Determinants of political elites’ engagement with climate change

Himmelrath, Noam

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URN:	urn:nbn:de:bsz:180-madoc-703440
Dokumenttyp:	Dissertation
Erscheinungsjahr:	2025
Ort der Veröffentlichung:	Mannheim
Hochschule:	Universität Mannheim
Gutachter:	Stecker, Christian
Datum der mündl. Prüfung:	2025
Sprache der Veröffentlichung:	Englisch
Einrichtung:	Außerfakultäre Einrichtungen > MZES - Arbeitsbereich A
Fachgebiet:	320 Politik
Freie Schlagwörter (Englisch):	climate politics , political institutions , comparative politics , text-as-data
Abstract:	Climate change poses an escalating global threat, requiring urgent political action. While we know that political elites play a crucial role in addressing climate issues, we don’t fully understand what drives their engagement. This thesis seeks to identify the determinants—both endogenous and exogenous—of political elites’ engagement with climate change. Using party manifestos, parliamentary speech records, and candidate survey data from European democracies, it applies quantitative text analysis and regression modeling. The findings show that, contrary to expectations, climate disasters reduce parties’ attention to climate issues. In contrast, younger MPs and candidates are more likely to engage with climate change, particularly in urban constituencies. These results suggest that demographic and contextual factors significantly influence climate engagement, while external shocks may trigger strategic avoidance. This implies that effective climate policy depends not only on the transformation of economic and ecological variables, but of political institutions and their compositions as well.