International environmental sustainability discourse in the wake of Covid-19: exploring the psychic dimension of political discourse through fantasy

In accounting for the lack of political will to meaningfully tackle environmental crises at a global level, a growing number of scholars argue that we must take seriously the role emotional and unconscious attachments play in policy discourse. In this paper, we argue that the psychic dimension of international environmental sustainability discourse (IESD) remains under-explored compared to the scholarly attention given to the structural and normative dimensions of international environmental politics. We draw on political discourse theory and critical fantasy studies to develop a framework within which to characterize and critically examine the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic upon IESD. We treat the pandemic as a dislocation, arguing that it provides a particularly productive vantage point from which to explore the fantasmatic underpinnings of IESD. We present an illustrative discourse analysis of relevant UN documents and media productions in 2020-22, foregrounding the political significance of fantasy in international environmental discourse.