Referent object, securitising actors and the audience: the climate change threat and the securitisation of development in India

Abstract

Climate change issue has evolved as a central policy of the Government of India. The crux of the policy is centered on the economic development. Internationally, India has been consistently resisting the developed country’s climate policy as the policy might threaten New Delhi’s economic development prospect. However, the recent evidence of climate change threat to the economic development compelled political leaders to design the domestic climate policy—the National Action Plan on Climate Change—which is consistent with the country’s economic development. Considering the global climate diplomacy, this paper examines the evolution of India’s domestic climate change-development discourse and how climate change has been constructed as a major threat at the highest political level that securitises the country’s economic development. The threat discourse is explained from the standpoint of the securitisation theory to explore three core constituents of India’s domestic climate policy: the referent object, securitising actors and the audience.