Emotional politics of norm hierarchy in EU’s external relations: the case of climate crisis and the EU’s arctic policy

Özlem Terzi*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

This article focuses on the role emotions play as a heuristic tool in determining the hierarchy of norms in EU’s Arctic policy. In the Arctic, appropriate behaviour prescribed by the norms regarding climate change mitigation (the European Green Deal and the Paris Agreement), environmental protection according to EU environmental law and UN-recognised Indigenous Peoples’ rights contradict each other. When multiple norms are to be applied in a situation and they conflict with each other, a prioritisation needs to be made among these norms. This paper investigates how emotions contribute in a heuristic way to determining this priority. It finds out that fear of climate change enables climate change mitigation and regulations of the European Green Deal to gain primacy over environmental protection norms and Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Self-confidence of the EU and its trust in Nordic member states in these two areas constrain the EU from taking further protective measures.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)729-749
Number of pages21
JournalJournal of European Integration
Volume46
Issue number5
Early online date11 Jun 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

  • Emotions in European foreign policy
  • emotions in heuristic decision making
  • European Green Deal
  • EU’s Arctic policy
  • foreign policy analysis
  • norm conflicts

Cite this