Don't Tread On Climate Policy: American Nationalism And U.S. Climate Policy

Abstract

The United States has a turbulent relationship with both domestic and international climate change policy, fueled by American nationalism. While there are robust fields of research on both nationalism and climate policy separately, research on connections between the two has only just begun in the past few years. When that scope is further narrowed to specifically American nationalism and U.S. climate policy, the field becomes even more sparse. I argue that this void in the conversation is a significant grey area that gives anti-climate actors particular power in determining the fate of U.S. climate policy. Utilizing messaging that plays to the political hegemony of American nationalism has enabled anti-climate actors to kill, weaken, or delay indefinitely a number of important pieces of climate policy. In this paper I will compare and contrast four such policies: the Kyoto Protocol, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (cap and trade), The Clean Power Plan, and The Paris Agreement. I will identify a thread of common themes through each policy, including organized American nationalists, anti-globalism nationalist messaging, American nationalism in electoral politics, mistrust of the United Nations, and examples of American exceptionalism and isolationism. In an age where we have dwindling time to mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis, understanding the systemic role ideologies like American nationalism play in disrupting climate policy is crucial.