The Politics of Youth Representation at Climate Change Conferences: Who Speaks, Who Is Spoken of, and Who Listens?

IF 3.9 2区社会学 Q2 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Global Environmental Politics Pub Date : 2023-10-10 DOI:10.1162/glep_a_00736

Jens Marquardt, Eva Lövbrand, Frida Buhre

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Abstract

Abstract In this article, we examine how young climate activists make use of the United Nations (UN) constituency system to give voice to children and youth in global climate governance. Our study is based on a mapping of accredited youth nongovernmental organizations (YOUNGO) as well as fieldwork at two UN Climate Change Conferences, where we conducted interviews, observed events, and analyzed plenary interventions. Informed by constructivist accounts of political representation, the article pays attention to the performative relationship between institutionalized means of youth representation and “the represented.” When analyzing our material, we asked who speaks for youth, how youth are spoken of, and how institutions shape representative speech. Our study identifies three subject positions that offer competing interpretations of who youth are as a political community and what they want. Rather than taking youth’s demands and interests as a starting point for representative politics, the article illustrates how the UN constituency system actively constructs youth and effectively molds young climate activists into professional insiders.

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气候变化会议上青年代表的政治:谁说话，谁被谈论，谁倾听?

在这篇文章中，我们研究了年轻的气候活动家如何利用联合国(UN)选区系统，在全球气候治理中为儿童和青年发声。我们的研究基于经认可的青年非政府组织(YOUNGO)的地图，以及两次联合国气候变化会议的实地工作，在那里我们进行了采访，观察了事件，并分析了全体会议的发言。在建构主义政治代表理论的基础上，本文关注制度化的青年代表手段与“被代表”之间的表现关系。在分析我们的材料时，我们询问了谁代表年轻人说话，如何谈论年轻人，以及机构如何塑造代表性言论。我们的研究确定了三种主题立场，它们对青年作为一个政治群体是谁以及他们想要什么提供了相互矛盾的解释。文章没有以青年的诉求和利益作为代议制政治的出发点，而是阐述了联合国选区系统如何积极构建青年，并有效地将青年气候活动家塑造成专业人士。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Global Environmental Politics Multiple-

CiteScore

7.40

自引率

8.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Global Environmental Politics examines the relationship between global political forces and environmental change, with particular attention given to the implications of local-global interactions for environmental management as well as the implications of environmental change for world politics. Each issue is divided into research articles and a shorter forum articles focusing on issues such as the role of states, multilateral institutions and agreements, trade, international finance, corporations, science and technology, and grassroots movements.