The far right and climate change denial: Denouncing environmental challenges via anti-establishment rhetoric, marketing of doubts, industrial/breadwinner masculinities enactments and ethno-nationalism

Book chapter, 2019

Most obvious and explicitly illustrated by the politics of the Trump administration in the US, but also evident in Europe, far-right nationalism have merged with climate change denialism. This merge is just starting to get scholarly attention, despite this research may provide new and important knowledge of resistance towards effective climate politics as well as of broader political issues such as democracy, human rights and diversity. Sweden has high credentials in both environmental politics as well as in welcoming refugees, but these values and politic has of lately been heavily challenged by the neo-fascist party Sweden Democrats. This chapter deals with the environmental communication in this political landscape from 2013 and onwards with a specific focus on climate change denialism of Sweden Democrats (SD). Since two consecutive elections, SD are firmly placed in an unneglectable swing role that Swedish governments both of liberal-conservative and social democratic-green shapes have needed to consider. In this chapter we focus empirically on the period 2013–2017 and follow the arguments from and work by SD politicians. The chapter discuss how and in what way far-right and climate change denialist groups have merged with focus on anti-establishment rhetoric, marketing of doubts, industrial/breadwinner masculinities and nationalism.