Vulnerability and Resistance: a discourse analysis of power in global climate politics

研究计划分析《联合国气候变化框架公约》（UNFCCC）缔约方会议（COPs）中的脆弱性话语，重点关注所谓的“小岛屿发展中国家”（SIDS）作为固有脆弱性的有争议的表述，与其对不充分气候行动的强大和口头抵制形成对比。政治经济学和反殖民主义的方法，使更丰富的权力比传统的IR方法的理解，并允许检查的语言在UNFCCC作为一个斗争的网站。脆弱性话语最终被视为一个加载的概念，但一个潜在的岛国适当和使用，以加强他们的情况下，在UNFCCC.Literature审查的脆弱性3主要思路反映了概念混乱，围绕脆弱性。在政府间气候变化组织中，这个词大多被不加批判地使用，并被视为可衡量的。在地理学中，学者们更关心这个术语的含义。一位女权主义者的批评认为，“脆弱性或美德可以转移人们对决策不平等的注意”（Arora-Jonsson 2010：744）。将岛国定义为弱小和边缘国家，会使它们女性化，并使它们屈从于富裕排放国带来谈判的“男性技术和专家知识”（Arora-Jonsson 2010：750）。最后，IR提供了一种世界性的理解，在这种理解中，人类共有的对伤害的脆弱性是“陌生人之间最容易获得的团结点”之一（Linklater 2010：155）。然而，对他人的非人化可能会抵消这种影响，使“某些身体比其他人更脆弱”（格雷戈里2015：1）。在此背景下，围绕《联合国气候变化框架公约》的特性和脆弱性展开的斗争对岛屿国家以外的全球话语具有影响，特别是作为对气候变化安全话语的反击，因为气候变化不可避免地会产生冲突。关键问题和方法1。《气候公约》历来是如何利用脆弱性的？2.《气候公约》不同行为者如何部署脆弱性论述？3.随着时间的推移，气候讨论中脆弱性概念的使用发生了怎样的变化，这对气候行动有什么影响？1.对缔约方大会上的发言和政府提交的文件中的脆弱性论述以及自《联合国气候变化框架公约》成立以来所签订的条约进行文献分析，以追踪论述的发展，并了解谁在使用它以及如何使用它。重点是《联合国气候变化框架公约》历史上的关键时刻，特别是小岛屿国家联盟作为一个集团，以及其成员国和低雄心集团。这使得能够分析那些不希望得到强有力的缓解承诺的人是否对脆弱性进行了战略部署，或者他们是否完全避免了这一点。对参加过缔约方会议的代表和民间社会行为者进行半结构化访谈，通过文件分析，他们被确定为脆弱性讨论的主要用户。3.缔约方会议的意见：《气候公约》在实践中如何运作，脆弱性如何部署和表现。这一过程将包括观察无障碍会议和演讲，以及观察周围的民间社会行动，如抗议和艺术展示。虽然在COPs中发生的许多事情都有记录，但直接观察对这个项目有很大的好处。演讲的表现与其内容一样重要，观察将帮助我了解脆弱性在实践中是如何表现和接受的。

Research PlanAn analysis of vulnerability discourse within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COPs), focussing on the contested representation of the so-called 'small island developing states' (SIDS) as inherently vulnerable, in contrast to their powerful and vocal resistance to inadequate climate action.Using critical feminist, political economy and anti-colonial approaches enables a richer understanding of power than traditional IR approaches, and allows an examination of the language within the UNFCCC as a site of struggle. Vulnerability discourse is ultimately seen as a loaded concept, but one with the potential for island states to appropriate and use to strengthen their case in the UNFCCC.Literature review of vulnerability3 main strands of thought reflect the conceptual confusion which surrounds vulnerability. Within the intergovernmental climate change organisations, the term is mostly used uncritically and treated as measurable. In geography, scholars are more concerned with the implications of the term. A feminist critique finds that "vulnerability or virtuousness can deflect attention from inequalities in decision making" (Arora-Jonsson 2010:744). Framing island states as weak and peripheral feminises and subordinates them to the "masculine technical and expert knowledge" (Arora-Jonsson 2010:750) brought to the negotiations by the wealthy emitter states. Vulnerability discourse then, serves to naturalise their loss, shifting blame away from mitigation.Finally, IR offers a cosmopolitan understanding, in which the vulnerability to harm that humans share is one of "the most readily available points of solidarity between strangers" (Linklater 2010:155). However, the dehumanisation of others can negate the effect, leaving "certain bodies more vulnerable than others" (Gregory 2015:1). The struggle over the identity and vulnerability in the UNFCCC seen in this context has implications for global discourses beyond island states, especially as a counter to the security discourse of climate change as inevitably conflictual.Key Questions and Methods1. How has vulnerability been used historically in the UNFCCC? 2. How is vulnerability discourse deployed by different actors in the UNFCCC?3. How has the use of the vulnerability concept changed over time within climate discourse and what implications does this have for climate action?1. Documentary analysis of vulnerability discourse in the speeches and government submissions made in the COPs, as well as the treaties made since the creation of the UNFCCC, to trace the growth of the discourse and to see who is using it and how.The focus is on key moments in the history of the UNFCCC, and especially on AOSIS as a group, as well as its member states, and the low ambition groups. This enables an analysis if there is a strategic deployment of vulnerability by those who do not wish for strong mitigation commitments, or whether they avoid it entirely.2. Semi-structured interviews with delegates and civil society actors who have attended the COPs and who are identified as key users of the vulnerability discourse through documentary analysis. 3. Observations of a COP: how the UNFCCC works in practice and how vulnerability is deployed and performed. This process will include observing accessible meetings and speeches, but also observation of surrounding civil society actions such as protests and artistic displays. Whilst much of what happens at COPs is documented, direct observation would be of great advantage to this project. The performance of speeches is as important as their content and observation will help me understand how vulnerability is performed and received in practice.