Researching Climate Obstruction in Authoritarian and non-Democratic Contexts

The document outlines the challenges of researching climate obstruction in restrictive political environments, focusing on participant safety, data security, and the navigation of political 'red lines'. It recommends flexible research designs, such as using snowball sampling and reframing sensitive topics, to mitigate risks associated with government surveillance and data manipulation in non-democratic states.

• Researching climate obstruction in authoritarian regimes involves significant risks to participants and researchers, including government surveillance and the potential for retrospective danger if regime changes occur after data is published.
• To protect participants in restrictive settings, researchers should prioritize maximum anonymity, use verbal consent instead of written forms, and employ data triangulation to minimize the risk of identifying respondents.
• Data security requires rigorous technical measures, such as using encrypted virtual drives, VPNs, and dedicated offline laptops to prevent hacking or surveillance of sensitive interview notes and recordings.
• Access to information is heavily influenced by the researcher's identity, including nationality and institutional affiliation, particularly in states with 'foreign agent' or 'foreign influence' laws.
• Researchers must navigate 'red lines' by reframing sensitive topics; for example, in China, framing discussions around 'ecological civilisation' is more acceptable than directly criticizing government policy.
• When in-country research becomes too dangerous or restricted, researchers can pivot to alternative strategies such as interviewing exile communities, focusing on subnational governance, or relying on document analysis.
• Quantitative data from authoritarian regimes may be unreliable due to systemic overreporting of macroeconomic indicators, which likely extends to emissions reporting and energy statistics.

APA

Martus, E., Poberezhskaya, M., Aminjonov, F., Henry, L., Kakenmaster, B., Kamuti, T., Plantan, E., & Wijaya, T. (2025). Researching Climate Obstruction in Authoritarian and non-Democratic Contexts. Climate Social Science Network. https://cssn.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Martus_Poberezhskaya_etal_Brief.pdf

Chicago

Martus, Ellie, Marianna Poberezhskaya, Farkhod Aminjonov, Laura Henry, Bill Kakenmaster, Tariro Kamuti, Elizabeth Plantan, and Trissia Wijaya. Researching Climate Obstruction in Authoritarian and non-Democratic Contexts. Climate Social Science Network, 2025. https://cssn.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Martus_Poberezhskaya_etal_Brief.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Martus |first1=Ellie |last2=Poberezhskaya |first2=Marianna |last3=Aminjonov |first3=Farkhod |last4=Henry |first4=Laura |last5=Kakenmaster |first5=Bill |last6=Kamuti |first6=Tariro |last7=Plantan |first7=Elizabeth |last8=Wijaya |first8=Trissia |title=Researching Climate Obstruction in Authoritarian and non-Democratic Contexts |publisher=Climate Social Science Network |date=2025 |url=https://cssn.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Martus_Poberezhskaya_etal_Brief.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{martus2025researching, author = {Martus, Ellie and Poberezhskaya, Marianna and Aminjonov, Farkhod and Henry, Laura and Kakenmaster, Bill and Kamuti, Tariro and Plantan, Elizabeth and Wijaya, Trissia}, title = {{Researching Climate Obstruction in Authoritarian and non-Democratic Contexts}}, institution = {Climate Social Science Network}, year = {2025}, url = {https://cssn.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Martus_Poberezhskaya_etal_Brief.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }