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

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of European Integration
Main Author: Terzi, Özlem
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/215933cb-0fd8-4e7d-a11b-227af348f5b0
https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2024.2359590
https://hdl.handle.net/1871.1/215933cb-0fd8-4e7d-a11b-227af348f5b0
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http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85198444907&partnerID=8YFLogxK
Description
Summary: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.