Analysis of Representational Power: How Art as a Soft Power Tool Can Shape Climate Policy and Governance

Abstract

Whereas governments and institutions struggle to impose long-lasting and effective policies, anthropogenic climate change has become a politicised, and spatially and temporally distant, concept to the public. In a society detached from a directly threatening phenomenon, it is crucial to investigate art as psychological soft power, capable of shaping public sentiment and climate policy salience. The research aims to explore climate art’s potential to become soft power in climate governance on an international scale, by conceptualising how it influences civil society-led emotional and cognitive engagement on a national scale, and how this conditions policymaking’s political environment. Methodologically, the piece undertakes a conceptual analysis grounded in interdisciplinary literature, drawing from research on environmental governance, soft power theory, constructivism, climate psychology, and visual culture studies, supported by discussion of climate artworks and cultural initiatives. The findings identify a mechanism whereby climate art humanises data, and personalises climate change, appealing to ‘climate anxiety’ by eliciting emotional responses—anxiety, fear, guilt, and hope. These trigger political urgency, influencing what the public and policymakers perceive as desirable, urgent and possible. Climate scholarship has largely concentrated on economic analysis, scientific evidence, and institutional negotiation. This study thus challenges the dominance of technical and instrumental approaches in climate discourse. By conceptualising climate art as an affective infrastructure that translates scientific abstraction into moral urgency, discourse on artistic production as a contributor to the political conditions that shape policymaking is advanced, and visibility is given to cultural soft power to be used by governments. The findings suggest that the representational dimensions of climate politics remain understudied and merit greater attention within academic debates on climate action.