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The political effects of emergency frames in sustainability

  • James Patterson
  • , Carina Wyborn
  • , Linda Westman
  • , Marie Claire Brisbois
  • , Manjana Milkoreit
  • , Dhanasree Jayaram

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Emergency frames are mobilized in contemporary sustainability debates, both in response to specific events and strategically. The strategic deployment of emergency frames by proponents of sustainability action aims to stimulate collective action on issues for which it is lacking. But this is contentious due to a range of possible effects. We critically review interdisciplinary social science literature to examine the political effects of emergency frames in sustainability and develop a typology of five key dimensions of variation. This pinpoints practical areas for evaluating the utility of emergency frames and builds a shared vocabulary for analysis and decision-making.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)841-850
JournalNature Sustainability
Volume4
Early online date2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We acknowledge all participants of the Innovative Session: ‘Helping or hindering? The political effects of ‘emergency’ frames in environmental governance’, held at the 2020 Virtual Forum on Earth System Governance. J.P. received funding from the European Research Council as principal investigator of the project BACKLASH (grant agreement number 949332). C.W. received funding from the Australian Research Council as principal investigator of the project Foresight in Times of Disruption (grant agreement noumber DE200100922). L.W. received funding from the European Research Council as a member of the project LO-ACT (grant agreement number 804051).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, Springer Nature Limited.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
    SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy
  2. SDG 13 - Climate Action
    SDG 13 Climate Action

Keywords

  • Climate change
  • decision making
  • politics
  • sustainability

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