Opposing opinions: Chapter 24

24.1 Does the failure – so far – of the Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) to arrest the rising level of atmospheric greenhouse gases mean that a solution must be sought elsewhere?

1. To what extent are transnational and local climate actions a substitute for multilateral cooperation by states party to the UNFCCC?

  • Given the perceived failure to succeed on the international level, some have called for a concentration on 'polycentric governance' in relation to global environmental issues. This is to include all (voluntary) projects on the local level, which are to form the basis for political action targeting climate change. Within this argument emphasis is placed on the micro not the macro.
  • However, others maintain that the main action must remain in more conventional international and national political structures. Crucially this argument still contains an international approach, which presents a global consensus in terms of ethics and actions in relation to climate change and reduces the risks of 'climate cheating'. It is also the conviction of such voices that the funds held by national and international government structures are necessary to tackle the global challenge of climate change. Within this argument emphasis is placed on the macro not the micro.

2. What have been the functions of the UNFCCC, and what is it expected to achieve in the future?

  • The main aim of the UNFCCC has been the reduction of Green House Gases (GHGs) emissions. Whether or not it has been successful with regards to its mission remains contested.
  • From one camp, it is stressed that the UNFCCC's multilateral approach has failed to curb GHGs emissions. Further, the convention is seen to be structurally flawed in that it avoided addressing key drivers of climate change, resulting in political 'grandstanding'.
  • Despite this, others have highlighted that the conventions are necessary to raise awareness of climate change at a national and international level, whose actors must be the ones to secure funds to address climate change issues in the future.

3. Is it possible to detect different theoretical positions underlying the debate about the utility of multilateral climate cooperation?

  • For theorists from the positivist camp, theorizing about climate change is likely to express itself in the empirical study of the world 'out there'. Including realist international relations authors, it is likely, however, that there will be little interest in the notion of climate change as a concept of IR and as a form of social political practice. Instead, their focus remains on states' self-interests, expressed through material power.
  • For liberal international relations theorists – though also often associated with the positivist camp – the main concern with regards to climate change is the way this is embedded in liberal international institutionalism. Thus, the conventions are viewed by liberals as an expression of growing international interconnectedness and interdependence, and thus are highlighted as progress.
  • Marxist international relations theorists are likely to disagree with this evaluation. Instead, such authors are likely to critique the global capitalist structure as one which causes climate change, due to lack of control of the global market economy. From this perspective neo-liberal policies accelerate those features of globalization that are driving the global ecological crisis: consumerism, the relocation of production to the global South, and the thoughtless squandering of resources.
  • This already points to questions that authors from the postcolonial and feminist camps of IR might ask: who is affected by climate change and how? What does this portray about other underlying global power structures? What role does the personal play in this discourse of international climate change? Are you convinced that this is an important sphere to look at?
  • One other way in which climate change can be thought of in international relations is its relationship with security studies. Here human security is an important concept as it emphasizes social and economic security among individuals. It is also argued that environmental change contributes to internal conflict and inter-state wars.
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