Frank Wendler – författare

This book examines the expansion of climate governance frameworks in the EU and US and their re-framing as part of green industrial programs.

Addressing research on how vectors of stability and punctuation interact to advance or block policy progress, the book breaks new ground by presenting a theoretical framework suitable to integrate insights of comparative research and “sui generis” accounts of climate policy as a variable and multi-dimensional issue. In its empirical part, it compares two contrasting trajectories of climate policy-making: namely, the adaptation of the European Green Deal agenda to the exogenous shocks of the Covid pandemic and war in Ukraine through its NextGen and REPowerEU programs; and the launch of green industrial policies targeting infrastructure (Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) and inflation reduction (Inflation Reduction Act) in the US. Finally discussing to what degree the EU and US show signs of convergence towards a new type of climate policy from opposed starting points, the book identifies future research agendas around the topics of climate policy integration and politicization.

This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners of climate change governance, EU and US politics, environmental politics and comparative politics.

This book examines the expansion of climate governance frameworks in the EU and US and their re-framing as part of green industrial programs.

Addressing research on how vectors of stability and punctuation interact to advance or block policy progress, the book breaks new ground by presenting a theoretical framework suitable to integrate insights of comparative research and “sui generis” accounts of climate policy as a variable and multi-dimensional issue. In its empirical part, it compares two contrasting trajectories of climate policy-making: namely, the adaptation of the European Green Deal agenda to the exogenous shocks of the Covid pandemic and war in Ukraine through its NextGen and REPowerEU programs; and the launch of green industrial policies targeting infrastructure (Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) and inflation reduction (Inflation Reduction Act) in the US. Finally discussing to what degree the EU and US show signs of convergence towards a new type of climate policy from opposed starting points, the book identifies future research agendas around the topics of climate policy integration and politicization.

This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners of climate change governance, EU and US politics, environmental politics and comparative politics.

This book investigates recent public debates about the European Union (EU) in national parliaments, which have become the primary arena for public debate about the EU. Responding to claims about a politicization of European governance, the author investigates the link between two dimensions of debate – the discursive justification and party political contestation of decision-making in the EU. Embedded in a comparison between the legislatures of four Member States (Austria, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom), the main finding of the book is that generalizable links can be identified between the use of different argumentative frames and patterns of party political polarization. These insights help to clarify the context conditions in which patterns of left/right and government/opposition politics are replaced by more atypical forms of polarization. In a comparative perspective, the author demonstrates that party political factors are a more relevant factor for variation than thematic or country-specific cultural or institutional factors. Case studies include debates on EU Treaty Reform, the Eurozone crisis, and EU enlargement.

Political responses to climate change are shaped by beliefs and ideas. How does discourse on climate action and its contestation affect policy-making? Addressing this question, the book compares EU and US policy-making since the Paris Agreement and its framing by key political institutions. The empirical part analyses the structure, linkages and contestation of frames to evaluate the contrasting spaces of climate politics in both systems. As the first direct comparison of EU and US climate governance since the Paris Agreement, the book advances current research on the politics of climate change, the politicization of multi-level governance and the role of discourse for policy change.