Political Climate Research Articles

Whose system, what change? A critical political economy approach to the UK climate movement

ABSTRACT Demands of system change are common in the climate movement but there is little agreement on what this entails or how it might be achieved. This has contributed to discord and division between seemingly allied positions, each seeking to address the climate crisis through alternative strategies for change. We argue that these strategic differences also reflect, and for that reason can be better understood in terms of, alternative stances towards capitalism. Adopting a critical political economy approach, we assess a number of these debates and divisions as they have played out in the UK environmentalist movement. We highlight both the connections between alternative strategic positions within these debates and the broader stances towards capitalism that underpin them, and offer a critical evaluation of their likely limitations. In doing so, we identify potential points of overlap and cooperation between those holding seemingly contrasting positions in ongoing debates within climate politics.

The direction of gender equality policy in Britain post-Brexit: towards a masculinised Westminster model

ABSTRACT This article examines gender equality policy in Britain, pre-and post-Brexit. Through a gendered analysis of European Union (EU) directives over forty years, we examine which policies have been key to Britain’s gender equality agenda. We find that the EU’s gender equality framework has been particularly integral to the advancement of ‘class-based’ policies, which seek to ameliorate inequalities that arise from the sexual division of labour. Taken together, we argue that the impact of Brexit risks directly rolling back these class-based gains. This is as a result of a shift away from a more consensual style of policymaking at the supranational level, towards a top-down, adversarial and masculinised Westminster Model, which marginalises women from decision-making fora. As it stands, advancements in gender equality policies are unlikely to be regained in the current political climate due to the absence of the stimulus of the EU for domestic gender equality reform.

All that glitters is not gold: The application of psychoanalytic principles to community mental health

AbstractThis special issue on community mental health focuses on the ways in which several innovative mental health programs across the United States have risen to the challenge of incorporating psychodynamic principles into their clinical practice. Contrasted with these domestic programs are reports from a number of countries in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East in which local clinicians describe how community mental health programs in their countries are tackling these issues. In this introduction, we emphasize factors common to the populations these authors serve, the organizational challenges they face, and the successes they achieve by way of their skill, creativity, and perseverance. We underscore the ways in which they articulate how psychoanalytic thinking, training, and practices have evolved in response to lessons learned and changing political, economic and cultural climates. We conclude that applied psychoanalysis, and particularly psychoanalysis applied to community mental health has, in some ways, been at the forefront of change in psychoanalytic practice in general. The modifications made by those in community mental health are viewed as necessary accommodations for both the communities served and for the psychoanalytic enterprise itself.

Does political propaganda matter in mitigating climate change? Insights from the United States of America

Some research on climate change has been the basis of climate change denialism (hereafter, CCD is used to refer to denial, denialism, and deniers). There is formative knowledge about the role of political propaganda in climate policies and resulting outcomes. To contribute to the understanding of political ideology and the extent of CCD, we adopt econometric techniques to study the impact of the United States of America's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. The results show that ideological political propaganda has psychological and philosophical consequences that impact climate change policies. In addition, we find that the effect of a state's economic growth on climate change is mediated by CCD. In particular, low-income capitalist states have a higher propensity to become CCDs because they are more likely to engage in economic expansion even at the expense of environmental sustainability. Global climate change policies depend on high-income nations and industries' willingness to adopt economic policies to achieve sustainable future development. Thus, this study fills the literature gap on the relationship between political ideology and climate change. The findings show that CCD significantly influences voting patterns and socioeconomic outcomes. It impedes states from achieving net-zero emissions and carbon neutrality and it is used as a political propaganda. Subject to these findings, relevant policy suggestions are offered.

Lessons from the Women and Gender Constituency: Interrogating Civil Society Strategies for Organising in the UNFCCC

While scholarship on the topic of gender and the environment is steadily growing, little is known about the challenges faced and successes seen by women and gender NGOs operating as a central part of environment-focused civil society. In this paper, I offer such an analysis, examining the political strategies—rhetorical and procedural—mobilised by the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). I argue that the WGC has seen lots of success in mobilising arguments that foreground women’s vulnerability to the effects of climate change. But at the same time, the constituency has seen far more resistance to more intersectional feminist arguments that interrogate the role of masculinised discursive power in shaping climate politics. This is at least in part a result of a wider structure of civil society that pigeonholes different identities (e.g. gender, youth, indigenous peoples) in a way that separates their deeply interconnected struggles. Understanding this structural barrier, or dark side of civil society, is crucial to envisioning a more fruitful integration of civil society in sustainability politics.

Between “wretched antisemitism” and “disgusting Zionism”: Pain and hope in a Jewish old Bolshevik’s diary

ABSTRACT The article, centered around a late Soviet Jewish diary, examines constituents of Soviet Jewish identity in autobiographical writing, asking how the modes and measures of Jewish identity expression are influenced by genre frameworks (memoirs vs. diaries), political climate, and principles of socialist subjectivity. Discovering Jewish roots in seemingly orthodox Soviet statements and, thus, substantiating the public anti-Zionist discourse of the late Soviet decades with a private diary, the article argues in favor of the idea of multiple dynamic identities, of which a dormant one might be invoked and replace a salient one, and vice-versa as more accurate than the rigid Soviet/Jewish dichotomy.

Reflections on Immigration

ABSTRACT While personally reflecting on his experiences of immigration, the author focuses on the psychological experiences of trauma caused by involuntary immigration or migration, a phenomenon that is on the rise across the globe especially due to political instability and climate change. He proposes that forced immigration or migration is an experience of exile and discusses the arduous psychological and spiritual experiences that can ultimately be experienced as a liminal condition carrying the potential for further psychospiritual development.

Erasure Through Representation in Boys Don’t Cry

ABSTRACT This personal narrative essay examines the way erasure occurs alongside representation in the 1999 film Boys Don’t Cry. The author reflects on his experience seeing the film when it was first released, as a young transmasculine person. He describes multiple forms of erasure: his own, the exclusion of Philip DeVine from the film’s narrative, and even of Brandon Teena’s trans masculinity. The author considers the impact of the film on his own life and the way erasure in the film relates to the contemporary political climate in the United States.

Capacity for gender equity initiatives: a multiple case study investigation of national sport organisations

To better understand mechanisms for gender equity in sport, the critical elements of capacity of Canadian national sport organisations (NSOs) to implement gender equity initiatives, and the relative strengths and challenges of those elements, were investigated. Environmental factors perceived to influence that capacity were also explored. The study was framed by Hall et al.’s (2003) multidimensional model of organisational capacity. Instrumental case studies were used to examine and compare the capacity of three NSOs engaged in addressing gender equity in their sport through their respective initiatives designed to increase the engagement of women in sport as athletes, coaches, and officials. Semi-structured interviews (n = 15) were conducted with board members and staff across the three NSOs. Several common capacity strengths (e.g., knowledgeable and experienced staff, dedicated funding) and challenges (e.g., limited staff, constraints in external communication) were identified. Capacity elements unique to each NSO were also uncovered. Environmental factors influencing the NSOs’ capacity to implement their respective gender equity initiatives included the broad political climate, access to volunteers, and availability of additional funding sources . The findings address the call for further evidence of critical organisational practices for enacting gender equity, with a particular focus on NSOs, and framed by a multidimensional model of organisational capacity and environmental influences. The findings have implications for being aware of the capacity of NSOs to address government policy and directives for gender equity in sport, and for maintaining and building capacity to implement gender equity initiatives.

Learning From Our Mistakes: Corporate Front Groups and the Limits of Revelation in Climate Politics

Fossil fuel companies have made major investments in mobilizing citizen support in recent decades, funding advocacy groups to stoke climate denial, doubt, and delay. Scholars and activists have tended to condemn these “front groups” as corporate mouthpieces, calling for new laws mandating disclosure of the financial relationship between companies and their political scions. Critiques like these tap into vital political impulses; however, they have failed to fully keep pace with evolving corporate strategies. Today many industry-backed groups openly identify their corporate sponsors, framing companies’ largesse as a means to amplify the voices of unionized pipefitters, local business leaders, and others who want to commend the positive impacts of fossil fuel production. Many so-called “front groups” are not hiding, which renders critical exposé moot. In response, this essay argues for the usefulness of investigating the social bonds and affective experiences of participants in pro-fossil fuel campaigns. The feelings of community, precarity, and risk that help these campaigns cohere can act as important sites of intervention for climate action. I suggest that scholars must consider the limitations of exposé and develop strategies to intercede in the more open ties between fossil fuel companies and their publics.

Philosophical Pragmatism and the Challenges of Information Technologies

Philosophical Pragmatism and the Challenges of Information Technologies

Joseph II’s 1782 Edict of Toleration for the Jews of Lower Austria and its Economic and Secular Underpinnings and Effects

Joseph II’s 1782 Edict of Toleration is an important piece of legislation within Austrian and Jewish history. The Edict was a series of statements issued regarding the inclusion of Jewish citizens into larger towns, marking what was permitted, what was to change, and what was prohibited. Created by Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, son of the notoriously anti-Jewish Empress Maria Theresia, the legislation was institutionalized in order to make Jewish people more useful economically to the state by granting them access to cities and towns, Christian schools and universities, and by allowing them to set up their own factories. It created secular subjects to achieve economic gains. The Edict can be analyzed for its economic underpinnings and effects, which can be further examined through a micro- and macroscopic lens, as well as viewing the role it had in promoting the toleration and assimilation of Jews. The Edict, despite its failure to achieve its steep economic goals or to fully assimilate Austria’s Jewish community, nonetheless is key to understanding the political, economic, and religious climate of Lower Austria at this time.

Jacques Feyder’s Paris, 1923–35: Cartographies of gender, class and empire

Jacques Feyder ranked among France’s most critically acclaimed directors during the 1920s and 1930s. Over the course of these decades, he repeatedly illustrated tensions pertaining to class, gender and empire in Paris. Drawing on close textual analysis, historical contextualization and archival research, this article traces two developments in Feyder’s vision of the capital and its shifting economic, political and cultural climate: first, the evolution of Paris from a locus clearly signposted by recognizable locations to a studio-built milieu that is heavily reliant on generic Parisian tropes; second, the city’s transition from a site where the post-war national psyche and associated family structures can be optimistically redefined to a politically volatile environment replete with criminality and sexually disruptive women.

Hanif Kureishi’nin Varoşların Budası Adlı Romanında Etnik Karikatürler ve Ulusaşırı Kimlik

This study focuses on comic ethnic caricatures in Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia (1990) and argues that the construction and deconstruction of these caricatures transcend the concept of identity. Kureishi’s novel narrates four years in the life of Karim, who is born to an Indian father and an English mother. Karim’s identity conflict due to his mixed racial background prevents him from fitting in the British society. The novel revolves around Karim’s and other immigrant characters’ identity conflicts in the tense political and social climate of 1970s Britain. As the novel is narrated from Karim’s perspective, his humorous perspective of the world produces comic characters, which are particularly caricatured versions of ethnic identities. This study argues that the shifting direction of humour generated by the construction and deconstruction of comic ethnic caricatures exposes the transnational sensibility of ethnic identities in The Buddha of Suburbia.

Turner Family Stories: From Enslavement in Virginia to Freedom in VermontThe Most Costly Journey: Stories of Migrant Farmworkers in Vermont, Drawn by New England Cartoonists

Turner Family Stories: From Enslavement in Virginia to Freedom in VermontThe Most Costly Journey: Stories of Migrant Farmworkers in Vermont, Drawn by New England Cartoonists

The American and European directions of Azerbaijan's foreign policy and their impact on the Caspian region in 2003-2019.

The object of the study is the international relations of Azerbaijan in the XXI century. The subject of the study is the North American and European directions of the foreign policy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2003-2019. The author dwells in detail on the interaction of Azerbaijan with the United States of America and the European Union within the specified chronological framework. The greatest attention is paid to bilateral relations, as well as partnership within the framework of various international projects. This perspective allows us to consider Azerbaijan as one of the main keys of access to the Caspian region for the United States and the EU, which have considered the region as strategically important since the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The research methods are content analysis, discourse analysis and historical research methods. The choice of chronological framework is due to the fact that 2003 is the year of the beginning of the presidency of Ilham Aliyev. In 2019, Azerbaijan, together with the whole world, entered a pandemic, which marked the transition to the transformation of almost all spheres of life. However, apart from the pandemic, the Karabakh crisis has become another event in the life of the state, the significance of which has yet to be studied. The scientific novelty of the study is that the foreign policy activity of the Republic of Azerbaijan is reflected quite briefly in Russian historiography. The main attention of researchers, as a rule, is paid to the relations between Baku and other actors in the South Caucasus and the Caspian region, however, it should be noted that the US and the EU had a great influence on the political climate of the entire post-Soviet space and the Caspian Sea was no exception. The main conclusion of the author is that the influence of the West reached its apogee in the middle of the "noughties", but then, for various reasons, its curtailment followed. It is also worth noting the multi-vector approach that allowed Azerbaijan to strengthen its position in the international arena at the beginning of the XXI century, which helped Baku to overcome the Karabakh crisis relatively painlessly.

Realising Accepted UPR Recommendations: Challenges and Realities in Malaysia's Commitment to Enforce Freedom of Expression

Malaysians were optimistic after the 14th General Election of 2018 (GE14) was concluded, as freedom of expression was expected to progress significantly under Pakatan Harapan (PH). It was hoped that the era of the “New Malaysia” would result in increased commitment toward realising accepted UPR recommendations. Unfortunately, Malaysia’s political climate has since experienced incidences of uncertainty and instability, which has seen three different Prime Ministers and yet another change in government administration since 2018. This has placed significant challenges on human rights reforms and impeded the process of democratisation. The objective of this study is to evaluate Malaysia’s enforcement of freedom of expression regarding the relevant UPR recommendations. It has identified certain improvements which should be supported and continued, as well as setbacks and restrictions which impede the implementation of fundamental liberties and pose added risks to the democratic rights of all Malaysians.

Stock Broad-Index Trend Patterns Learning via Domain Knowledge Informed Generative Network

Predicting the Stock movement attracts much attention from both industry and academia. Despite such significant efforts, the results remain unsatisfactory due to the inherently complicated nature of the stock market driven by factors including supply and demand, the state of the economy, the political climate, and even irrational human behavior. Recently, Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) have been extended for time series data; however, robust methods are primarily for synthetic series generation, which fall short for appropriate stock prediction. This is because existing GANs for stock applications suffer from mode collapse and only consider one-step prediction, thus underutilizing the potential of GAN. Furthermore, merging news and market volatility are neglected in current GANs. To address these issues, we exploit expert domain knowledge in finance and, for the first time, attempt to formulate stock movement prediction into a Wasserstein GAN framework for multi-step prediction. We propose Index GAN, which includes deliberate designs for the inherent characteristics of the stock market, leverages news context learning to thoroughly investigate textual information and develop an attentive seq2seq learning network that captures the temporal dependency among stock prices, news, and market sentiment. We also utilize the critic to approximate the Wasserstein distance between actual and predicted sequences and develop a rolling strategy for deployment that mitigates noise from the financial market. Extensive experiments are conducted on real-world broad-based indices, demonstrating the superior performance of our architecture over other state-of-the-art baselines, also validating all its contributing components.

The Impact of Facades of Conformity on Individual Creativity: The Critical Role of Emotional Exhaustion and Organizational Political Climate

The business environment is complex and changeable, which posed challenges for leaders to focus on improving individual creativity. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, this study investigated the negative impact of facades of conformity on individual creativity by focusing on the mediating role of emotional exhaustion and the moderating role of organizational political climate. The data were collected from 335 employees of different industries in Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi and other regions in China. Results indicate that (1) facades of conformity has a significantly negative impact on individual creativity; (2) there is a mediation of emotional exhaustion in the relationship between facades of conformity and individual creativity; and (3) organizational political climate significantly moderate the relationships between facades of conformity and emotional exhaustion and the mediating effect of emotional exhaustion. This study opens up a new perspective for the study of individual creativity and provides theoretical and practical basis for the effective promotion of individual creativity by organizational managers.

Beyond Rainmaking: Climate Engineering on the Nineteenth Century Great Plains

Abstract Settler colonists in the nineteenth-century American West thought humans could engineer climate change. The supposed method varied: agriculturists and boosters argued that farming moderated climates, arboriculturists that forest belts humidified the air, and popular theorists that shooting the sky with artillery could shock rain out of it. This article shows that these theories gained credibility from the ways they mimicked the language and appearance of science and statistics. Climate counter-experts became famous because they could put on a performance of seeming scientific fluency. These techno-optimists produced theory after theory that remaking western environments to be more humid, green, and cultivable required the extension of American empire and ecologies, and the extirpation of Indigenous peoples and ecologies. Each theory fell in turn after material conditions of drought and catastrophe proved them wrong. But these ideas nevertheless survived into the climate politics of the present day.