NGO Influence in International Environmental Negotiations: A Framework for Analysis

2001 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 65-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele M. Betsill ◽  
Elisabeth Corell
Keyword(s):  
Current Literature ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Data Types ◽  
Environmental Negotiations ◽  
Global Environmental Politics ◽  
Systematic Fashion ◽  
Multiple Data ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Degree Of Confidence ◽  
International Environmental Negotiations

Current literature on global environmental politics largely considers NGO influence implicit and unproblematic. Responding to several weaknesses in the literature, we propose a coherent research framework for assessing NGO influence in international environmental negotiations. We contend that influence can be said to have occurred when NGOs intentionally transmit information that alters the behavior of negotiators, and call for collecting and analyzing evidence of NGO influence in a more systematic fashion. Our framework, which relies on the use of multiple data types, sources, and methods, controls for over-determination and allows researchers to identify, with a sound degree of confidence, instances of NGO influence in international environmental negotiations. The resulting comparability provides a basis for analysis of NGO influence across cases, and ultimately contributes to better understanding of the variation of NGO influence in global environmental politics.

A Comparative Look at NGO Influence in International Environmental Negotiations: Desertification and Climate Change

2001 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 86-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Corell ◽  
Michele M. Betsill
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Environmental Negotiations ◽  
Explanatory Factors ◽  
Global Environmental Politics ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Global Environmental Policy ◽  
International Environmental Negotiations

There is a need to better understand the significance of NGOs in global environmental politics. Addressing a number of weaknesses in the current literature on NGOs, we have developed an analytical framework for analysis of NGO influence in international environmental negotiations. This paper demonstrates the utility of our framework by applying it to two cases: the negotiations of the Desertification Convention and of the Kyoto Protocol to the Climate Change Convention. We argue that the use of our research framework enables researchers to compare with confidence NGO influence across cases and that such comparison allows for a much needed examination of factors that explain variation in NGO influence in international environmental negotiations. Analysis of explanatory factors contributes to an improved understanding of the degree to which NGOs matter in global environmental policy-making.

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

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 48-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Williams
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Third World ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Collective Agency ◽  
The Third ◽  
Environmental Negotiations ◽  
Global Environmental Politics ◽  
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.

The Paris Agreement as Analogy in Global Environmental Politics

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Nicholas Chan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Potential Significance ◽  
Environmental Negotiations ◽  
Global Environmental Politics ◽  
Global Environmental

Abstract The Paris Agreement is increasingly being used as an analogy in global environmental politics to discuss issues beyond climate change. This Forum article explores the two main ways in which this analogy has been discursively employed: as a symbol of diplomatic success to be emulated and as a model for institutional treaty design. It illustrates the broader meanings associated with the Paris Agreement, reflecting its preeminent public and political profile among environmental issues just a few years into its history and its potential significance in shaping subsequent global environmental negotiations.

scholarly journals The Governance of Transnational Environmental Harm: Addressing New Modes of Accountability/Responsibility

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mason
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Environmental Harm ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Global Environmental Politics ◽  
Private Authority ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Introductory Paper

Transboundary and global environmental harm present substantial challenges to state-centered (territorial) modalities of accountability and responsibility. The globalization of environmental degradation has triggered regulatory responses at various jurisdictional scales. These governance efforts, featuring various articulations of state and/or private authority, have struggled to address so-called “accountability deficits” in global environmental politics. Yet, it has also become clear that accountability and responsibility norms forged in domestic regulatory contexts cannot simply be transposed across borders. This special issue explores various conceptual perspectives on accountability and responsibility for transnational harm, and examines their application to different actor groups and environmental governance regimes. This introductory paper provides an overview of the major theoretical positions and examines some of the analytical challenges raised by the transnational (re)scaling of accountability and responsibility norms.

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