Browsing by Author "Lietonen, Anni"

This Master’s is focused on action against climate change and Finnish Environmental non-Governmental Organisations (ENGOs) by examining the process that has led to a national Climate Change Act coming into force in 2015. Previous research related to NGOs has largely dealt with activism and networks as the moral and social aspects have received less attention. This research set out to explain collective action of the Finnish environmental, as well as, the argumentation related it through the analysis of moral and political arguments as advanced by the representatives of the organisations. Identifying the specific features that determine the climate policy debate will supplement information on the debated roles of the civil society in climate policy. The framework of this thesis utilises two different theories, which used to analyse the data consisting of interviews with the representatives of environmental organisations. Firstly, the following research questions are answered with the help of political opportunity structure: Which external resources and opportunities contributed to the fact that the organisations chose to especially promoting the national Climate Change Act? To what extent can the success of the Climate Change Act be attributed to the ENGOs? Secondly, the thesis utilizes the justification theory by Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot in answering the questions: What are the main arguments advanced by the ENGOs when justifying arguments in action against climate change and what values appear in them? What combinations values are visible in their arguments? What kind of compromises or conflicts of orders of worth are visible in the arguments? How do the orders of worth explain the success - or the lack of - in advancing claims in their advocacy work? And how is the concept of climate justice valued by the Finnish ENGOs? Based on this study it can be argued that the ENGOs have had a central role in the environmental policy debate. The main structural conditions that affected the choice of ENGOs to focus resources on campaigning on behalf of a national climate law were caused by disappointment towards global governance and EU’s lack of ambition. Furthermore, the global network of ENGOs provided a source of support as the climate law passing in the United Kingdom in 2005 provided a positive model. Lastly the increase of political pluralism after the exceptional aftermath of the 2011 Parliament elections where the Greens had had the leverage to push for their demands to be included in the government programme due to the fact that the other parties needed them badly to achieve the formation of a majority coalition. Moreover, the strong expertise within the organisations can be seen as a precondition of successful influencing. The organisations used selected worlds of justification in the climate policy debate. They emphasized the importance of a nationally binding law. State should promote industrial mechanisms towards green technologies and the use of renewable energy sources. In this argument the use of civic justifications was strongly combined with industrial justifications. The NGOs expressed conflicting opinions when talking about market values. The most radical organisations denounced the market-driven cap-and-trade mechanisms, whereas other organisations expressed potential regardless of current deficiencies. Green Finland -brand should be developed through supporting green innovation technology and using Finland as a laboratory for social and technological experiments. Based on this study the key to the success of ENGOs in pushing for the climate law was their flexibility in choosing arguments, and the willingness to combine arguments that appeal to a variety of moral principles. In particular, abstaining from the use of merely ecological arguments and arguments that denounce market worth proved effective. The vast majority of ENGOs adopted a perspective where under state guidance the market worth along with technological and ecological worth’s are mutually supportive.