Democracy and controversies in the green transition

The researchers in this project are asking whether democratic participation can be maintained or even strengthened amidst the controversies sparked by plans for extraction of critical minerals in Sweden.

Few aspects of the green climate transition create such major and intractable conflicts as the extraction of minerals. Promises of greener technology, jobs, development, and geopolitical independence are lined up against environmental degradation, threats to self-sufficiency and perceived violations of the rights of indigenous peoples.

Sweden has plentiful reserves of critical minerals that will potentially play a key role in the green transition, not only for Sweden, but also for the EU and the world. Yet notwithstanding our long tradition of participation in democratic processes, conflicts seem to be virtually unavoidable.

The researchers are focusing on how democratic participation can be maintained or even strengthened amidst the controversies created by plans for extraction of critical minerals in Sweden.

The aim is to explore how democratic politics works amid the controversies surrounding the mines from which critical transition minerals can be extracted. The premise is that conflicts are unavoidable, but that they need not prevent the green transition from taking place.

The researchers will be examining how legitimacy of mining operations is created and challenged at local, national, and international level. They will be studying and analyzing societal arenas – in politics, decisions of public agencies, the work of associations, and the media – where different views are put forward and conflicts expressed. They will be working with stakeholders to develop methods and ideas for how democratic participation can be maintained and developed against a backdrop of conflict and controversy.

The researchers consider this to be important, since it will help to ensure the green transition can be achieved without jeopardizing democratic participation.

New knowledge about important aspects of the green transition will be produced by document analysis, a mapping of controversies, fieldwork involving interviews and participant observation in collaboration with participants from various sectors of society.