Abstract
Because of their social dilemma character, global environmental problems are
difficult to successfully manage. States have few incentives to contribute to the
common good because doing so would imply costs but not guarantee that others
will contribute. Without a global government that can maintain order states do not
want to act the sucker. But this picture is not always true. Sweden’s behaviour in
climate politics is a clear anomaly given such expectations. Sweden opted for a
more ambitious target than obliged to under the Kyoto Protocol and will most
probably over-implement this target. The aim of this study is to explore why
Sweden has acted contrary to social dilemma expectations in climate policy.
Following a social constructivist approach, Swedish climate policy—nationally
as well as in selected sub-national cases—is analysed as regards the ‘is–ought–do’
of politics. How are global climate change and its international political responses
interpreted in Swedish policy? How is Sweden’s responsibility constructed?
Further, what is perceived as necessary and possible to do in order to contribute to
the mitigation of climate change? The theoretical assumption is that this will be
constructed against the background of a social structure consisting of socially and
historically established discourses, including ideas, norms and practices.
This study suggests that one reason why Sweden acts contrary to expectations
is because the consensual climate science as advocated by IPCC is reproduced in
the Swedish polity. This acknowledgement of the problem makes possible the
construction of Sweden’s sense of responsibility through a combination of two
storylines: an Ecological Justice story-line and an Opportunity story-line. In
Swedish climate discourse, being rich implies a moral obligation to show initiative.
But Sweden also looks at climate policy through a window of opportunity; being in
the frontline of the restructuration of society would be beneficial to Sweden. At the
sub-national level, on the other hand, the polities analysed had a less elaborated
construction of responsibility, but saw it as something which was more or less
beyond questioning. Apart from taking the problem seriously and appointing itself
responsibility, Sweden’s strategy has been to ‘involve the whole society’ in the
mission to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Further, there is a strong belief that
through planning, introduction of cost-efficient policy measures, and providing
incentives to various actors in society, the rational state/society is well capable of
accomplishing this mission. Thus, Sweden reproduces the discourse of ecological
modernisation, which spells out the Win-Win situation of environmental politics.
Keywords: climate policy, social dilemmas, social constructivism, discourse, storyline,
norms, identity, legitimacy, ecological modernisation, environmental
forerunner, Sweden.
Contents
Acknowledgements - 7
1. The Country that shouldn’t be - 9
2. To the limits of what is thinkable - 25
3. Environmental discourses - 53
4. The structuration of international climate policy - 73
5. Sweden: climate policy as a window of opportunity - 97
6. Emulating the state while considering local circumstances - 161
7. Conclusion: understanding Sweden’s urge to ‘go ahead’ - 233
References - 253
