The Epistemic Habits of Danish Populists: Objectivity, Legitimacy and Evidence

The University as an institution is a key arena where "legitimate" knowledge is established. While discourses of power may have qualities of constraint and repression, they are not, nor have they ever been, uncontested. Indeed, the process of determining what is "legitimate knowledge" and for what purpose that knowledge should be produced is a political debate that rages in the University. Our presence, as working-class people of color (especially women of color), in an institution which values itself on its elitist criteria for admission, forces the debates and challenges previously sacred canons of objective truth.…It is probably for this reason that our presence here is so complex--and so important (Córdova, 1998, p. 18).

Individuals’ political membership of and identification with their political parties or ideologies influence how they interact with members of their own group/party (ingroup) and other groups/parties (outgroups). Such sense of “group-ness” (i.e., us-them) motivates people to find ways to posit their group in a positive light (i.e., ingroup favoritism) and engage in attitudes and behaviors that help maintain a desired political group status. These attitudes and behaviors can include a positively biased attitude toward one’s own political group over the other groups, a tendency to seek information that confirms the viewpoints and reflects positive aspects of one’s own political group, or a perception that the media exhibit bias toward their political group. Hence, we can consider political activities, attitudes, and communication (including media use) as inherently intergroup behaviors where members of political groups constantly appraise political discourse and political landscape through an intergroup lens. These intergroup phenomena are particularly salient during election seasons where political group boundaries are erected and political discourses around core ideological beliefs are debated. Accordingly, it is important to understand better links between intergroup factors (e.g., intergroup attitudes and behaviors), and political media use. This requires: (a) examining how intergroup factors have been considered in political communication research; (b) assessing political media use and effects in a political context, specifically media effects that could potentially be driven by political group identity and political intergroup attitudes; (c) discussing studies that have highlighted intergroup variables in the process of media selection and effects and how we may conceptualize political media research in an intergroup framework; and (d) considering additional intergroup factors that might be relevant and informative to our understanding of political activities and attitudes and media selection and effects in political settings.

The current, fragmented media landscape coupled with partisan views toward scientific issues has made it difficult for members of the public to achieve mutual understanding toward critical issues like climate change. Selective media exposure, media’s credibility in reporting science and reporting climate change, trust in science, along with demographic characteristics of consumers are all expected to influence the public’s belief in climate change. However, effects may differ across partisan lines. The purpose of this study was to understand how cable news media influences Illinois residents’ beliefs in climate change across political ideological groups. An online survey was completed by 506 respondents, and respondents were categorized as conservative, moderate, or liberal based on a political ideology question. Differences were noted between political groups for variables of interest. Most notably, liberals believed more in climate change compared to conservatives or moderates. Cable news use also followed party lines, and regression analyses found the media influenced climate change beliefs disproportionately across the political groups; conservatives were influenced the most. Trust in science was a positive predictor for all three groups; however, only conservatives and moderates were directly influenced by cable news media use.

This chapter analyzes the formation and expansion of social spaces for political debate and their impact on the formation of political identities as well as its entanglements with an increasing militarization of society. This chapter studies how the military quarters, the camps, and the campaign regiments transformed themselves into privileged spaces for public debate. During the process of Independence, the military forces engaged more in political debates, and members of these forces expressed their political opinions and affiliations in broadsides, manifestos, and printed proclaims. By bringing these often separated social and political spaces, we seek to analyze the impact and relevance that public opinion had in the processes of independence, paying particular attention to the formation of political identities, the emergence of a new political languages, as well as the diverse discursive strategies that leaders in different regions used to mobilize people militarily or to raise political awareness on soldiers. In this way, this chapter seeks to create original analytical connection between political knowledge and debate, and military mobilization in Latin America during the wars of independence.

Climate change is a global phenomenon. The cold arid desert of North Western Himalaya is noticeably impacted by climate change. The increase in temperature and decline in precipitation over the period is more profound. The impact of climate change is in the form of rapid reduction in glaciers which has profound future implications for downstream water resources. The impacts of climate change in the region are superimposed on a variety of other environmental and social stresses. Community led adaptations in the harsh environments have significant impact on improving the livelihoods of the region. The creation of artificial glaciers to combat the receding of natural glaciers, thereby increasing water storage and its availability during summer; and production of vegetables in the peak winter through improved solar greenhouses which mitigates the CO2 emissions were identified as the major climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. The creation of artificial glaciers is a high altitude water conservation technique in the wake of climate change. With glacier retreat and shorter as well as warmer winters in the cold arid eco-region of Western Himalayas (Ladakh), the water crisis is compounding day by day. Construction of artificial glaciers is a means for harvesting glacial meltwater for the irrigation needs of farmers which otherwise goes waste. The technology has a wider scope for up-scaling and can be replicated in similar geo-climatic conditions. The impact of technology on the income of beneficiary is three to four times higher besides social and environmental benefits. Society needs to improve its adaptation strategies, and level structural inequalities that make adaptation by poor people more difficult. It is important to strengthen local knowledge, innovations, and practices within social and ecological systems as well as strengthening the functioning of institutions relevant for adaptation. Sound science together with credible, salient, legitimate knowledge is important to support the development and implementation of sound policies. Researchers and developmental agencies need to further improve this technology and funding should come forth from the donor agencies for implementing of such technology on wider scale.

This study offers a novelty specifying climate change as the legislation results in the European Parliament (EP) as an indicator of the consistency of political groups in realising their Euromanifestos. The article aims to investigate precisely the prospects and future of climate change policies in the EU post the 2019 general election. This study adopted qualitative legal research methods by studying the Euromanifestos of political groups in the European Union that competed in the 2019 European elections. Environmental issues, particularly climate change, were a significant focus in the study of these manifestos. Based on data from Euromanifesto, this study selected five EU Regulations as indicators of realising such political promises. In addition, the record of legislation and the results of voting during the establishment of the regulation was also applied as a data source in this study. In general, the cohesion between political groups in the EP is excellent. Based on a manifesto study, there are three essential findings; namely, most political groups in the EP make environmental issues, especially climate change, a politicised issue in elections. The second finding is that there are specific intersections between political groups, so it has implications for making the issue of climate change a common interest, and the results of the vote showed that a majority of Member of European Parliament members supported the establishment of the regulation. Finally, the solidarity of the EP political group cohesion in establishing regulations related to climate change is the last finding in this research.

Since 2009, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) regime has seen the emergence of several new political groups. This article analyses how the new political groups are positioning themselves in relation to the key UNFCCC principles (the North–South divide and ‘common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities’, CBDR/RC). Drawing on original data, including official statements and submissions, observations at COP 17, COP 18, COP 19, and interviews with delegates, the article analyses the BASIC group (Brazil, South Africa, India and China), the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), the Cartagena Dialogue for Progressive Action (CD), the Durban Alliance (DA), the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC), and the Association of Independent Latin American and Caribbean States (AILAC). Modelled after Hendrik Wagenaar's approach to narrative policy analysis, the article draws a map of narrative positions based on the North–South and new CBDR/RC divisions. This framework reveals the embeddedness of narratives in practice as they unfold in the formation of new political groups. CVF, CD, DA and AILAC align on a narrative of ‘shared responsibility across the North–South divide’. This meta-narrative challenges the hitherto dominant notion of CBDR/RC, which BASIC and LMDC defend through a meta-narrative of ‘differentiated responsibility upholding the North–South divide’.Policy relevanceAs we approach the UNFCCC 2015 deadline, this article presents a study of the new political landscape for negotiations, specifically of six new political groups in relation to the core principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities’ (CBDR/RC). Prior to COP 15, groups primarily organized based on the categorization of their members as either an Annex I (developed country) or non-Annex I (developing country) Party. This created two opposing understandings of CBDR/RC, especially regarding who has the responsibility to act on climate change. This article finds that some of the new political groups are challenging this North–South divide, contributing to a more complex relationship between Annex I and non-Annex I Parties on the CBDR/RC issue. This article provides practitioners and analysts with up-to-date knowledge on the developments of new political groups, which will necessarily form the basis of any policy analysis of the UNFCCC leading up to the 2015 deadline.

The Democratic Limits of Populist Politics

This article tests contextual and individual-level explanations of the gender gap in political knowledge in Latin American countries. It suggests that this gap is impacted by political and economic settings through two interrelated mechanisms: gender accessibility (that is, the extent of available opportunities for women to influence the political agenda) and gender-bias signaling (that is, the extent to which women play important roles in the public sphere). Analyzing data from the 2008 Americas Barometer survey, this study shows that the gender gap in political knowledge is smaller among highly educated citizens, in rural areas (where both men and women know little about politics) and in bigger cities (where women’s levels of political knowledge are higher). More importantly, the magnitude of the gap varies greatly across countries. Gender differences in income, party system institutionalization and the representation of women in national parliaments are all found to play a particularly important role in explaining the magnitude of the gender gap in political knowledge across Latin America.

Research on young voters has identified normative concerns about young citizens’ attitudes toward the political process and their low levels of participation. This study examined the effects of political debates, advertisements, and fact-checking articles on three of these normative attitudes and on intentions to vote in the context of a state gubernatorial election. Participants’ political knowledge, political information efficacy, and intention to vote increased after they watched a political debate or a series of candidate ads. Political knowledge also increased after participants read fact-checking articles. Cynicism was not influenced by any of the stimuli.

Debate over climate change is nothing new. Scientists have been arguing about whether greenhouse gases released by human activity might change the climate since the late nineteenth century, when Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius first proposed that industrial emissions might cause global warming.1 Fueled by partisan bickering, this dispute now is more bellicose than ever.

The Arctic is changing and undergoing a major transformation under the pressure of economic development and the threat of a vanishing subsistence culture, the unpredictable consequences of climate change and the increasing impact of global developments on local economic, legal and political settings. The shifting climate and dramatic changes of Northern landscapes and ecosystems also have implications for the well-being of Arctic communities. In reality, the effectiveness of governance systems in the Arctic is restrained by the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of individuals and institutional agencies to face global challenges such as climate change. By exploring the climate change policies and institutional capabilities of Greenland (Denmark), Nunavut (Canada’s Central and Eastern Arctic) and their nexus with the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), this chapter analyses the dimensions and the efforts of governmental and non-governmental institutions in addressing climate change issues in the Arctic.

Although it is well acknowledged that moral foundations have an emotional component, little is known about the relation between moral foundations and emotions in current political and public debates. The analysis of this relation is crucial to better understand causal pathways from affect and emotion to climate change action and behavior. Employing Emotion Discourse Analysis, this study analyzes appeals to moral foundations in European Parliament (EP) plenary debates on the topic of climate change, and their relation to emotions between 1994 and 2022. We show that the relation between moral foundations and emotions depends on the narratives put forward by policymakers from different political groups. After linking narratives, moral foundations and emotions, we hypothesize how the identified combinations affect political action. We show that narratives promoting action-oriented and effective appeals to emotions, which are key in advancing environmental protection, are not the most prominent in EP debates.

Beliefs and attitudes form the core of public opinion about climate change. Network analysis can reveal the structural configuration of these beliefs and attitudes. In this research, we utilize a belief system framework to identify key psychological elements, track change in the density of these belief systems over time and across political groups, and analyze the structural heterogeneity of belief systems within and between political groups in the United States. Drawing on fifteen waves of nationally representative survey data from 2010 to 2021 (N = 16,742), our findings indicate that worry about climate change is the most central psychological element. Interestingly, we find that among politically unaffiliated individuals, the connections between psychological elements have strengthened over time, implying an increase in the consistency of belief systems within this group. Despite the political polarization in beliefs about climate change between Republicans and Democrats, our findings reveal that the ways these two groups organize and structure climate change beliefs systems are not markedly different compared to those of other groups. These findings provide theoretical and practical insights for climate change experts and communicators.

The present research empirically examines the links between political knowledge, national narcissism, and climate change conspiracy beliefs. National narcissism (i.e., an unrealistic belief about in-group’s greatness which is maladaptive both from the perspective of intra- and inter-group processes) was previously linked to conspiracy beliefs. In this research, we hypothesized that low theoretical political knowledge would boost national narcissism and further lead to adopting climate change conspiracy theories. Methods: This hypothesis was tested in a two-wave study conducted among Polish participants (N = 558). Results: We found negative effect of political knowledge on climate change conspiracy beliefs. Moreover, national narcissism mediated between theoretical political knowledge and conspiracy beliefs. Conclusion: People having low political knowledge are prone to believe in climate change conspiracy theories. Moreover, those less informed about the way political system works in their country are more narcissistically identified with their nation and, thus, deny the climate change.