Politicians' engagement with climate change is the focus of an emerging literature, but this research has not been subjected to systematic analysis. To address this important gap, we perform a systematic review of 141 articles on politicians and climate change published between 1985 and 2021. We find a growing research area; almost half of the articles were published after 2018. Existing research is fragmented and focused on a small number of democracies in the Global North, with the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Norway and Australia being the most‐heavily studied. Substantively, we analyze politicians' motivations, the incentives and barriers they face, and the strategies they employ to block/enable climate action. We find evidence of politicians being both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated. Intrinsic motivations often derive from formative experiences occurring prior to entering politics. Extrinsic motivations most commonly include publics/voters and external events. Importantly, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations vary in different political contexts, and indeed these two motivations may pull politicians in different directions. Politicians may employ various strategies—such as reframing—to achieve their desired policy outcomes. Moreover, politicians' motivations and strategies in relation to climate change are not static, but often vary. We conclude that there is an urgent need for research on how politicians are enabled and/or constrained by political system characteristics. Research is especially called for in the Global South and/or less democratic systems, as well as on investigating how politicians are (not) decarbonizing difficult‐to‐abate sectors and how they reconcile the sometimes‐competing demands for climate change mitigation and adaptation.This article is categorized under: Policy and Governance > National Climate Change Policy Policy and Governance > Multilevel and Transnational Climate Change Governance

中文翻译：

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政治家与气候变化：文献的系统回顾


政治家对气候变化的参与是新兴文献的焦点，但这项研究尚未经过系统分析。为了弥补这一重要差距，我们对 1985 年至 2021 年间发表的 141 篇有关政治家和气候变化的文章进行了系统回顾。我们发现了一个不断增长的研究领域；近一半的文章是在 2018 年之后发表的。现有的研究比较分散，主要集中在北半球的少数民主国家，其中美国、英国、德国、挪威和澳大利亚的研究最多。从本质上讲，我们分析了政客的动机、他们面临的激励和障碍，以及他们用来阻止/促进气候行动的策略。我们发现政治家受到内在和外在动机的证据。内在动机通常源自进入政坛之前发生的形成性经历。外部动机最常见包括公众/选民和外部事件。重要的是，内在和外在动机在不同的政治背景下有所不同，事实上这两种动机可能会将政治家拉向不同的方向。政治家可以采用各种策略（例如重构）来实现他们期望的政策结果。此外，政治家在气候变化方面的动机和策略并不是一成不变的，而是经常变化的。我们的结论是，迫切需要研究政治家如何受到政治制度特征的支持和/或限制。 尤其需要在全球南方和/或不太民主的体系中进行研究，以及调查政治家如何（不）对难以减少的部门进行脱碳，以及他们如何协调有时相互竞争的减缓和适应气候变化的需求。本文分类为：政策与治理 > 国家气候变化政策 政策与治理 > 多层次跨国气候变化治理