THE SILOED UMBRELLA: An intersectional reading of climate policy in Malmö, Sweden.

Abstract

This thesis presents a critical policy analysis of the inclusion/exclusion of social factors and questions of equity in climate policy in Malmö municipality by using intersectional theory. The objective of the paper is to 1) investigate how climate policymakers view social factors and questions of (in)equity and 2) explore how social justice can further be incorporated in policymaking through an intersectional framework Researching how people/institutions understand multifaceted social aspects, how they believe themselves to operationalize it and what they really do, is surely complex. Not only is it complex, but an intersectional analysis requires attention to contextuality. This project therefore led to a qualitative mixed-method which looks at the organization, the key documents and asks the government officials how they view the issue. The results showed that there is a strong inclusive ambition expressed in both policy documents and interviews. Simultaneously, some obstacles exist when including social factors relevant to climate. The findings can be divided into three categories: Organizational, conceptual (framing) and inclusive obstacles. An intersectional lens reveals that in the same manner as environmental issues have been deprioritized over other issues, such as economy and development - Social aspects have gotten deprioritized over ecological or technical. Institutional structures, processes, framing of issues and in extension policy responses follow a historical trajectory of prioritizing/deprioritizing certain issues. Even if individual government officials are trying to create change, more extensive structural changes are needed to truly move away from the historical path.