Threatification, riskification, or normal politics? A review of Swedish climate adaptation policy 2005-2022

The authors study securitization trends in Swedish climate adaptation policy from 2005-2022 and investigate whether Swedish climate adaptation policy adheres to threatification, riskification, or normal politics. More specifically, they look at i) discourses, ii) actor constellations, and iii) tools and resources.

The authors find that in 2005, extreme weather events triggered a discourse shift in climate adaptation from a non-political issue towards riskification. Sweden adopted a national climate adaptation strategy in 2018 which frames climate change as a risk that can be controlled through adaptation. So far, climate adaptation is managed using existing tools and strategies including research and decision support, recommendations from expert agencies, and climate risk assessments. In a similar vein, actor constellations resemble the normal governance structure.

Climate adaptation appears to be integrated into business-as-usual politics rather than enforcing risk governance, and managed through existing tools and strategies instead of prompting extraordinary measures beyond day-to-day operations.