Personality and adherence to international agreements: the case of President Donald Trump

2020 ◽  
pp. 004711782096565
Author(s):  
Scott Fitzsimmons
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Nuclear Proliferation ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Agreements ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Environmental Stewardship ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
High Level

Although Donald Trump’s foreign policy behavior is often characterized as erratic and unpredictable, he is remarkably consistent in his hostility toward international agreements. The president has withdrawn or threatened to withdraw the United States from several agreements and has consistently characterized agreements as “horrible deals” that “cheat” his country. This article explores why Trump exhibits such consistent disdain for international agreements. To address this question, it develops propositions that draw a causal link between a leader’s personality traits and their willingness to challenge constraints: a leader with a relatively high belief in their ability to control events is more likely to challenge constraints than a leader with a lower belief in their ability to control events; moreover, a leader with a relatively high level of distrust of others is more likely to challenge constraints than a leader with a lower level of distrust of others. It then conducts a plausibility test of these propositions in the context of Trump’s decisions to withdraw from agreements in three significant policy areas: trade (the Trans-Pacific Partnership), environmental stewardship (the Paris Agreement on climate change), and nuclear proliferation (the Iran nuclear deal).

The United States and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-82
Author(s):  
Mohit Khubchandani
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The Us ◽  
Domestic Policies

In June 2017, US President Donald Trump announced that the US ‘will withdraw from the Paris Accord’. This paper argues that the US is still a party to the Paris Agreement and that its current domestic policies, such as revocation of the Clean Power Plan and lifting the Coal Moratorium, constitute an internationally wrongful act.

Arms Control and the Developing Countries

1965 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lincoln P. Bloomfield ◽  
Amelia C. Leiss
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Arms Control ◽  
Nuclear Proliferation ◽  
Chemical Separation ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Agreements ◽  
Separation Plant ◽  
High Level

The detonation of Peking's first atomic devices in recent months has X provoked renewed widespread discussion of the dangers of the further spread of nuclear weaponry. Speculation has flourished about who would be next—Sweden? Japan? Israel? Or perhaps India, which has become the first nonnuclear country to build a chemical separation plant? Cost estimates put nuclear weapons within reach of the poorest nations within a few years. Governments have issued solemn pronouncements about the need to design further international agreements to prevent nuclear proliferation. The President of the United States made use of a high-level committee to advise him how to deal with the problem.

United States Announces Plans to Withdraw from Paris Agreement on Climate Change

2017 ◽  
Vol 111 (4) ◽  
pp. 1036-1044 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
United Nations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The United Nations

On September 3, 2016, the United States deposited with the UN its instrument of acceptance for the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The agreement entered into force on November 4, 2016. Following the change of U.S. presidential administrations, new President Donald Trump announced less than seven months later that the United States would withdraw from the Agreement. On August 4, 2017, the United States communicated this intention to the United Nations secretary-general, who serves as the depositary for the agreement.

scholarly journals Indonesian Policy in Ratifying The 2015 Paris Agreement

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Haekal - Siraj
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Financial Assistance ◽  
Analysis Techniques ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The World

 The 2015 Paris Agreement requires all participating countries to reduce emisson level. Indonesia as Non-Annex I accepted the norms of the 2015 Paris Agreement by ratifying this agreement. Meanwhile, Indonesia's emissions level continues to increase due to the rate of deforestation and forest degradation in Indonesia which ranks highest in the world. This study aims to analyze Indonesian policy in ratifying the agreement by using the Constructivism Perspective in explaining the International Regime and the Concept of Norm Influence by Finnemore and Sikkink. The study uses qualitative methods with explanatory designs. Data collection techniques are sourced from secondary sources as well as data analysis techniques carried out by reduction, presentation, and drawing conclusions as well as verification. This study found that the United States as a hegemonic state acting as the norm entrepreneurs by granting climate change financial assistance of $500 million through the GCF for Indonesia as a developing country was a condition affecting Indonesia in ratifying the agreement. Keywords: Indonesia, ratify, 2015 Paris Agreement, norm, climate change.

scholarly journals The Club Approach: A Gateway to Effective Climate Co-operation?

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 1071-1096 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Hovi ◽  
Detlef F. Sprinz ◽  
Håkon Sælen ◽  
Arild Underdal
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
European Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Club Good ◽  
The Right ◽  
Global Emissions

Although the Paris Agreement arguably made some progress, interest in supplementary approaches to climate change co-operation persist. This article examines the conditions under which a climate club might emerge and grow. Using agent-based simulations, it shows that even with less than a handful of major actors as initial members, a club can eventually reduce global emissions effectively. To succeed, a club must be initiated by the ‘right’ constellation of enthusiastic actors, offer sufficiently large incentives for reluctant countries and be reasonably unconstrained by conflicts between members over issues beyond climate change. A climate club is particularly likely to persist and grow if initiated by the United States and the European Union. The combination of club-good benefits and conditional commitments can produce broad participation under many conditions.

Prospects for renewable energy in 2017

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Electric Power ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
The United States ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Tipping Point ◽  
Content Type

Subject Prospects for renewable energy in 2017. Significance The United States and China, the world’s two largest economies as well as the largest carbon emitters, announced their ratification of the Paris Agreement in September. Earlier this year, prices for renewable energy in select regions set historic lows below fossil-fired plants. Renewable energy seems to have passed the tipping point towards gradual adoption as the primary source of electric power while also hopefully preventing catastrophic climate change.

scholarly journals The Paris Agreement and the Prospects for Socialization into the Climate Norm: Lessons from the U.S. and China

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-97
Author(s):  
Jinhyun Lee
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Institutional Transformation ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
Critical Elements ◽  
The Us ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The U.S

The Paris Agreement made a breakthrough amid the deadlock in climate negotiations, yet concerns are raised regarding how much impact the new voluntary climate regime can make. This paper investigates the socialization mechanism that the Paris Agreement sets up and explores the prospects of “institutional transformation” for it to make a dent. It examines the factors that can facilitate voluntary climate action by using the cases of the most recalcitrant emitters, the United States and China. It argues that the US and China cases suggest that the socialization from the bottom-up by domestic actors may be one of the critical elements that determine states’ position on climate change.

Resigning Without Leaving

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Hongju Koh
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Agreements ◽  
International Agreement ◽  
Basic Strategy ◽  
Full Participation ◽  
International Obligations

With respect to international agreements, President Donald Trump’s basic strategy has become resigning without leaving: This chapter illustrates this pattern with respect to the Paris Climate Change Agreement, trade diplomacy, and the Iran Nuclear Deal. In each area, Trump has expressed overt hostility toward the international agreement in question and threatened to abandon it, but in practice, he has generally stayed in the existing international agreements, but underperformed, forcing other transnational players to take up the slack to compensate for his unwillingness fully to execute America’s international obligations. This approach at least has the virtue that in time, a successor administration may correct that underperformance and restore the United States to full participation in the international arrangement.

scholarly journals The U.S. Withdrawal From the Paris Agreement: Challenges and Opportunities for China

2018 ◽  
Vol 04 (02) ◽  
pp. 281-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongyuan Yu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
The U.S

President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change is both a major reversal of the Obama administration’s climate policy and a huge blow to global climate governance. The comprehensive regression of President Trump’s climate policy manifests mainly in three aspects: abolition of the clean energy plan, exit from the Paris Agreement, and a return to traditional energy policies, which reflect the cyclical and volatile nature of the U.S. climate policy. With its lasting negative impact, the China-U.S. cooperative leadership in global climate governance is stranded. In this light, China should strive for a bigger role in leading global efforts to address climate change and enhance cooperation through various mechanisms. Under the current U.S. policy environment, China can still strengthen cooperation with the United States in such fields as traditional energy, infrastructure investment, global energy market, and green finance.

As the Stakes Rise, Climate Action Loses Momentum

2019 ◽  
Vol 118 (804) ◽  
pp. 36-38
Author(s):  
Joshua Busby
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Climate Action

Backsliding on the Paris Agreement by the United States and others is steering the globe down a dangerous path toward runaway climate change.

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