Performative Dissonance: Big Climate Words, Small Public Investments, and Democratic Erosion
Type
conference contribution
Date Issued
2025-06-28
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper introduces the concept of performative dissonance to analyze the gap between
governments’ declared climate priorities and their actual public investment commitments, and its
consequences for democratic legitimacy. While many European governments have elevated climate
change to the status of an existential priority, public investments often fall short of the scale implied
by their rhetoric - especially when compared to other political objectives. This gap risks eroding
citizens’ trust in democratic institutions, not only among those materially disadvantaged by climate
policies, but also among supporters frustrated by the state’s inability to deliver on its stated
ambitions. The analysis proceeds in two parts. First, a qualitative case study of Greenpeace explores
how performative dissonance influences tactical debates within climate activism, contributing to
growing frustration and, in some cases, tactical radicalization. Second, a preregistered two-wave
panel survey experiment tests whether exposure to vignettes portraying mismatches between
climate rhetoric and policy action affects citizens’ trust in democratic institutions. The study
evaluates two distinct psychological mechanisms—perceived exaggeration of climate threats and
perceived state incapacity—and examines how performative dissonance interacts with distributive
positions in the green transition. The paper contributes to scholarship on climate politics,
democratic legitimacy, and social movement radicalization by highlighting a novel mechanism of
political backlash beyond material interest conflicts.
governments’ declared climate priorities and their actual public investment commitments, and its
consequences for democratic legitimacy. While many European governments have elevated climate
change to the status of an existential priority, public investments often fall short of the scale implied
by their rhetoric - especially when compared to other political objectives. This gap risks eroding
citizens’ trust in democratic institutions, not only among those materially disadvantaged by climate
policies, but also among supporters frustrated by the state’s inability to deliver on its stated
ambitions. The analysis proceeds in two parts. First, a qualitative case study of Greenpeace explores
how performative dissonance influences tactical debates within climate activism, contributing to
growing frustration and, in some cases, tactical radicalization. Second, a preregistered two-wave
panel survey experiment tests whether exposure to vignettes portraying mismatches between
climate rhetoric and policy action affects citizens’ trust in democratic institutions. The study
evaluates two distinct psychological mechanisms—perceived exaggeration of climate threats and
perceived state incapacity—and examines how performative dissonance interacts with distributive
positions in the green transition. The paper contributes to scholarship on climate politics,
democratic legitimacy, and social movement radicalization by highlighting a novel mechanism of
political backlash beyond material interest conflicts.
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