Does size matter? Comparing the party politics of climate change in Australia and Norway

ABSTRACT

The implications of state size for the party politics of climate change are examined, and in particular its effect in facilitating or impeding cross-party consensus on the issue. This issue is explored through an in-depth, qualitative comparison of Australia and Norway, which are shown to be comparable in important respects yet differ in terms of their size and climate politics. Original primary data is presented from 44 interviews with policymakers and policy-shapers in both countries, which shows that, to the limited extent that state size moderates the parties’ behaviour, it is the countries’ geographical – not economic – size that matters. Institutional factors are found to play a more significant role, however, and the corporatist features of state-business cooperation, strong ENGOs and compensatory welfare arrangements are highlighted as particularly important.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• political parties
• small states
• Australia
• Norway

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. For that reason, we can rule out the recession as providing the explanation for polarisation in Australia.

Additional information

Funding

The article draws on research conducted as part of an ESRC-funded PhD ‘From consensus to polarisation: What explains variation in party agreement on climate change?’