aryal, Kishor & Laudari, Hari Krishna & Maraseni, Tek & Pathak, Bhoj Raj, 2022. "Navigating policy debates of and discourse coalitions on Nepal's Scientific Forest Management," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    6. Benedetta Barchielli & Clarissa Cricenti & Francesca Gallè & Elita Anna Sabella & Fabrizio Liguori & Giovanna Da Molin & Giorgio Liguori & Giovanni Battista Orsi & Anna Maria Giannini & Stefano Ferrac, 2022. "Climate Changes, Natural Resources Depletion, COVID-19 Pandemic, and Russian-Ukrainian War: What Is the Impact on Habits Change and Mental Health?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-18, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jon Hovi & Tora Skodvin, 2016. "Editorial to the Issue on Climate Governance and the Paris Agreement," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(3), pages 111-114.
    2. Sebastian Oberthür, 2019. "Hard or Soft Governance? The EU’s Climate and Energy Policy Framework for 2030," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(1), pages 17-27.
    3. Christian Elliott & Steven Bernstein & Matthew Hoffmann, 2022. "Credibility dilemmas under the Paris agreement: explaining fossil fuel subsidy reform references in INDCs," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 735-759, December.
    4. Tatjana Stankovic & Jon Hovi & Tora Skodvin, 2023. "The Paris Agreement’s inherent tension between ambition and compliance," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-6, December.
    5. Håkon Sælen, 2020. "Under What Conditions Will the Paris Process Produce a Cycle of Increasing Ambition Sufficient to Reach the 2°C Goal?," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 20(2), pages 83-104, May.
    6. Thomas Hale, 2020. "Catalytic Cooperation," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 20(4), pages 73-98, Autumn.
    7. Joanna Depledge, 2022. "The “top-down” Kyoto Protocol? Exploring caricature and misrepresentation in literature on global climate change governance," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 673-692, December.
    8. Piris-Cabezas, Pedro & Lubowski, Ruben N. & Leslie, Gabriela, 2023. "Estimating the potential of international carbon markets to increase global climate ambition," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    9. Zeynep Clulow & Michele Ferguson & Peta Ashworth & David Reiner, 2021. "Political ideology and public views of the energy transition in Australia and the UK," Working Papers EPRG2106, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    10. Karoliina Isoaho & Jochen Markard, 2020. "The Politics of Technology Decline: Discursive Struggles over Coal Phase‐Out in the UK," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 37(3), pages 342-368, May.
    11. Joana Ramanauskaitė, 2021. "The Role of Incumbent Actors in Sustainability Transitions: A Case of LITHUANIA," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-19, November.
    12. Bjerkan, Kristin Ystmark & Seter, Hanne, 2021. "Policy and politics in energy transitions. A case study on shore power in Oslo," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    13. Andersen, Allan Dahl & Markard, Jochen, 2020. "Multi-technology interaction in socio-technical transitions: How recent dynamics in HVDC technology can inform transition theories," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    14. Tyfield, David & Zuev, Dennis, 2018. "Stasis, dynamism and emergence of the e-mobility system in China: A power relational perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 259-270.
    15. Jeremias Herberg & Tobias Haas & Daniel Oppold & Dirk von Schneidemesser, 2020. "A Collaborative Transformation beyond Coal and Cars? Co-Creation and Corporatism in the German Energy and Mobility Transitions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-20, April.
    16. Pedersen, Rasmus Hundsbæk & Andersen, Ole Winckler, 2023. "A contested agenda: Energy transitions in lower-income African countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    17. Edmondson, Duncan L. & Kern, Florian & Rogge, Karoline S., 2019. "The co-evolution of policy mixes and socio-technical systems: Towards a conceptual framework of policy mix feedback in sustainability transitions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(10).
    18. Weigelt, Carmen & Lu, Shaohua & Verhaal, J. Cameron, 2021. "Blinded by the sun: The role of prosumers as niche actors in incumbent firms’ adoption of solar power during sustainability transitions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    19. Shidore, Sarang & Busby, Joshua W., 2019. "What explains India's embrace of solar? State-led energy transition in a developmental polity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 1179-1189.
    20. Geng Qin & Hanzhi Yu, 2023. "Rescuing the Paris Agreement: Improving the Global Experimentalist Governance by Reclassifying Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-19, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v:8:y:2020:i:2:p:215-228. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.