Are Cities Taking Center-Stage? The Emerging Role of Urban Communities as “Normative Global Climate Actors”

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-106
Author(s):  
Christine Bakker
Keyword(s):  
Urban Communities ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
International Climate ◽  
The One ◽  
Global Emissions ◽  
Domestic Level

Cities around the world are playing an increasingly active role in global climate governance. Considering their share in global emissions on the one hand, and the direct threats they face from climate-related disasters on the other, urban communities are at the forefront of mitigation and adaptation actions. While cities generally implement such actions as part of their State’s international climate commitments, they sometimes go beyond, or even against the nationally adopted policy stance. This article explores the evolving normative role of cities in relation to climate change, considering how they can contribute, both to the development of new rules of international law, and to the implementation of existing norms for climate action at the domestic level. Based on an analysis of current developments and concrete examples, the article reflects on the potentialities and constraints of cities as “normative global climate actors”.

Filling in for Governments? The Role of the Private Actors in the International Climate Regime

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-28
Author(s):  
Charlotte Streck
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
State Actor ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Private Actors

The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change abandons the Kyoto Protocol’s paradigm of binding emissions targets and relies instead on countries’ voluntary contributions. However, the Paris Agreement encourages not only governments but also sub-national governments, corporations and civil society to contribute to reaching ambitious climate goals. In a transition from the regulated architecture of the Kyoto Protocol to the open system of the Paris Agreement, the Agreement seeks to integrate non-state actors into the treaty-based climate regime. In 2014 the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Peru and France created the Non-State Actor Zone for Climate Action (and launched the Global Climate Action portal). In December 2019, this portal recorded more than twenty thousand climate-commitments of private and public non-state entities, making the non-state venues of international climate meetings decisively more exciting than the formal negotiation space. This level engagement and governments’ response to it raises a flurry of questions in relation to the evolving nature of the climate regime and climate change governance, including the role of private actors as standard setters and the lack of accountability mechanisms for non-state actions. This paper takes these developments as occasion to discuss the changing role of private actors in the climate regime.

The Role of Late-Night Infotainment Comedy in Communicating Climate Change Consensus

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward John Roy Clarke ◽  
Anna Klas ◽  
Joshua Stevenson ◽  
Emily Jane Kothe
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Mitigation Policy ◽  
Behavioural Intentions ◽  
Late Night ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Adaptation Policies ◽  
Diverse Audience

Climate change is a politically-polarised issue, with conservatives less likely than liberals to perceive it as human-caused and consequential. Furthermore, they are less likely to support mitigation and adaptation policies needed to reduce its impacts. This study aimed to examine whether John Oliver’s “A Mathematically Representative Climate Change Debate” clip on his program Last Week Tonight polarised or depolarised a politically-diverse audience on climate policy support and behavioural intentions. One hundred and fifty-nine participants, recruited via Amazon MTurk (94 female, 64 male, one gender unspecified, Mage = 51.07, SDage = 16.35), were presented with either John Oliver’s climate change consensus clip, or a humorous video unrelated to climate change. Although the climate change consensus clip did not reduce polarisation (or increase it) relative to a control on mitigation policy support, it resulted in hyperpolarisation on support for adaptation policies and increased climate action intentions among liberals but not conservatives.

The Victim – a Great Actor in a Minor Role? – A Comparative Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-128
Author(s):  
Łukasz Duśko ◽  
Mateusz Szurman
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
American English ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Minor Role ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
The One ◽  
A Minor ◽  
To Receive

Recently, the role of the victim in criminal proceedings became more significant. An observation was made that the legal interests of the victim are much more severely affected by the crime than the collective legal interests in the form of public or social order. However, the differences in the rights the victim is vested with differ substantively between particular countries. The authors present the position of the victim in American, English and French law. The solutions provided for in these systems are confronted with legal regulations adopted in Poland, i.e. the home country of the authors. It shows, surprisingly, that the role of the victim in criminal proceedings has evolved somehow independently of the implementation of the concept of restitution. On the one hand, there are legal systems in which the criminal court may order the offender to pay compensation for the damage caused, but the role of the victim still remains marginal. On the other hand, there are systems in which the victim is not only entitled to receive restitution, but he or she also has significant powers which enable him or her to play an active role in the criminal proceedings.

scholarly journals International climate change negotiation: the role of Brazil

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-395
Author(s):  
Marcela Cardoso Guilles Da Conceição ◽  
Renato de Aragão Ribeiro Rodrigues ◽  
Fernanda Reis Cordeiro ◽  
Fernando Vieira Cesário ◽  
Gracie Verde Selva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
International Negotiation ◽  
Climate Change Negotiations ◽  
Essential Condition ◽  
Average Temperature ◽  
Social And Economic Development ◽  
International Climate ◽  
International Climate Change

The increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere raises the average temperature of the planet, triggering problems that threaten the survival of humans. Protecting the global climate from the effects of climate change is an essential condition for sustaining life. For this reason, governments, scientists, and society are joining forces to propose better solutions that could well-rounded environmentally, social and economic development relationships. International climate change negotiations involve many countries in establishing strategies to mitigate the problem. Therefore, understanding international negotiation processes and how ratified agreements impact a country is of fundamental importance. The purpose of this paper is to systematize information about how climate negotiations have progressed, detailing key moments and results, analyzing the role that Brazil played in the course of these negotiations and the country’s future perspectives.

The Etappe Kanaren: A case study of the secret supply of the German Navy in Spain during the Second World War

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 472-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan J. Díaz Benítez
Keyword(s):  
Active Role ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
World War ◽  
The One ◽  
Intense Activity ◽  
German Navy ◽  
Second World

The secret supply of the German Navy during the Second World War has scarcely been studied until now. The goal of this article is to study one of the more active supply areas of the Etappendienst at the beginning of the war, the one known as Etappe Kanaren, as part of the Grossetappe Spanien-Portugal. In this research primary sources from German Naval War Command have been consulted. Among the main conclusions, it should be pointed out, on the one hand, the intense activity to support the Kriegsmarine during the first years of the war, despite the distance from mainland Spain and the British pressure, which finally stopped the supply operations. On the other hand, we have confirmed the active role of the Spanish government in relation to the Etappendienst: Spanish authorities allowed the supply operations, but pressure from the Allies forced the Spanish government to impede these activities.

34 Warming Waters and Souring Seas: Climate Change and Ocean Acidification

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephens Tim
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ocean Acidification ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Rising Sea Levels ◽  
The Impact

This chapter examines the impact of climate change and ocean acidification on the oceans and their implications for the international law of the sea. In particular, it assesses the implications of rising sea levels for territorial sea baselines, the seawards extent of maritime zones, and maritime boundaries. It also considers the restrictions placed by the UN Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) upon States in pursuing climate mitigation and adaptation policies, such as attempts to ‘engineer’ the global climate by artificially enhancing the capacity of the oceans to draw CO2 from the atmosphere. The chapter analyzes the role of the LOSC, alongside other treaty regimes, in addressing the serious threat of ocean acidification.

On Insignificance

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 251-268
Author(s):  
Massimo Leone ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Active Role ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One

The article proposes a typology of meaninglessness based on the semiotics of Charles S. Peirce: meaningless as indecipherable; as incomprehensible; and as uncanny. Each type is exemplified with reference to anecdotic semiotic experience gained while riding Japanese buses. Meaninglessness, however, is not insignificance. Insignificance is a much more disquieting anthropological condition, which the article describes with reference to two symmetrical processes: on the one hand, the euphoric passage from significance to insignificance, a passage meant as the “birth of new meaning”; on the other hand, the dysphoric passage from significance to insignificance, a passage which coincides with the alienation of human existence. Through several examples take from present-day societies, the article advocates for an active role of semiotics in warning human communities against the “emergence of insignificance” and its potential of violence and exploitation.

scholarly journals Who organises the community? The university as an intermediary actor

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 104-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Fehren
Keyword(s):  
Community Development ◽  
Urban Communities ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Life World ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Development Processes ◽  
The One ◽  
The University

For more than 25 years the Institut für Stadtteilentwicklung, Sozialraumorientierte Arbeit und Beratung (ISSAB) (‘Institute for community development, social space orientation and counselling’) of the University Duisburg-Essen, Germany, has been engaged in the development of disadvantaged urban communities. Increasingly, however, there is a need for intermediaries to bridge the gap between the community and the municipality because of the polarisation of the complex institutional world on the one hand and the increasing fragmentation of the life-world on the other. Based on a long-term cooperation contract with the municipality of Essen, this university institute plays a continuing and active role in local neighbourhood renewal projects. The article reflects on the prospects, challenges and ambivalences of the specific task of the university institute within these community development processes: to take on a mediating role – a moderating intermediary function – between the everyday life-world of the community and the political and administrative municipal system in order to support and enhance community development. Key words: Community development, university-community partnership, intermediary function, integrated approach, civic engagement

scholarly journals Non-state Actors in the International Climate Change Regulatory Framework

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-104
Author(s):  
Sina Bergmann
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Governance Model ◽  
Nationally Determined Contributions ◽  
International Climate ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Law Making ◽  
International Climate Change

Global climate governance is multilateral and involves both state and non-state actors. This study sets to identify the ways in which non-state actors can access and participate in the international climate change regime under the UNFCCC and the 2015 Paris Agreement and to evaluate how they can influence law-making processes and outcomes under the agreements. The study further provides recommendations on how the involvement of non-state actors can be improved under the agreements. The study emphasizes that under the UNFCCC, non-state actors have an important role in acting as intermediaries under the orchestration governance model and in participating to the Conference of Parties and under the Paris Agreement, by exerting influence on state’s nationally determined contributions. The study suggests that the role of non-state actors in formulating nationally determined contributions and in participating to the Conference of Parties should be further formalised and that the NAZCA portal should be improved.

scholarly journals Cities Towards Global Climate Governance: How the Practices of City Diplomacy Foster Hybrid Multilateralism

2021 ◽  
pp. 365-377
Author(s):  
Nikola Strachová
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climate Agreements ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
International Climate Agreements ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Global Values

One of the effects of globalization is the increasing number of transnational ties that central governments not only ceased to control but also ceased to participate in; therefore, in recent decades, cities have been increasingly motivated to respond to international issues and initiate various contacts with foreign economic, cultural, and political centres. This article examines practices of city diplomacy in light of the current climate crisis. Albeit cities could be in conflict with their central government, they are executing the global climate agenda. Nonetheless, how do we frame cities’ autonomous activities in the global governance agenda? The article seeks to determine whether the framework of hybrid multilateralism is the niche for cities to assume the role of the central government in defending common global values such as preservation of the environment when the state fails to do so. Based on a dataset consisting of various subnational initiatives responding to climate change, we suggest a remarkable growth in the pledges to the international climate agreements’ commitments involving many subnational actors. Through these pledges, cities enter the international negotiations with various partners under hybrid policy architecture. Cities hold an enormous potential to influence the global conversation on climate change agenda. Furthermore, we conclude that cities are taking on the states’ role in global issues when they identify the inadequacy of the central governments’ action. Their conflict position forces them to carry out autonomous activities and fosters the new phenomenon of hybrid multilateralism.

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