Climate Change and International Relations (After Kyoto)

Underdal, Arild

doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-052715-111713

Cited by 22 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 96 publications

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“…Although the politics and governance of climate change has been discussed extensively, across the fields of political studies and international relations (see, for example, Giddens, 2009; Underdal, 2017), there has been relatively little attention to the ways in which politicians, as crucial actors within political systems, understand or respond to the issue (Rickards et al, 2014). This article contributes to a greater understanding of the specific role of politicians, supplementing the accounts of governance and political systems described above.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constructing a ‘Representative Claim’ for Action on Climate Change: Evidence from Interviews with Politicians

Willis

2018

Political Studies

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At the 2015 Paris Summit, global leaders agreed a strategy to tackle climate change. Under the agreement, each country must prepare a national plan. What challenges does this pose for politicians? How do they reconcile their representative role with understandings of climate change and measures required to address it? This article analyses interviews with UK politicians, through the framework of the 'representative claim' developed by Michael Saward, seeing representation as a dynamic interaction between politicians and those they claim to represent. Thus, politicians need to construct a 'representative claim' to justify action on climate. Four different types of claims are identified: a 'cosmopolitan' claim, a 'local prevention' claim, a 'co-benefits' claim and a 'surrogate' claim. The analysis shows that it is not straightforward for a politician to argue that action is in the interests of their electorate and that climate advocates need to support efforts to construct and defend claims.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constructing a ‘Representative Claim’ for Action on Climate Change: Evidence from Interviews with Politicians

Willis

2018

Political Studies

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“…As a problem faced by all, it poses challenges in terms of accountabilities of states and their capacity to adopt cooperative approaches. As a complex issue profoundly linked to globalization and the interconnectedness of world economies, it creates further challenges for those most vulnerable to both internal and external shocks including global warming and sea level rise (Underdal, 2017). International action is often divided and disdained by powerful states.…”

Section: The Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of Small Islands in UN Climate Negotiations: A Constructivist Viewpoint

Rasheed

2019

International Studies

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This article is about small island developing states (SIDS) and their role in the United Nations (UN) climate negotiations. It presents a discussion about how a constructivist model of foreign policy analysis and international system design can be used to explain the impact of climate ideas of SIDS on UN climate system. The SIDS have been in the UN climate negotiations since the 1980s, committed to a climate agenda with clear ideas about the challenges they face and the type of solutions they seek from the international policy community. In this respect, this article seeks to explain that climate ideas shared among SIDS have established an intersubjective understanding to promote a compelling common voice at international climate negotiations, which is based on an island vulnerability identity. These ideas have shaped the policy thinking and interests of climate negotiators to design institutional frameworks that have given special consideration to SIDS. It concludes that this observation represents a disproportionate impact of SIDS. Despite the weak material powers for being small islands, their climate agenda has influenced the UN system design to address their concerns.

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“…For that matter, only in recent years has the challenge of climate change and its implications for international politics become a substantial topic among the "traditional" academic disciplines dealing with world affairs. This interest has two different aspects: first, in terms of "diagnostics," it has implied a better understanding of the interconnection between biophysical and political aspects of climate change, leading to the conclusion that the increasing impact of human activities on the bio-sphere represents a complex and urgent multilevel governance challenge; second, it has raised academic awareness on the possibility that this topic may represent a new research agenda for International Relations with potential consequences on the ontology and epistemology of the entire field (Underdal 2017). So far, the issue of ecology in world politics has been considered salient mainly for its practical implications for development, security, health, food supply and multilateralism.…”

Section: Climate Change and International Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable International Relations. Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si’ and the Planetary Implications of “Integral Ecology”

Ferrara

2019

Religions

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This paper analyzes the theoretical and pragmatic implications for international relations and world politics of the new holistic approach to climate change articulated by Pope Francis in the Encyclical Laudato Si', particularly through the notion of "integral ecology". It is not my intention to offer an exegesis of the Papal document. I will rather try to illustrate and discuss its planetary hermeneutics. I emphasize that the Encyclical's perspective is not exclusively normative, and that, within the dynamic interplay between social structure and human agency, it can also be considered as a call to action. In this context, I suggest that both International Relations Theory and global politics have much to learn from the fundamental claims of contemporary religions in relation to climate disruption. In particular, Pope Francis' document, far from being just a new chapter in the unfolding process of the "greening" of religions, raises the issue of the sustainability of the present world system. Therefore, I contend that the perspective of the Encyclical calls for a radical transformation of international relations, since it emphasizes the deep implications of environmental issues on the entire spectrum of security, development, economic and ethical challenges of contemporary world politics. Against this backdrop, my objective is to connect the main tenets of the Encyclical to the environmental turn in International Relations Theory and to the new epistemological challenges related to the paradigm shift induced by the new planetary condition of the Anthropocene and the relevant questions arising for a justice encompassing the humanity-earth system. The Encyclical seems to suggest that practicing sustainable international relations means exiting the logic of power or hegemony, while simultaneously operationalizing the concept of care.

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Climate Change and International Relations (After Kyoto)

Cited by 22 publications

References 96 publications

Constructing a ‘Representative Claim’ for Action on Climate Change: Evidence from Interviews with Politicians

Constructing a ‘Representative Claim’ for Action on Climate Change: Evidence from Interviews with Politicians

Role of Small Islands in UN Climate Negotiations: A Constructivist Viewpoint

Sustainable International Relations. Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si’ and the Planetary Implications of “Integral Ecology”

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