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Top-down democratisation or a catalyst for sustainable change? A Case Study of the Danish Citizens’ Assembly on Climate

Ottesen, Josephine LU (2021) In Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science MESM02 20211
LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)
Abstract
Across the world, there is a call to combat the climate crisis and tackle growing socio-economic inequalities. The Danish Citizens’ Assembly on Climate (CAC) is a case of attempted deliberative democracy seeking pathways to this outcome. This thesis asks how the CAC might catalyse a Danish sustainability transition. With democratic discourse theory and the concept of just sustainability, I conduct a critical discourse analysis to examine the CACs barriers and abilities to partake in democratic policy making, and how the sustainability narratives within the CAC affect this ability. The analysis shows that the CAC addresses environmental and socio-economic complexities but faces three barriers: 1) a techno-managerial framing of... (More)
Across the world, there is a call to combat the climate crisis and tackle growing socio-economic inequalities. The Danish Citizens’ Assembly on Climate (CAC) is a case of attempted deliberative democracy seeking pathways to this outcome. This thesis asks how the CAC might catalyse a Danish sustainability transition. With democratic discourse theory and the concept of just sustainability, I conduct a critical discourse analysis to examine the CACs barriers and abilities to partake in democratic policy making, and how the sustainability narratives within the CAC affect this ability. The analysis shows that the CAC addresses environmental and socio-economic complexities but faces three barriers: 1) a techno-managerial framing of sustainability, 2) “expertisation” of deliberation, and 3) top-down democratization. By concluding that to catalyse a just sustainability transition, the CAC must overcome these barriers, I suggest a future examination of how the CAC can penetrate political decision-making and the broader public awareness. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Ottesen, Josephine LU
supervisor
organization
course
MESM02 20211
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
deliberative democracy, Citizens’ Assembly, just transition, sustainability, Denmark
publication/series
Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science
report number
2021:008
language
English
id
9046601
date added to LUP
2021-05-31 08:34:49
date last changed
2021-05-31 08:34:49
@misc{9046601,
  abstract     = {{Across the world, there is a call to combat the climate crisis and tackle growing socio-economic inequalities. The Danish Citizens’ Assembly on Climate (CAC) is a case of attempted deliberative democracy seeking pathways to this outcome. This thesis asks how the CAC might catalyse a Danish sustainability transition. With democratic discourse theory and the concept of just sustainability, I conduct a critical discourse analysis to examine the CACs barriers and abilities to partake in democratic policy making, and how the sustainability narratives within the CAC affect this ability. The analysis shows that the CAC addresses environmental and socio-economic complexities but faces three barriers: 1) a techno-managerial framing of sustainability, 2) “expertisation” of deliberation, and 3) top-down democratization. By concluding that to catalyse a just sustainability transition, the CAC must overcome these barriers, I suggest a future examination of how the CAC can penetrate political decision-making and the broader public awareness.}},
  author       = {{Ottesen, Josephine}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science}},
  title        = {{Top-down democratisation or a catalyst for sustainable change? A Case Study of the Danish Citizens’ Assembly on Climate}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}