Climate policy backlash: taming an unruly concept?

Abstract

Backlash is a growing concern among climate and environmental politics scholars. Abrupt negative pushback against climate and environmental policies, among both elites and mass publics, increasingly shapes the politics of policy action and societal transformation. Moreover, socio-political polarization, societal unrest, and geopolitical shocks may raise the chances of future policy backlash. However, the concept of backlash is used in fragmented and inconsistent ways, undermining its potential to distinguish and explain important political dynamics. We therefore ask: How is the concept of climate policy backlash being employed in climate policy and politics literature, and with what consequences for its study and explanation? We conduct a systematic critical review of literature related to climate policy backlash. We observe variation in analytical approaches (concerning forms of backlash, objects, subjective perceptions, and effects) and underlying explanations (backlash as reactionary political behavior, interest-based countermobilization, emancipatory political action, or ‘ordinary’ politics). We caution against taming the unruly concept of climate policy backlash. It is a complex and contradictory phenomenon with potential for both negative and positive effects on climate policy development that can politicize and depoliticize policy making, and reflect both extraordinary and ordinary politics simultaneously.