| Abstract [eng] |
This thesis addresses the overlooked role of emotions in the emergence of the climate justice norm within international climate cooperation frameworks, focusing on civil society Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) advocacy in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The climate justice norm posits that climate change solutions must prioritize human rights, the interests of vulnerable groups, and inclusive decision-making. While theories of norm emergence in international institutions acknowledge the significance of emotions, especially in NGOs’ approaches, they are largely absent from explanations of the emerging climate justice norm. This is paradoxical because, as research shows, the understanding of justice is largely linked to emotions. This thesis explores how and which emotions NGOs invoke in persuading other actors to adopt the climate justice norm, and uncovers the significance of certain emotions through the lens of civil society NGOs. Drawing on social constructivism and the emotional turn in International Relations, this thesis developed a framework of emotive transformative persuasion to explain how emotions function to drive a normative shift in the context of claims for justice. This thesis applies the model to NGOs’ advocacy of the climate justice norm within the UNFCCC. Employing emotion discourse analysis (EDA) on NGOs’ newsletters and summaries of negotiation transcripts, alongside interviews with representatives from civil society NGOs, this thesis identifies indignation and hope as the dominant emotions. The analysis also finds different types of hope - passive and active – and highlights their different implications for NGOs’ agency in advocacy for climate justice. The combination of indignation and hope is significant in the persuasion of this norm: expressions of indignation construct the image of developed countries as immoral actors, thus pushing them outside the boundaries of moral community; expressions of indignation also highlight the UNFCCC as the unfair framework reproducing injustices, whereas, expressions of hope highlight a positive image of actors promoting climate justice ideas within this framework, thus depicting them as a ‘hopeful community.’ Based on these findings, the analysis distinguishes certain emotional approaches to NGOs’ advocacy for climate justice, underpinned by indignation and hope (active and passive). This thesis contributes by bringing an emotional perspective to the emergence of the climate justice norm and expanding research on emotions in International Relations, highlighting the significant role of indignation and hope. The concept of emotive transformative persuasion offers a novel lens for analyzing how actors invoke emotions to promote normative change in the context of claims for justice. |
