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Masterarbeit / Master´S Thesis MASTERARBEIT / MASTER´S THESIS Titel der Masterarbeit / Title of the Master´s Thesis „Climate Migration as Political Ammunition: The Political Use of the Academic Climate Migration Debate by the Greens/European Free Alliance in the European Parliament“ verfasst von / submitted by Luka De Bruyckere angestrebter akademischer Grad / in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master (MA) Wien, 2016 / Vienna 2016 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt / A 067 805 degree programme code as it appears on the student record sheet: Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt / Individuelles Masterstudium: degree programme as it appears on Global Studies – a European Perspective the student record sheet: Betreut von / Supervisor: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Peter Schweitzer MASTERARBEIT / MASTER THESIS Titel der Masterarbeit /Title of the master thesis Climate Migration as Political Ammunition: The Political Use of the Academic Climate Migration Debate by the Greens/European Free Alliance in the European Parliament Verfasser /Author Luka De Bruyckere angestrebter akademischer Grad / acadamic degree aspired Master (MA) Wien, 2016 Studienkennzahl : A 067 805 Studienrichtung: Individuelles Masterstudium: Global Studies – a European Perspective Betreuer/Supervisor: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Peter Schweitzer Table of contents ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………..………...……4 INTRODUCTION…………………...………………………..……………8 CHAPTER I - The academic climate migration debate…...………..............13 1. Early debate………………………………………………………………...……..13 1.1 Early definitions ................................................................................................................... 14 1.2 Environmental versus climate migration .......................................................................... 16 1.3 Maximalism versus minimalism ......................................................................................... 17 2. A more nuanced debate………………………………………………………..18 2.1 Voluntary versus forced migration .................................................................................... 19 2.2 Agency ................................................................................................................................... 21 2.2.1 Migration as adaptation ............................................................................................... 22 2.2.2 Planned relocation ........................................................................................................ 23 2.3 Security .................................................................................................................................. 25 2.4 Social factors ......................................................................................................................... 27 3. Quantifications…………………………………………………………………...29 3.1 Criticism ................................................................................................................................ 31 4. Legal discussions………………………………………………………………..32 4.1 Broadening the Geneva Convention ................................................................................. 34 4.2 A new (environmental) convention ................................................................................... 35 4.3 Protection by current policies ............................................................................................ 36 4.4 Environmental policies ....................................................................................................... 38 5. Minimalist concerns on climate refugee conceptualizations ………….39 6. Conclusion: evolved maximalism versus minimalist concerns …….....41 CHAPTER II - Research use in policy making………………………..……..44 1. Two-Communities theory……………………………………………………...45 1 1.1 Complexity instead of homogeneity .................................................................................. 48 1.2 Refuting rationalism ............................................................................................................. 50 2. Transforming research…………………………………………………………52 2.1 The role of values ................................................................................................................. 52 2.2 The Advocacy Coalition Framework ................................................................................ 53 2.3 The transformation of research into political arguments ............................................... 54 3. The representation of academic research………………………………….55 4. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………...56 CHAPTER III - Methodology……………………………………………………58 1. Methodological influence………………………………………………….…...58 1.1 Gibson’s transformation theory ......................................................................................... 58 1.2 Critical frame analysis .......................................................................................................... 59 2. Methodological structure……………………………………………………....61 3. The Greens/ European Free Alliance in the European Parliament…62 3.1 Selection of documents ....................................................................................................... 62 4. Representation of the academic debate………………………………….....63 4.1 Coding of the academic debate .......................................................................................... 63 4.2 Analysis of policy documents ............................................................................................. 65 4.2.1 Sensitizing questions .................................................................................................... 65 4.2.2 Answers to the sensitizing questions ......................................................................... 67 5. Political use……………………………………………………………………......67 6. Limitations…………………………………………………………………….......68 CHAPTER IV - Research results...………………………………………..….......70 1. Representation…………………………………………………………………....70 1.1 Academic dimensions of policy texts ................................................................................ 70 1.1.1 Conceptualization ......................................................................................................... 72 1.1.2 Complexity .................................................................................................................... 74 1.1.3 Advocacy ....................................................................................................................... 77 1.2 Greens/EFA policy documents ........................................................................................ 79 2 1.2.1 Refugees and the Environment: The Forgotten Element of Sustainability (Lambert, 2002) ...................................................................................................................... 83 1.2.2 Nous Sommes à l'Origine du Problème, Nous Devons le Résoudre (Biermann, 2008) ........................................................................................................................................ 85 1.2.3 Climate Change and Migration (Lambert, 2010) ..................................................... 86 1.2.4 Climate Change, Refugees and Migration (Flautre et al., 2013)............................. 88 2. Political use……………………………………………………………………….90 2.1 Solutions ................................................................................................................................ 90 2.1.1 Mitigation ....................................................................................................................... 91 2.1.2 Adaptation: planned relocation .................................................................................. 92 2.1.3 Legal solutions .............................................................................................................. 93 2.2 Indirectly related issues ....................................................................................................... 96 2.3 Research use .......................................................................................................................... 97 2.2.1 Concrete conceptualization for policy solutions ..................................................... 98 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………..101 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………..107 ANNEX…………………………………………………………………………....…124 CURRICULUM VITAE…………………………………….……………………….139 3 Abstract Migration as well as climate change are currently two of the most pressing issues societies are facing. The link between both crises is easily made as exemplified by news reports positing a connection between climate change and the Syrian conflict. A vivid academic debate on the environment or climate migration nexus divides maximalist and minimalist scholars. The former analyse the plight of so called climate migrants and refugees while the latter reject these concepts by stressing the complex multicausality of migration. Minimalists fear the political instrumentalisation of the climate migration discourse, assuming a predominance of maximalist argumentations in the policy realm. Their concerns prompt questions on the relation between science and politics. Theoretical perspectives on research utilization expect a loss of complexity as academic arguments travel to the political debate. Furthermore, policy makers are depicted as selecting research findings on the basis of ideological values where after they transform these argumentations to fit their political purpose. At a time that is characterized by the omnipresence of discourses
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