Norm-Based Governance for Severe Collective Action Problems

Lessons from Climate Change and Covid-19

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6323819
AutoresLeigh Raymond (0000-0003-4455-7583, Hologic (Germany)), Daniel Kelly (0000-0002-1847-0655, Hologic (Germany)), Erin P Hennes (0000-0002-6897-3541, Hologic (Germany))
Año2023
Volumen21
Número2
Páginas519-532
Fecha de publicación2023-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPerspectives on Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1537-5927 • E-ISSN: 1541-0986
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1537592721003054
OpenAlexW3215933451
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas102

The world has surpassed three million deaths from COVID-19, and faces potentially catastrophic tipping points in the global climate system. Despite the urgency, governments have struggled to address either problem. In this paper, we argue that COVID-19 and anthropogenic climate change (ACC) are critical examples of an emerging type of governance challenge: severe collective action problems that require significant individual behavior change under conditions of hyper-partisanship and scientific misinformation. Building on foundational political science work demonstrating the potential for norms (or informal rules of behavior) to solve collective action problems, we analyze more recent work on norms from neighboring disciplines to offer novel recommendations for more difficult challenges like COVID-19 and ACC. Key insights include more attention to 1) norm-based messaging strategies that appeal to individuals across the ideological spectrum or that reframe collective action as consistent with resistant subgroups’ pre-existing values, 2) messages that emphasize both the prevalence and the social desirability of individual behaviors required to address these challenges, 3) careful use of public policies and incentives that make individual behavior change easier without threatening norm internalization, and 4) greater attention to epistemic norms governing trust in different information sources. We conclude by pointing out that COVID-19 and climate change are likely harbingers of other polarized collective action problems that governments will face in the future. By connecting work on norms and political governance with a broader, interdisciplinary literature on norm psychology, motivation, and behavior change, we aim to improve the ability of political scientists and policymakers to respond to these and future collective action challenges

Climate change · Cognitive reframing · Collective action · Corporate governance · Economics · Incentive · Norm (philosophy · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Law · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology