scholarly journals The Transnational Regime Complex for Climate Change

Author(s):  
Kenneth W. Abbott
Author(s):  
Ingvild Ulrikke Jakobsen ◽  
Elise Johansen ◽  
Philipp Peter Nickels

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 4497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oran R. Young

Conditions in the Arctic today differ from those prevailing during the 1990s in ways that have far-reaching implications for the architecture of Arctic governance. What was once a peripheral region regarded as a zone of peace has turned into ground zero for climate change on a global scale and a scene of geopolitical maneuvering in which Russia is flexing its muscles as a resurgent great power, China is launching economic initiatives, and the United States is reacting defensively as an embattled but still potent hegemon. This article explores the consequences of these developments for Arctic governance and specifically for the role of the Arctic Council. The article canvasses options for adjusting the council’s membership and its substantive remit. It pays particular attention to opportunities for the council to play a role in managing the increasingly complex Arctic regime complex.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar Widerberg ◽  
Philipp Pattberg

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica F. Green

To date, much of the work on “regime complexes”—loosely connected nonhierarchical institutions—has excluded an important part of the institutional picture: the role of private authority. This paper seeks to remedy this shortcoming by examining privately created standards within the regime complex for climate change and their relationship to public authority. Public rules in the Kyoto Protocol serve as a “coral reef,” attracting private rulemakers whose governance activities come to form part of the regime complex. Using original data, I conduct a network analysis of public and private standards for carbon management. Surprisingly, I find evidence of policy convergence—both around public rules and a subset of privately created rules: there is an emerging order in the complex institutional landscape that governs climate change. The observed convergence arises from private standards' concerns about demonstrating credibility and providing benefits for users. These findings are important for scholars of institutional complexity and climate politics: public rules on carbon accounting have the potential to outlast their current incarnation in the Kyoto Protocol, as perpetuated through private authority.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth W. Abbott

AbstractThe inadequacies of the inter-state institutions and negotiating processes central to international climate policy create a pressing need for governance innovation. This article proposes one promising and feasible approach: strengthening the existingtransnationalregime complex for climate change. Leading organizations could strengthen the regime complex by forging stronger links among institutions, increasing coordination and collaboration, supporting weaker institutions and encouraging the entry of new ones where governance gaps exist. An enhanced regime complex would have a multilevel structure, enabling transnational institutions tobypassrecalcitrant national governments by directly engaging sub-state and societal actors at multiple levels of authority and scale. It would also help tomanagerecalcitrant states by mobilizing advocacy, demonstration effects and other pressures on governments. Regime entrepreneurs, using the strategy of orchestration, could deploy a range of incentives and other tools of influence to enrol, support and steer transnational organizations.


2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert O. Keohane ◽  
David G. Victor

There is no integrated regime governing efforts to limit the extent of climate change. Instead, there is a regime complex: a loosely-coupled set of specific regimes. We describe the regime complex for climate change and seek to explain it, using interest-based, functional, and organizational arguments. This institutional form is likely to persist; efforts to build a comprehensive regime are unlikely to succeed, but experiments abound with narrower institutions focused on particular aspects of the climate change problem. Building on this analysis, we argue that a climate change regime complex, if it meets specified criteria, has advantages over any politically feasible comprehensive regime. Adaptability and flexibility are particularly important in a setting—such as climate change policy—in which the most demanding international commitments are interdependent yet governments vary widely in their interest and ability to implement them. Yet in view of the serious political constraints, both domestic and international, there is little reason for optimism that the climate regime complex that is emerging will lead to reductions in emissions rapid enough to meet widely discussed goals, such as stopping global warming at two degrees above pre-industrial levels.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 384-405
Author(s):  
Mariana Balau Silveira

O fracasso do Protocolo de Kyoto em desenvolver uma estrutura de governança climática eficaz e inclusiva provocou um movimento de multiplicação de agrupamentos no âmbito do Regime Internacional de Mudanças Climáticas (RIMC), como o BASIC. A mudança e gradual fragmentação do regime evidencia o seu caráter não-hierárquico e não-integrado – podendo ser denominado, portanto, um “complexo de regime”. A iminência de reforma na estrutura institucional, com a COP 21 como marco importante, porém, representa a transição de uma estratégia top-down anterior para uma abordagem bottom-up cujo foco reside na contribuição nacional dos países. O principal argumento do presente artigo, a partir de uma análise comparativa longitudinal das COPs, é de que esse movimento indicaria uma fragmentação gradual do BASIC enquanto coalizão de negociação política, ao mesmo tempo em que sugere novos rumos para o regime.       Abstract: The failure of the Kyoto Protocol in developing an effective and inclusive climate governance structure caused the multiplication of groups, such as the BASIC countries, under the International Climate Change Regime (UNFCCC).  Its gradual fragmentation shows the non-hierarchical character of this “regime complex”. The imminent reform of the institutional framework, with COP 21 as an important landmark, however, represents the transition from a previous top-down strategy to a bottom-up approach where the focus lies in national contributions rather than a broader accord. The main argument of this article, based on a longitudinal comparative analysis of the COPs, is that this movement would indicate a gradual fragmentation of BASIC as a political bargaining coalition, while suggesting new directions for the UNFCCC. Key-words: BASIC, Climate Change, Paris Agreement.     Recebido em: março/2019. Aprovado em: agosto/2019.


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