Narrating commitment, deferring compliance : symbolic temporality in global environmental governance

Abstract

How do states remain credible participants in global environmental governance despite persistent gaps between environmental commitments and their implementation? Existing scholarship often treats such inconsistencies as failures of credibility or compliance. This article advances an alternative explanation. It argues that states manage enduring contradictions not by resolving them at the level of policy outcomes, but by narratively sequencing them through storylines that render contradiction intelligible and politically productive. Building on narrative studies in International Relations, we introduce the concept of symbolic temporality to capture how political actors deploy symbolic acts within storylines that link past grievances, present constraints, and future aspirations. Through this sequencing, contradiction is reframed as a temporally staged process of deferral. The argument is developed through a comparative analysis of Brazil and Indonesia; two Global South states that face expectations to lead on environmental governance while navigating significant developmental constraints. The analysis draws on a large corpus of elite foreign policy discourse in both countries, spanning multiple decades. This article forms part of the debate on Narratives in Times of Uncertainty and contributes to debates on narrative productivity by theorizing symbolic temporality and showing how symbolic commitments sustain agency and legitimacy without immediate policy implementation.