From climate-activism to climate-terrorism? The threat of a self-fulfilling prophecy
Abstract
Across the globe, government officials, politicians, and law enforcement agencies increasingly label or treat climate activists as criminals or terrorists. Employing theoretical insights from terrorism studies this contribution discusses the potential counterproductive effects of this approach. It investigates the likelihood that climate activists might eventually adopt violent methods to advance their political goals and argues that the trend to criminalize climate activists and label them as terrorists could potentially become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Transboundary Water Resource Management
Terrorism
Counterterrorism
and Political Violence
Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Environment and Security
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 327–335
- Publication date
- 7 January 2026
- Language
- EN