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Governing to Save the Earth : An Analysis of How to Elect a Pro-Climate Congress in the United States of America

Danowski, Aaron LU (2019) HEKM51 20191
Human Ecology
Abstract
This thesis aims to provide a political strategy for building a lasting pro-climate governing majority in the House and Senate. It analyses the current state of the pro-climate coalition in Congress and lays out the top opportunities for and threats to climate governance in the US. Overall, passing robust climate legislation through the US Congress requires a clear understanding of how social identities drive voting behavior, not policy preferences or voting to hold elected officials accountable. Using America’s dominant regional and racial social group identities as an analytical frame, I argue that progress on climate change is possible only if climate advocates employ a region by region electoral political strategy that: 1. maximizes... (More)
This thesis aims to provide a political strategy for building a lasting pro-climate governing majority in the House and Senate. It analyses the current state of the pro-climate coalition in Congress and lays out the top opportunities for and threats to climate governance in the US. Overall, passing robust climate legislation through the US Congress requires a clear understanding of how social identities drive voting behavior, not policy preferences or voting to hold elected officials accountable. Using America’s dominant regional and racial social group identities as an analytical frame, I argue that progress on climate change is possible only if climate advocates employ a region by region electoral political strategy that: 1. maximizes the number of pro-climate members of Congress from Democratic regions 2. creates a workable majority by helping Democrats win seats in swing regions and the Far West; and 3. reforms the Senate rules concerning the filibuster in order to adapt to the new normal of highly competitive American politics. Even if this strategy is successful, I argue that passing the broad suite of climate legislation necessary to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will likely require long-lasting partisan realignment that produces a clear majority from a large cross-section of America’s thirteen ethnoregions. A major crisis will be required to make such a realignment possible. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Danowski, Aaron LU
supervisor
organization
course
HEKM51 20191
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
American climate politics, American Nations, partisan parity, asymmetrical polarization, filibuster
language
English
id
8979975
date added to LUP
2019-12-18 11:21:01
date last changed
2019-12-18 11:21:01
@misc{8979975,
  abstract     = {{This thesis aims to provide a political strategy for building a lasting pro-climate governing majority in the House and Senate. It analyses the current state of the pro-climate coalition in Congress and lays out the top opportunities for and threats to climate governance in the US. Overall, passing robust climate legislation through the US Congress requires a clear understanding of how social identities drive voting behavior, not policy preferences or voting to hold elected officials accountable. Using America’s dominant regional and racial social group identities as an analytical frame, I argue that progress on climate change is possible only if climate advocates employ a region by region electoral political strategy that: 1. maximizes the number of pro-climate members of Congress from Democratic regions 2. creates a workable majority by helping Democrats win seats in swing regions and the Far West; and 3. reforms the Senate rules concerning the filibuster in order to adapt to the new normal of highly competitive American politics. Even if this strategy is successful, I argue that passing the broad suite of climate legislation necessary to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will likely require long-lasting partisan realignment that produces a clear majority from a large cross-section of America’s thirteen ethnoregions. A major crisis will be required to make such a realignment possible.}},
  author       = {{Danowski, Aaron}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Governing to Save the Earth : An Analysis of How to Elect a Pro-Climate Congress in the United States of America}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}