Description
The nexus of emotions and social movements is a significant discussion that interplays between International Relations and Social Movements Studies. Emotions play an important role in catalysing and diffusing activism across places, countries, and cities. This study investigates particularly how emotions play a role as catalysts for collective action in environmental movements. This article defines emotions as powerful triggers for activism in environmental movements. In doing so, this study explores the role of emotions in shaping collective identity and solidarity. The main goal is to analyse how emotional spaces are constructed through a collective understanding of environmental activism. To achieve this, insights from the literature on emotion in IR and Social Movements Studies are synthesized. The interlinked nature of emotions is analysed which includes fear, anxiety, and hope. Besides being interlinked, the contradictory emotions of fear and hope act together to stimulate resistance and construct an effective response. While discussing the contradictory nature of emotions in activism, the concepts of climate anxiety and climate justice are assessed in detail.
