Bolet, Diane and Green, Fergus and González-Eguino, Mikel (2023) How to Get Coal Country to Vote for Climate Policy: The Effect of a “Just Transition Agreement” on Spanish Election Results. American Political Science Review, 118 (3). pp. 1344-1359. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003055423001235
Bolet, Diane and Green, Fergus and González-Eguino, Mikel (2023) How to Get Coal Country to Vote for Climate Policy: The Effect of a “Just Transition Agreement” on Spanish Election Results. American Political Science Review, 118 (3). pp. 1344-1359. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003055423001235
Bolet, Diane and Green, Fergus and González-Eguino, Mikel (2023) How to Get Coal Country to Vote for Climate Policy: The Effect of a “Just Transition Agreement” on Spanish Election Results. American Political Science Review, 118 (3). pp. 1344-1359. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003055423001235
Abstract
Enacting stringent climate policy has proven politically challenging, not least because of concentrated losses in fossil fuel-producing communities. “Just transition” strategies have been proposed to mitigate this distributional challenge. Yet, little is known about how such strategies affect voting behavior. Using a mixed-methods approach, we exploit a local climate policy in Spain—a “Just Transition Agreement” (JTA) to phase out coalmining, support affected workers, and invest in affected municipalities—which was negotiated by the incumbent Socialist Party (PSOE) government with affected unions and businesses shortly before a national election. A difference-in-differences study shows that PSOE’s vote share in coalmining municipalities increased at the 2019 election relative to similar municipalities, implying that the JTA was electorally successful. Further statistical tests and elite interviews suggest that this electoral boost was driven by unions’ support of the JTA. Our findings have implications for how parties can craft popular climate policy.
Item Type: | Article |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Government, Department of |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 11 Dec 2023 11:32 |
Last Modified: | 02 Sep 2024 10:03 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/37144 |
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