The role of the judiciary in environmental securitisation. Urgenda Foundation v. The State of the Netherlands

• Authors: Tkaczyk Magdalena

Title variants

PL

Rola sądownictwa w procesie sekurytyzacji środowiskowej. Orzeczenie w sprawie Urgenda Foundation przeciwko Królestwu Niderlandów

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Since climate change is broadly recognised as a threat multiplier, the environmental problems are considered in the sense of security. Academic articles are focused on analysing states, international non-governmental organisations, as well as regional entities such as the European Union as securitising actors. Limited attention has been given to the judiciary. This article fills the existing gap. The aim of the research is to analyse how do the Dutch Courts securitise the climate in adjudicating the case Urgenda Foundation v. The State of The Netherlands, through the lens of the securitisation theory. The implementation of discourse analysis as a research methodology has proved that the Dutch courts have contributed to environmental securitisation by ruling on the legal obligation of the Dutch government to prevent dangerous climate change in order to protect its citizens.

PL

Uznanie zmian klimatu jako mnożnika zagrożeń doprowadziło do włączenia niniejszej problematyki do studiów nad bezpieczeństwem. Większość badań koncentrujących się na roli aktorów sekurytyzujących analizuje działania państw, międzynarodowych organizacji pozarządowych, a także podmiotów regionalnych, takich jak Unia Europejska. Ograniczoną uwagę poświęcono wymiarowi sprawiedliwości. Niniejszy artykuł uzupełnia istniejącą lukę. Celem badania jest przeprowadzenie analizy przez pryzmat teorii sekurytyzacji, odpowiadając na pytanie, w jaki sposób decyzje wydane przez sądy holenderskie w sprawie Urgenda Foundation przeciwko Królestwu Niderlandów wpłynęły na sekurytyzację zmian klimatu. Zastosowanie analizy dyskursu jako metodologii badań dowiodło, że sądy holenderskie orze- kając o prawnym obowiązku rządu Królestwa Niderlandów do zapobiegania zmianom klimatu w celu ochrony obywateli, przyczyniły się do pogłębienia procesu sekurytyzacji środowiska naturalnego.

Keywords

EN

Urgenda Foundation case; securitisation theory; climate change; environment; discourse analysis; environmental securitisation

PL

Orzeczenia w sprawie Urgenda Foundation; teoria sekurytyzacji; zmiany klimatu; środowisko naturalne; analiza dyskursu; proces sekurytyzacji środowiska naturalnego

• Publisher: Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Studiów Międzynarodowych, Uniwersytet Warszawski
• Journal: Przegląd Europejski
• Year: 2021
• Issue: 3(61)
• Pages: 99-112

Dates

published

2021

Contributors

author

Tkaczyk Magdalena

• University of Groningen

References

• BALZACQ Thierry (2005), The Three Faces of Securitization: Political Agency, Audience and Context, "European Journal of International Relations", vol. 11(2), https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066105052960
• BALZACQ Thierry (2015), The 'Essence' of securitization: Theory, ideal type, and a sociological science of security, "International Relations", vol. 29, no. 1, https://doi.org/10.1177/0047117814526606b
• BALZACQ Thierry (2016), 'Securitization' revisited: theory and cases, "International Relations", vol. 30(4), https://doi.org/10.1177/0047117815596590
• BUZAN Barry (1991), People, states, and fear: an agenda for international security studies in the post-Cold War era, New York
• BUZAN Barry, WÆVER Ole, DE WILDE Jaap (1998), Security: A New Framework for Analysis, Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers
• CIUTĂ Felix (2009), Security and the Problem of Context: A Hermeneutical Critique of Securitization Theory, "Review of International Studies", vol. 35(2), https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210509008535
• DE GRAAF Kars, JANS Jan (2015), "The Urgenda Decision: Netherlands Liable for Role in Causing Dangerous Global Climate Change", Journal of Environmental Law, vol. 27, no. 3, https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqv030
• DETRAZ Nicole, BETSILL Michele (2009), Climate Change and Environmental Security: For Whom the Discourse Shifts, "International Studies Perspectives", vol. 10(3), https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1528-3585.2009.00378.x
• DIEZ Thomas, VON LUCKE Franziskus, WELLMANN Zehra (2016), The Securitization of Climate Change: Actors, Processes and Consequences, Abingdon and New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315665757
• DUPONT Claire (2018), The EU's collective securitisation of climate change, "West European Politics", vol. 42, no. 2, https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2018.1510199
• DYER Hugh (2001), Theoretical aspects of environmental security, Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0395-7_5
• FIJAŁKOWSKI Łukasz (2012), Theory of securitization and security construction, "Przegląd Strategiczny", no.1, https://doi.org/10.14746/ps.2012.1.10
• FLOYD Rita (2010), Security and the Environment: Securitisation Theory and US Environmental Security Policy, Cambridge https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511730146
• FLOYD Rita (2011), Can Securitization Be Used in Normative Analysis? Towards Just Securitization Theory, "Security Dialogue", vol. 42(4-5), https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010611418712
• FLOYD Rita (2016), Extraordinary or Ordinary Emergency Measures: What, and Who, Defines the "Success" of Securitisation?, "Cambridge Review of International Affairs", vol. 29, no. 2, https://doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2015.1077651
• FOUCAULT Michel (1965), Madness and civilization: A history of insanity in the age of reason, New York
• GERGEN Kenneth (1999), An invitation to social construction, London
• HAJER Maarten (1995), The Politics of Environmental Discourse: Ecological Modernization and the Policy Process, Oxford.
• HARDIN Garett (1968), The Tragedy of the Commons, "Science", vol. 162, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.162.3859.1243
• HENDERSON Laura M. (2014), The Judiciary as a Securitizing Actor?, "SSRN Electronic Journal", https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2442830
• IPCC (2013), Summary for Policymakers, in: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Stocker, T.F., D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S.K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
• JUDGMENT (2015), The Hague District Court. Urgenda Foundation v. The State of The Netherlands, https://www.urgenda.nl/wp-content/uploads/VerdictDistrictCourt-UrgendavStaat-24.06.2015.pdf (24.06.2015)
• JUDGMENT (2018), The Hague Court of Appeal. Climate case Urgenda. Duty of care under Articles 2 and 8 ECHR. Reduction greenhouse gas emissions, https://www.urgenda.nl/wp-content/uploads/ECLI_NL_GHDHA_2018_2610.pdf (09.10.2018)
• JUDGMENT (2019), Supreme Court of The Netherlands. Climate case Urgenda. Human rights. ECHR. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, https://www.urgenda.nl/wp-content/uploads/ENG-Dutch-SupremeCourt-Urgenda-v-Netherlands-20-12-2019.pdf (20.12.2019)
• LEIJTEN Ingrid (2019), Human rights v. Insufficient climate action: The Urgenda case, "Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights", vol. 37(2) https://doi.org/10.1177/0924051919844375
• LIN Jolene (2015), The First Successful Climate Negligence Case: A Comment on Urgenda Foundation v. The State of the Netherlands (Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment), "Climate law", 5(1), https://doi.org/10.1163/18786561-00501003
• MAYER Benoit (2019), The State of the Netherlands v. Urgenda Foundation: Ruling of the Court of Appeal of The Hague (9 October 2018), "Transnational Environmental Law", vol. 8, no.1, https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102519000049
• McDONALD Matt (2008), Securitization and the Construction of Security, "European Journal of International Relations", vol. 14(4) https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066108097553
• MINNEROP Petra (2019), Integrating the 'duty of care' under the European Convention on Human Rights and the science and law of climate change: the decision of The Hague Court of Appeal in the Urgenda case, "Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law", vol. 37 https://doi.org/10.1080/02646811.2019.1584441
• NYKA Maciej (2016), Intergenerational Justice in international environmental law, "Gdańskie Studia Prawnicze", no. 35
• PHILLIPS Nelson, HARDY Cynthia (2002), Discourse analysis: investigating processes of social construction, London https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412983921
• PHILLIPS Nelson, BROWN John (1993), Analyzing communication in and around organizations: A critical hermeneutic approach, "The Academy of Management Journal", vol. 36, no. 6, https://doi.org/10.5465/256821
• SCHWARTZ John (2019), In 'Strongest' Climate Ruling Yet, Dutch Court Orders Leaders to Take Action, "The New York Times", https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/climate/netherlands-climate-lawsuit.html (20.12.2019)
• SHUY Roger (2001), Discourse Analysis in the Legal Context, in: Deborah Schiffrin, Deborah Tannen, Heidi Hamilton (eds.), The Handbook of Discourse Analysis, Blackwell Publishers
• TROMBETTA Maria Julia (2007), Prevention or Securitization? Contending Perspectives on Security, "Network Industries Quarterly", no. 9
• TROMBETTA Maria Julia (2008), Environmental security and climate change: analysing the discourse, "Cambridge Review of International Affairs", vol. 21, no. 4, https://doi.org/10.1080/09557570802452920
• UN HUMAN RIGHTS - Office of the High Commissioner (2019), Bachelet welcomes top court's landmark decision to protect human rights from climate change, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25450&LangID=E (20.12.2019).
• URGENDA FOUNDATION (2019),Global climate litigation, https://www.urgenda.nl/en/themas/climate-case/
• VAN DIJK Teun (1993), Principles of critical discourse analysis, "Discourse and Society", vol. 4(2), https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926593004002006
• VAN DIJK Teun (1997), Discourse as structure and process, London
• VAN ZEBEN Josephine (2015), Establishing a Governmental Duty of Care for Climate Change Mitigation: Will Urgenda Turn the Tide?, "Transnational Environmental Law", vol. 4, no. 2, https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102515000199
• VERSCHUUREN Jonathan (2019), The State of the Netherlands v Urgenda Foundation: The Hague Court of Appeal upholds judgment requiring the Netherlands to further reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, "Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law", vol. 28, no.1, https://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12280
• WAEVER Ole (1996), European Security Identities, "Journal of Common Market Studies", vol. 34, no.1, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5965.1996.tb00562.x
• WETHERELL Margaret, TAYLOR Stephanie, YATES Simeon (2001), Discourse Theory and Practice: A Reader, London
• WORLD COMMISSION on Environment and Development (1987), Our common future. Report.
• YOUTUBE (2015), Verdict in Dutch climate case - with English subtitles, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY7eLKJWLxQ (25.06.2015)
• YOUTUBE (2018), High Court Urgenda Climate Case, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opYHioBKkFk (24.10.2018)