Advanced master thesis | Political Science (Advanced Master)
open access
This thesis examines how governments legitimate and justify climate change policies. It focuses on the dissonant nature of the Australian climate change policy regime since 1987, and in particular...Show moreThis thesis examines how governments legitimate and justify climate change policies. It focuses on the dissonant nature of the Australian climate change policy regime since 1987, and in particular it looks at how successive administrations have legitimated policies which range from ignorance, to acceptance, to outright denial of climate change. In order to achieve this goal, government discourse from 1987–2014 is parsed and analysed according to a predetermined schema. The dominant, marginalised, and challenging discursive fields are studied, and specific attention is paid to how these narratives change in light of certain stimuli (such as economic recessions or natural disasters). It is revealed that traditional, neo-liberal economic narratives have been hegemonic, and thus used overwhelmingly both to legitimate and resist climate change policy regimes. Scientific and ethical considerations have played smaller but still significant roles in justifying and criticising policy regimes. Notably, the actual and predicted effects of climate change are largely absent from the government discourse. As a result, this thesis adds to the existing literature by providing a complete and coherent study of how the justification of Australian climate change policy has varied over the past three decades, shedding light on the dissonant nature of the Australian climate change policy regimes, and raising concerns about the focus of the climate change discussions espoused by the government.Show less
This paper is to illuminate the social significance of positional goods and to assess the desirability of equality of these goods. I begin with a characterization of strict and moderate...Show moreThis paper is to illuminate the social significance of positional goods and to assess the desirability of equality of these goods. I begin with a characterization of strict and moderate egalitarianism and their implications about equality; and I discuss the leveling down principle as well as its objection. Further, I turn to the issue of positionality and non-positionality; define positional goods; clarify the distinction between positional goods with non-positional aspect and non-positional goods with positional aspect; and demonstrate what a notable case equality (and leveling down) of positional goods is in the field of political philosophy and economics. I then proceed to an elaborate discussion about the desirability of equality of positional goods. I conclude that equality of these goods is not desirable and defend this claim on three egalitarian grounds: (1) non-positionality; (2) social growth; and (3) fair competition.Show less
De bevolkingsgrootte is een belangrijk onderdeel van het complexe, multidimensionale klimaatprobleem. Kern van dit probleem is het feit dat een bepaalde hoeveelheid mensen op aarde een zekere...Show moreDe bevolkingsgrootte is een belangrijk onderdeel van het complexe, multidimensionale klimaatprobleem. Kern van dit probleem is het feit dat een bepaalde hoeveelheid mensen op aarde een zekere hoeveelheid fossiele brandstoffen in een rap tempo gebruikt. De totale milieu-impact staat gelijk aan het bevolkingsaantal maal een indicator van de ecologische voetafdruk van de mens (Jones en Jacobs 2006, 428). Om de menselijke bijdrage aan klimaatverandering tegen te gaan is zowel een consumptiereductie als het terugbrengen van de bevolkingsgroei een noodzaak. In dit verband worden er voorspellingen gedaan over de te verwachten grootte van de wereldpopulatie. Hoewel deze voorspellingen uitwijzen dat het groeicijfer dalende is, wordt er verwacht dat er de komende decennia sprake zal blijven van bevolkingsgroei (VN 2010a; Jones en Jacobs 2006, 429).Show less
