Climate Justice Movement as Norm Entrepreneur in Global Politics : Creating an Alternative Future in Lützerath to Protest Coal Mining

Abstract: This thesis argues that contemporary climate justice actions can present a case for how social movements and activists engage as norm entrepreneurs with global politics. Following a case-based approach (McKee, 2003) and combining perspectives of political science with anthropology, theoretical concepts of everyday utopias (Cooper, 2014) and prefiguration (Maeckelbergh, 2011b; 2014) are applied to the case of a village occupation in Germany against a lignite coal mine expansion. It presents a relevant case for global politics as the local protest is transnationally networking with other protest and activist groups. In creating an alternative social and political system in their everyday life, the activists challenge norms of democratic participation, decision-making and beyond. By using prefiguration as a strategic tool, the protest proliferates change beyond the occupation. Through social and public media, the activists participate in the public debate, sharing their narrative and demands, thereby aiming to affect the public discourse and create change.