Party competition on climate policy: The roles of interest groups, ideology and challenger parties in the UK and Ireland

Neil Carter,Conor Little

doi:10.1177/0192512120972582

Neil Carter, Conor Little

Open Access

PDF Available

https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512120972582

Copy DOI

Export

Save

Cite

Abstract
Highlights/Summary
Full-Text PDF
Similar Papers

Abstract

Listen

This study shows how interest group–party relations, parties’ cross-cutting policy preferences, and competition with challenger parties shape the structure of issue competition on climate policy. It uses the ‘most similar’ cases of the UK and Ireland to show how differences in party systems influence the structure of issue competition. The study takes up the challenge of integrating salience and position in the conceptualisation of climate policy preferences. Empirically, it provides new evidence on factors influencing climate policy preferences and the party politics of climate change, focusing on interest groups, party ideology, and challenger parties. Further, it identifies similarities between the general literature on interest group influence on party preferences and the literature on interest groups in climate politics, and seeks to make connections between them.

Highlights

Climate change mitigation policy consists of issues within and across several sectors; it is a relatively recent arrival—since the 1990s—to domestic political agendas
The structure of issue competition on climate policy has implications for efforts to mitigate climate change because it influences public attitudes and public policy: polarisation among parties leads to polarisation among the public (Birch, 2020); convergent climate politics is associated with climate policy ambition (Christoff and Eckersley, 2011: 440; Farstad, 2019); and the priority of climate policy for parties is an important condition for ambitious policy (Carter and Jacobs, 2014; Jensen and Spoon, 2011)
This study examines the UK and Ireland to assess the roles of interest groups, wider party ideology, and challenger parties in shaping the structure of issue competition on climate policy

Summary

Introduction

Climate change mitigation policy consists of issues within and across several sectors; it is a relatively recent arrival—since the 1990s—to domestic political agendas. Whereas the Conservatives promised major investment in both rail and roads, and favoured a third Heathrow runway, Labour outlined an extensive investment programme bolstering public transport, with the headline-grabbing promise to renationalise the railways Both parties supported EVs. The 2019 general election was dominated by Brexit, but growing public concern about climate change, encouraged by the high-profile school climate strikes and Extinction Rebellion protests, encouraged the major parties to compete fiercely with radical climate policy offers and positioning (Carter and Pearson, 2020). The Green Party consistently took distinct positions, but was too small to make a significant direct impact on the structure of competition, and specific issues including climate legislation and carbon taxation were the focus of broader inter-party disagreement

Findings

Analysis and discussion

Conclusion