Derailing Truth : an analysis of post-truth rhetoric in Austria’s climate politics

Sammanfattning

There have been increasing concerns about the importance – or lack thereof – of truth in contemporary political discourse, often described as post-truth politics. This phenomenon is said to correlate with a myriad of issues Western societies seem to be facing currently: populism, ideological and affective polarization and threats to democracy, to name a few. Through a document analysis of parliamentary debates around climate action, truth contestation in Austrian climate politics was studied. The applied framework, established by Kluknavská and Eisele (2023), defines three content related dimensions (truth evaluation, truth creation and truth restoration) of post-truth rhetoric and two stylistic choices (appeals to emotion and negative tonality). The analysis shows that all of the parties represented in the Austrian parliament use truth-related claims to depict themselves as being closer to the truth than their political opponents, thereby fostering affective and ideological polarization. While the intention of these strategies was not evident, this analysis shows that Austrian parliamentarians are currently focused on refusing responsibility and discrediting their opponents in case of disagreement, rather than attempting to address climate change through democratic deliberation.