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Paper short abstract

A decade of right-wing populism has eroded climate ambition, yet progressive responses beyond the deficit model have yet to materialise at scale. With an empirical case from German energy policy, this paper explores how STS approaches might retheorise dissent for a more reconciliatory democracy.

Paper long abstract

A decade since Euro-American politics lurched towards a new populist paradigm, the political consensus around climate action has continued to fracture in the global north, from acute challenges like ULEZ and Gilets Jaunes protests to the more general materialisation of a shared anti-Net zero platform between emerging far-right movements. Beyond rehearsing a commitment to facts, or else enlisting in the very same fractious culture wars, compelling progressive response to this moment have been few.

At the same time, the social and moral implicatedness of climate action has never had greater institutional recognition than it does now, with terms like environmental justice, sustainable development, and just transition littering political discourse from university departments to multilateral treaties. Why then do policies seem no closer to understanding sociological rifts of populism, much less reconciling them. Can STS help move us towards a more productive account of dissent in existential times?

This paper will present early results from a comparative study on Just Transition discourse in Germany. The national 'Energiewende' policy pursues a normative vision centred on 'energy democracy' and citizen participation in its plan for energy transition, yet opposition to the plan appears strongest in many parts of Germany most in need of industrial transformation. The paper explores dissent as the product of mismatched visions of 'justice' and progress between state and citizen in a time of transition. This symmetrical model aims for alternative ways of theorising public dissent beyond narratives of deficit, as one possible step towards a more reconciliatory democratic politics.