Global Commons, Domestic Decisions

by Harrison, Kathryn; Sundstrom, Lisa McIntosh

• ISBN13: 9780262014267
• ISBN10: 0262014262
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-07-30
• Publisher: Mit Pr

Summary

Climate change represents a "tragedy of the commons" on a global scale, requiring the cooperation of nations that do not necessarily put the Earth's well-being above their own national interests. And yet international efforts to address global warming have met with some success; the Kyoto Protocol, in which industrialized countries committed to reducing their collective emissions, took effect in 2005 (although without the participation of the United States). Reversing the lens used by previous scholarship on the topic, Global Commons, Domestic Decisionsexplains international action on climate change from the perspective of countries' domestic politics. In an effort to understand both what progress has been made and why it has been so limited, experts in comparative politics look at the experience of seven jurisdictions in deciding whether or not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and to pursue national climate change mitigation policies. By analyzing the domestic politics and international positions of the United States, Australia, Russia, China, the European Union, Japan, and Canada, the authors demonstrate clearly that decisions about global policies are often made locally, in the context of electoral and political incentives, the normative commitments of policymakers, and domestic political institutions. Using a common analytical framework throughout, the book offers a unique comparison of the domestic political forces within each nation that affect climate change policy and provides insights into why some countries have been able to adopt innovative and aggressive positions on climate change both domestically and internationally. Contributors: Steinar Andresen, Inga Fritzen Buan, Kate Crowley, Kathryn Harrison, Gorild Heggelund, Laura A. Henry, Miranda A. Schreurs, Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom, Yves Tiberghien

Table of Contents

Series Foreword	p. ix
Introduction: Global Commons, Domestic Decisions	p. 1
European Union Leadership in Climate Change: Mitigation through Multilevel Reinforcement	p. 23
The United States as Outlier: Economic and Institutional Challenges to US Climate Policy	p. 67
Russia and the Kyoto Protocol: From Hot Air to Implementation?	p. 105
Climate Leadership, Japanese Style: Embedded Symbolism and Post-2001 Kyoto Protocol Politics	p. 139
The Struggle of Ideas and Self-Interest in Canadian Climate Policy	p. 169
Climate Clever? Kyoto and Australia's Decade of Recalcitrance	p. 201
Chinese Climate Policy: Domestic Priorities, Foreign Policy, and Emerging Implementation	p. 229
Conclusion: The Comparative Politics of Climate Change	p. 261
Contributors	p. 291
Series List	p. 293
Index	p. 295
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