Beneath the insuperable barrier
Accumulation, state managers and climate policy in Britain
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5162285 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas Da Costa Vieira (0000-0001-7895-3838, London School of Economics and Political Science, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 205-225 |
| Publication date | 2025-02-23 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0964-4016 • E-ISSN: 1743-8934 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09644016.2024.2351787 |
| OpenAlex | W4398139187 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 37 |
This article presents the first archival case study of the drivers of UK climate policy and the creation of the UNFCCC. I contribute to the literature on the green state and green capitalism, firstly by arguing that existing approaches do not fully capture the state's and most importantly policymakers' position in capitalism. Secondly, there remains scope for more refined empirical examination of policymakers and how they navigate the contradictions of environmental policy. I address these weaknesses by analysing newly declassified British governmental documents through form-analytic Marxism, demonstrating the drivers behind the Thatcher government's climate policies and push for an international convention. I argue that policymakers occupy the site of the state's contradictory pressures, and thus find themselves 'beneath the insuperable barrier' as their commitment to accumulation and capitalist logics supersedes their drive to design ambitious environmental measures. This reveals fundamental tensions with policymakers' ability to address the climate crisis
Climate change · Climate policy · Political science · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Social Issues and Policies · Geology · Oceanography
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The Insuperable Imperative
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |