State versus nonstate influence : a discourse analysis of two actors at the UN Climate Negotiations

Abstract

The Paris Agreement’s bottom-up approach provides new responsibilities and spaces to influence for both states and nonstate actors participating at the UN Climate Negotiations. This thesis applies a discourse analysis to texts produced by both a state and a nonstate actor in the time period of 2011-2018 and asks two questions: “How does the Norwegian Government and Climate Action Network use discourse to frame their positions at the UN Climate negotiations?” and “How are the discursive representations produced by Climate Action Network and the Norwegian Government institutionalized in the outcomes of the negotiations?”. The analysis identifies the use of four dominant environmental discourses: “limits and survival”, “economic rationalism”, “ecological modernization” and “green politics”. Both the Norwegian Government and Climate Action Network reproduce parts of these discourses and combine them to frame their interests. The presence of these discourses can also be found in decisions made at the negotiations in the chosen time period. The limits and survival discourse and its focus on urgency and global solutions is still dominant, but also challenged by parts of the political rationality in ecological modernization. Economic rationalism is present in solutions offered to mitigate climate change, while green politics can be identified especially in the recognition of equity and “common but differentiated responsibilities”.