Actors and issues in climate change policy: The maturation of a policy discourse in the national and international context

Policy discourses are important platforms for political actors to express their preferences on certain issues and are usually linked to a specific policy subsystem. From a research perspective, they have the potential to indicate ideological coalitions, policy change and learning. Using discourse network analysis, we identify core policy actors, issues, and coalitions in Switzerland’s climate policy discourse and investigate how they have evolved over the past 15 years. In line with the policy process literature, we expected to see more stability than change in the discourse linked to the mature climate policy subsystem. However, our results have shown that policy discourses are more volatile than policy subsystems, and that national and international policy developments are able to trigger change, particularly in terms of the configuration of actor coalitions and the issues discussed

Policy networks and belief systems: the drivers of cooperation in international climate change politics 2001-2014

In this paper, we analyze the drivers of political cooperation in international climate change policymaking. Specifically, we are interested in the stability and alteration of network features, policyrelevant belief structures and actor constellations over time as key drivers for cooperation in international climate change politics. Although nation states undoubtedly continue to remain the main actors in international climate change policy-making, we argue that the international climate change policy field today resembles a policy subsystem, a concept usually assigned to domestic policy arenas, involving a wide range of different types of actors (state and non-state actors from various levels) who regularly seek to influence policy choices around the climate change issue. To analyze and understand policy processes in the international climate change policy subsystem, we apply the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). In doing so, we break new theoretical grounds as former applications of the ACF usually focus on domestic policy processes in Western Europe and North America. In line with most recent applications of the ACF outside this regional focus and with a particular emphasis on foreign policy issues, we further extend the theoretical scope of the ACF and explore the framework’s potential to better understand the policy process on a global policy issue such as climate change. In addition, to answer a common critique of the ACF we also include structural characteristics of the subsystem as driving forces for cooperation in our analysis. Empirically, we use political event data analysis to collect and systematize information on the international climate change policy process in a long-term perspective. Event data describes interaction patterns between various kinds of actors over time by encoding who did what to whom and when. In addition, we code for all the actors their key policy preferences and understand them according to the ACF as a function of underlying belief systems. Methodically, we apply a time dynamic network model (Temporal Exponential Random Graph Model, TERGM) that allows for a systematic testing of hypotheses on how and why network features, policy-relevant belief structures and actor constellations have evolved over time

What drives the adoption of climate change mitigation policy? A dynamic network approach to policy diffusion

The requirement of bottom-up action from all the countries to deal with climate change makes it necessary to analyze the factors influencing policy adoption. This article contributes to the policy literature by shedding light on the conditions, which incentivize countries to adopt more climate mitigation policies. The theoretical argument builds on the integrated approaches to study policy diffusion, which include both internal and external determinants as explanations for the adoption of policies. While previous applications typically operationalize the latter by regional proximity, this study highlights the added value of network dependencies capturing political and cooperative interactions across countries. The article finds that the adoption of climate policies is a matter of social influence. Countries are more likely to adopt policies if they cooperate with countries that have adopted more climate policies and are in a similar structural position to countries that are active in climate protection. This article not only is an important theoretical contribution to the policy literature but also enriches our methodological and empirical understanding of climate policy diffusion

Focusing Events, Public Attention, and Belief Conflict: The Impact of Climate Summits on National Policy Discourses

Climate change is one of societies’ biggest challenges, and this for some decades to come. To address it, the international community is willing to engage in global commitments and to establish international agreements. But how effective this global engagement is directly depends on domestic climate policy implementation. The purpose of this article is therefore to investigate the impact of international climate politics on domestic policymaking. More concretely, we analyze how vulnerable the national climate policy discourse is towards international negotiations. We assume that not only the mere event, but its respective success or failure impacts how the national policy discourse is shaped. We look at the Swiss climate policy discourse and study it through discourse network analysis and over more than one decade. We are able to investigate the impact of two successful international climate conferences, Bali (2007) and Paris (2015) and an unsuccessful event Copenhagen (2009) on the framing of the national discourse. We are particularly interested how much domestic media report about these international summits and how they are absorbed by national policymaking. We therefore systematically code statements of key actors about their preferred targets (e.g. CO2 emission reduction) and instruments (e.g. CO2 tax) to address (or not) the climate change challenge. Through advanced tools in rDNA and social network analysis, we are thereby able to map and measure cohesion, clustering and fragmentation in the domestic climate policy discourse after international summits. Results show that international enthusiasm has positive impact on ideological cohesion in the domestic discourse. International failure leads to more conflict, but gives room for more innovative instruments to address climate change effectively

The Institutionalization of a Cleavage: How Differential Treatment Affects State Behavior in the Climate Negotiations

Differential treatment is a key norm in multilateral environmental agreements. Its main objective is to increase compliance and reduce the free-rider problem by apportioning the costs and benefits of implementation more equitably across the parties in an agreement. The question of how to differentiate those burdens is inextricably linked to national interests, and while in some instances differential treatment is well designed and facilitates cooperation, in other cases a rigid divide—or cleavage—leads to a stalemate and constant conflict. This article studies the consequences of differential treatment as institutionalized under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Previous research has shown that the separation of UNFCCC parties into two opposing groups has deepened the polarization in the negotiations. We identify two causal mechanisms that may have driven this polarization, namely socialization through material incentives and the formation of group identity. We draw on an original dataset that records (dis)agreements between country pairs, coded from negotiation summaries between 1995 and 2013. Using a relational events model, we show that the division of UNFCCC parties into Annex I (with obligations) and non-Annex I (without obligations) is related primarily to material incentives and less to group identity formation.El trato diferenciado es una norma fundamental en los acuerdos ambientales multilaterales. Su principal objetivo es aumentar el cumplimiento y reducir el problema de los oportunistas distribuyendo los costos y los beneficios de la implementación de forma más equitativa entre las partes de un acuerdo. La cuestión de cómo diferenciar esas cargas está inextricablemente vinculada a los intereses nacionales y mientras que en algunos casos el trato diferenciado está bien diseñado y facilita la cooperación, en otros casos, una división rígida o escisión conduce a un estancamiento o un conflicto constante. En este artículo se estudian las consecuencias del trato diferenciado institucionalizado en la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático (CMNUCC). Investigaciones anteriores han demostrado que la separación de las partes de la CMNUCC en dos grupos opuestos ha profundizado la polarización en las negociaciones. Identificamos dos mecanismos causales que pueden haber impulsado esta polarización; a saber, la socialización a través de incentivos materiales y la formación de la identidad de grupo. Nos basamos en un conjunto de datos original que registra los (des)acuerdos entre pares de países, codificados a partir de resúmenes de negociación entre 1995 y 2013. Utilizando un modelo de eventos relacionales, demostramos que la división de las partes de la CMNUCC en Anexo I (con obligaciones) y no Anexo I (sin obligaciones) está relacionada principalmente con los incentivos materiales y no tan relacionada con la formación de la identidad de grupo.Le traitement différencié est une norme clé des accords environnementaux multilatéraux. Son principal objectif est d'accroître la conformité et de réduire le problème de bénéficiaire sans contrepartie en répartissant plus équitablement les coûts et les avantages de la mise en œuvre d'un accord entre les parties qui y sont impliquées. La question de savoir comment différencier ces « fardeaux » est inextricablement liée aux intérêts nationaux, et bien que dans certains cas, le traitement différencié soit bien conçu et facilite la coopération, dans d'autres cas, une séparation rigide—ou clivage—conduit à une impasse et à un conflit permanent. Cet article étudie les conséquences du traitement différencié tel qu'il est institutionnalisé dans la Convention-cadre des Nations unies sur les changements climatiques (CCNUCC). Une recherche précédente a monté que la séparation des parties de la CCNUCC en deux groupes opposés avait accru la polarisation des négociations. Nous avons identifié deux mécanismes causaux qui peuvent avoir entraîné cette polarisation: la socialisation par incitations matérielles et la formation d'une identité de groupe. Nous nous appuyons sur un jeu de données original retraçant les (dés)accords entre paires de pays, qui ont été codés à partir des résumés des négociations qui sont intervenues entre 1995 et 2013. Nous utilisons un modèle d’événements relationnels et montrons que la séparation entre parties de la CCNUCC en pays de l'Annexe I (avec obligations) et pays hors Annexe I (sans obligations) est principalement davantage associée à des incitations matérielles qu’à une formation d'identité de groupe

Klimapolitik in den Medien: Akteure, Themen und Koalitionen

Der Klimawandel gehört zu den zentralen Herausforderungen der Menschheit unserer Zeit. Seine aktuelle Medienpräsenz hat er den zunehmenden Klimaveränderungen, sowie den weltweiten Klimademonstrationen im Kontext der sozialen Bewegungen «Fridays For Future» und «Extinction Rebellion» zu verdanken. Der Klimawandel ist kein neues Problem, aber seine politische und mediale Bedeutsamkeit unterlag in den vergangenen Jahren deutlicher Schwankungen. Wie lassen sich diese «Konjunkturveränderungen» erklären und über welche Themen und Akteure berichtet die Presse, wenn sie es tut