Leadership in Global Environmental Politics

Global Environmental ◽

Wide Range ◽

Leaders And Followers

There is wide consensus among global environmental politics (GEP) scholars about the urgent need for leadership in international climate negotiations and other environmental issue areas A large number of GEP studies elaborate rhetoric and actions of aspiring leaders in GEP. In particular, these studies seek to identify which states have sought to provide leadership in international negotiations on the environment, and how they have exercised this role in institutional bargaining processes at the international level. The biggest share of GEP studies generally focus on leadership in environmental governance within the United Nations (UN), and international negotiations on climate under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in general, or the role of the European Union (EU) in those negotiations in particular. Many GEP scholars have also investigated the leadership role of the United States in international environmental regime formation, whereas there are no systematic investigations concerning China’s leadership in GEP. In addition to the states, GEP literature identifies a wide range of other actors as potential leaders (and followers) in environmental issue areas: international organizations, non-governmental organizations, corporations, cities, religious organizations, social movements, politicians, and even individuals. Since leadership is a social relation, a growing number of scholars have moved to study perceptions of leadership and to conceptualize the relationship between leaders and followers. GEP scholars also identify some qualitative aspects a leader must have in order to attract followers. Many empirical studies show that despite the EU’s aspiration to be a climate leader, it is not unequivocally recognized as such by others. At the same time, it seems that some forms of leadership, especially those based on unilateral action, do not necessarily require followers and recognition by others. In addition to the leader–follower relationship, the motivation of leadership constitutes one of the key controversies among GEP scholars. Some argue that self-interest is a sufficient driver of leadership, while others claim that leaders must act for the common good of a wider constituency (or at least be perceived to do so). To conclude, most scholars studying leadership in GEP regard structural leadership (based on material capabilities and hard power) as an important type of leadership. Much less attention has been paid to the social dimensions of leadership; this is undoubtedly a gap in the literature that prospective studies ought to fill.

Ecofeminism and Global Environmental Politics

10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.158 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Juliann Emmons Allison

Keyword(s):

Environmental Politics ◽

Cultural Institutions ◽

Women's Activism ◽

Global Environmental ◽

Wide Range ◽

Ecological Philosophy ◽

History Of ◽

Francoise D'eaubonne

Ecofeminism can be described as both an ecological philosophy and a social movement that draws on environmental studies, critiques of modernity and science, and feminist critical analyses and activism to explicate connections between women and nature, and the implications of these relationships for environmental politics. Feminist writer Françoise d’Eaubonne is widely credited to be the founder of ecofeminism in the early 1970s. Ecofeminists embrace a wide range of views concerning the causal role of Western dualistic thinking, patriarchal structures of power, and capitalism in ecological degradation, and the oppression of women and other subjugated peoples. Collectively, they find value in extending feminist analyses to the simultaneous interrogation of the domination of both nature and women. The history of ecofeminism may be divided into four decade-long periods. Ecofeminism emerged in the early 1970s, coincident with a significant upturn in the contemporary women’s and environmental movements. In the 1980s, ecofeminism entered the academy as ecofeminist activists and scholars focused their attention on the exploitation of natural resources and women, particularly in the developing world. They criticized government and cultural institutions that constrained women’s reproductive and productive roles in society, and argued that environmental protection ultimately depends on increasing women’s socioeconomic and political power. In the current postfeminist and postenvironmentalist world, ecofeminists are less concerned with theoretical labels than with effective women’s activism to achieve ecological sustainability.

Being There: International Negotiations as Study Sites in Global Environmental Politics

10.1162/glep_a_00505 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 4-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kate O’Neill ◽

Peter M. Haas

Keyword(s):

Conceptual Analysis ◽

Environmental Politics ◽

Special Section ◽

Research Articles ◽

Conceptual Innovation ◽

Global Environmental ◽

Being There ◽

Study Sites

This forum traces the emergence of international negotiations as study sites in the field of global environmental politics, from its early days until the present. It sets the scene for the research articles in this special section, outlining why their contributions are timely, and takes advantage of advances in methods and conceptual analysis. The articles in this special section suggest the value of direct observation and ethnography in driving conceptual innovation and understanding how power and influence are exercised in such settings (including by the traditionally powerless). In doing so, they encourage debate over and offer new insights into processes the GEP field has been studying for close to fifty years.

The Third World and Global Environmental Negotiations: Interests, Institutions and Ideas

10.1162/1526380054794826 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 48-69 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

Marc Williams

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Third World ◽

Environmental Politics ◽

Collective Agency ◽

The Third ◽

Environmental Negotiations ◽

Global Environmental ◽

The Third World

Marian Miller provided an engaging and persuasive analysis of the role of Third World states in global environmental negotiations. While Miller focused on the strategies of individual states, this article examines the collective agency of the Third World in global environmental negotiations. The first part of the article explores the debates on the continuing relevance of the Third World as a concept, and contends that the Third World retains relevance in the context of global bargaining processes. The second part of the article highlights the role of ideas and institutions in the continued reproduction of the Third World as an actor in global environmental politics. The final part of the article explores the ways in which the negotiations on climate change have tended to reproduce a distinctive Southern perspective.

Private Environmental Governance and International Relations: Exploring the Links

10.1162/152638003322068227 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 72-87 ◽

Cited By ~ 192

Author(s):

Robert Falkner

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

Environmental Governance ◽

Environmental Politics ◽

Institutional Arrangements ◽

Global Environmental Governance ◽

Global Level ◽

Private Governance ◽

Global Environmental

This article discusses private environmental governance at the global level. It is widely acknowledged that corporations play an increasing role in global environmental politics, not only as lobbyists in international negotiations or agents of implementation, but also as actors creating private institutional arrangements that perform environmental governance functions. The rise of such private forms of global governance raises a number of questions for the study of global environmental politics: How does private governance interact with state-centric governance? In what ways are the roles/capacities of states and nonstate actors affected by private governance? Does the rise of private governance signify a shift in the ideological underpinnings of global environmental governance? This article explores these questions, seeking a better understanding of the significance of private environmental governance for International Relations.

Introduction

Rethinking Private Authority ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691157580.003.0001 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Jessica F. Green

Keyword(s):

Environmental Politics ◽

Global Environment ◽

Global Environmental Problems ◽

The Third ◽

Private Authority ◽

Global Environmental ◽

Private Actors ◽

Ruffed Lemur

This book examines how the global environment is regulated and, in particular, the diversity of actors involved in addressing the problem of climate change. It considers the role of private actors, such as nongovernmental organizations and transnational networks, in global environmental politics. It shows that private actors are increasingly assuming duties normally associated with governments. They are taking on the role of regulators, as they create, implement, and enforce rules to manage global environmental problems. The book asks when and why private actors perform these regulatory roles. It cites three examples to demonstrate the diversity of private authority and the ways in which nonstate actors are serving as rule makers: the first deals with Walmart, the second is about the ruffed lemur, and the third relates to the Kyoto Protocol. The book distinguishes between two different types of private authority: delegated authority and entrepreneurial authority.

3. States

10.1093/hepl/9780198826088.003.0003 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 95-125

Author(s):

Jean-Frédéric Morin ◽

Amandine Orsini ◽

Sikina Jinnah

Keyword(s):

Rational Choice ◽

Environmental Politics ◽

Choice Model ◽

National Interests ◽

Global Environmental ◽

Choice Analysis ◽

Conflicting Interests ◽

State Preferences

This chapter examines how states have very different preferences in global environmental politics. These state preferences are formed and shaped in a co-evolving process at both the domestic and international levels. Domestically, a rational choice analysis shows how environmental vulnerability and the costs of abatement contribute to defining a state's national interests in environmental politics. But the rational choice model, though useful, has its limits. It often presents the state as a unitary and monolithic actor, whereas in fact states come in multiple institutional forms and are made up of numerous actors with varying and sometimes conflicting interests. Several international factors also play an important role in shaping state preferences. Some of those international factors revolve around how states interact with one another in international negotiations. Indeed, state preferences can be revised during international negotiations via states' interactions in working and contact groups, with negotiating chairs, in coalitions, and through leadership efforts.

Transformative Water Relations: Indigenous Interventions in Global Political Economies

10.1162/glep_a_00514 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 1-15 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kate J. Neville ◽

Glen Coulthard

Keyword(s):

Water Relations ◽

Environmental Politics ◽

The United States ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Special Issue ◽

Global Environmental ◽

Starting Point ◽

Political Economies ◽

Legal Forms

This Special Issue of Global Environmental Politics, on water governance, focuses on the disruptive and transformative potential of Indigenous politics for revealing the multiplicity of political economies and enhancing the theory and practice of global environmental politics. In this issue, we unsettle the assumptions of dominant colonial systems of production and exchange (often the starting point for global environmental politics scholars), using water to bring to light the conflicting approaches of settler colonial and Indigenous political economies. With a focus on the settler colonial states of the Global North—specifically, Canada and the United States—the contributing authors interrogate the ways in which different forms of water relations are positioned at the center of conflicting understandings of land, law, and development trajectories. Through analyses of varying forms of water infrastructure, water law, and waterways, and with careful attention to spatial and temporal distances in production and trade systems, the articles curated here examine conflicting legal forms and traditions, upstream and downstream relations, and opportunities for and limits to resistance by affected communities. In a dominant global political economy with increasing distance between sites of extraction, production, consumption, and discard—and even further removed from the financing that underpins these commodity chains—our Special Issue suggests that the acknowledgment and visibility of multiple forms of water relations contribute to reshaping both economies and environmental outcomes.

11. Global Politics in the Anthropocene

Global Politics ◽

10.1093/hepl/9780198844327.003.0011 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 251-273

Author(s):

Stephanie Lawson

Keyword(s):

Environmental Politics ◽

Environmental Movement ◽

Global Politics ◽

Global Environment ◽

Role Of The State ◽

Global Environmental ◽

Business As Usual ◽

The Impact

This chapter studies how the scope of global politics has been extended over the last half century or so to include the impact of human industrial activity on the environment. The environmental movement and ‘green theory’ have grown out of concerns with the deleterious impact of this activity and the capacity of the planet to carry the burden of ‘business as usual’ in a world driven by the imperatives of endless growth. Many now believe that the impact on the earth’s systems is so significant that the present geological period should be recognized as the ‘Anthropocene’. Climate change is probably the most prominent issue associated with the Anthropocene at present, but it is not the only one. The chapter examines a range of issues in global environment politics, starting with the reconceptualization of the present period. It then moves on to an account of the environmental movement, the emergence of various ‘green’ ideologies and theories, and the politics of science. This is essential background for considering the role of the state and its sovereign powers in the context of global environmental politics.

Does Bureaucracy Really Matter? The Authority of Intergovernmental Treaty Secretariats in Global Environmental Politics

10.1162/glep.2006.6.1.23 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 23-49 ◽

Cited By ~ 48

Author(s):

Steffen Bauer

Keyword(s):

Organizational Design ◽

Environmental Politics ◽

Case Study Research ◽

World Politics ◽

Montreal Protocol ◽

Vienna Convention ◽

Global Environmental ◽

Organizational Theories

Although a number of scholars acknowledge the relevance of intergovernmental bureaucracies in world politics, International Relations research still lacks theoretical distinction and empirical scrutiny in understanding their influence in the international arena. In this article I explore the role of intergovernmental treaty secretariats as authoritative bureaucratic actors in global environmental politics. I employ organizational theories and sociological institutionalism for comparative qualitative case study research that traces variances at the outcome level of two environmental treaty secretariats, the secretariats to the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol (“Ozone Secretariat”) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (“Desertification Secretariat”). While the organizational design of both secretariats is similar, their institutional histories and outcomes differ markedly. Looking for possible explanations for these differences I focus on the activities of both secretariats and how they relate to the authority they enjoy vis-à-vis the parties they serve.

Climate Change Bandwagoning: The Impacts of Strategic Linkages on Regime Design, Maintenance, and Death

10.1162/glep_a_00065 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Sikina Jinnah

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

International Relations ◽

Environmental Politics ◽

Special Issue ◽

Political Landscape ◽

Global Environmental ◽

Wide Range ◽

And Function ◽

Climate Change Politics

The entrée of climate change politics to the center stage of international relations has been accompanied by broad range of strategic linkages, which have produced various institutional interactions. This special issue takes stock of the wide range of ways that international regimes are strategically linked to climate change politics. We do this with a view to better understand both how climate change is shaping the global environmental political landscape, and is being shaped itself through strategic linkages to regimes both within (i.e. forests, biodiversity, fisheries, and desertification) and beyond (i.e. security and human rights) the environmental realm. The contributions that make up this special issue explore when, how, and by whom regime linkages should be pursued, how linkage politics are affecting regime development and function, and in turn how these changes are shaping the evolution of global environmental politics and problem solving writ large.