The 'Authoritarian Turn' in Environmental Governance? Examining the (Re)politicisation of Shale Gas Fracking in the U.K.

这项研究将调查环境治理中“威权转向”的可能性。通过一项跨学科和定性的研究，它将批判性地分析导致英国页岩气水力压裂恢复的政治和规划过程的论述。此外，还将对参与者进行半结构化采访。它将利用英国的三个具体规划决定以及全国辩论作为案例研究，以了解反水力压裂活动人士是否能够挑战后政治共识和国家的霸权地位。它将质疑活动人士的成功是否迫使国家采取更专制的行动，并审查国家是否利用这场辩论对规划体系进行改革，以维护政治话语的完整性。它将研究水力压裂公司在其中的作用和更广泛的治理，以及形成反水力压裂运动的不同政治理解和观点。

This research will investigate the possibility of an 'Authoritarian Turn' in environmental governance. Through a cross-disciplinary and qualitative study, it will critically analyse the discourse of the political and planning processes which have led to the resumption of shale gas fracking in the U.K. This will be further supplemented with semi-structured interviews of those involved. It will draw on three specific planning decisions in the U.K, as well as the national debate as its case studies to understand whether anti-fracking activists are able to challenge the post-political consensus and the hegemonic position of the state. It will question whether the success of activists compelled the state to take more authoritarian action, and examine whether the state used the contestation to make changes to the planning system in order to preserve the integrity of the political discourse. It will examine the role of fracking companies and wider governance within this, as well as the different political understandings and perspectives that form the anti-fracking movement.