Continuity and change in international institutions: the case of the United Nations environment regime

Analysts have had a long fascination with moments of significant change and discontinuity in political relations. Studies of “exogenous shocks,” “critical junctures,” “historical events,” “policy windows,” and “punctuated equilibria” have occupied a prominent place in qualitative assessments of policy and institutional change. Yet, despite analysts’ interest, these turning points remain poorly understood. Leading theoretical treatments are overwhelmingly descriptive, offering little in the way of explanatory capacity. Introducing the concept of Temporal Focal Points, my thesis provides a temporal extension to Thomas C. Schelling’s focal point hypothesis. Temporal Focal Points—definite, exceptional phases along the temporal continuum—precipitate a convergence of expectations among actors in time that heightens the likelihood of agreement. Convergent expectations are a crucial means of overcoming temporal coordination problems among actors. By facilitating a spike in analytical activity, political entrepreneurship, and bargaining intensity, actors are able realize joint gains opened up by past shifts in key parameters. Prominent temporal signposts allow actors to recognize that existing institutional arrangements are not an equilibrium. I test the plausibility of this theory through an analysis of the record of change at four distinct phases of the history of the United Nations environment regime from 1962-1992, including the 1972 Stockholm conference, the 1982 Nairobi conference, the UN General Assembly’s response to the Brundtland report, and the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.</p

Continuity and change in international institutions: the case of the United Nations environment regime

Analysts have had a long fascination with moments of significant change and discontinuity in political relations. Studies of “exogenous shocks,” “critical junctures,” “historical events,” “policy windows,” and “punctuated equilibria” have occupied a prominent place in qualitative assessments of policy and institutional change. Yet, despite analysts’ interest, these turning points remain poorly understood. Leading theoretical treatments are overwhelmingly descriptive, offering little in the way of explanatory capacity. Introducing the concept of Temporal Focal Points, my thesis provides a temporal extension to Thomas C. Schelling’s focal point hypothesis. Temporal Focal Points—definite, exceptional phases along the temporal continuum—precipitate a convergence of expectations among actors in time that heightens the likelihood of agreement. Convergent expectations are a crucial means of overcoming temporal coordination problems among actors. By facilitating a spike in analytical activity, political entrepreneurship, and bargaining intensity, actors are able realize joint gains opened up by past shifts in key parameters. Prominent temporal signposts allow actors to recognize that existing institutional arrangements are not an equilibrium. I test the plausibility of this theory through an analysis of the record of change at four distinct phases of the history of the United Nations environment regime from 1962-1992, including the 1972 Stockholm conference, the 1982 Nairobi conference, the UN General Assembly’s response to the Brundtland report, and the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.This thesis is not currently available in ORA

Norms from the periphery: tracing the rise of the common but differentiated principle in international environmental politics

Over the last three decades, constructivist scholars of international relations have created a rich body of literature on the influence of global norms. Until recently, the vast majority of that work focused on norms originating in the developed world and neglected the ideational impact of developing countries. This article confronts this oversight in the literature by tracing the rise of the “common but differentiated responsibility” (CBDR) norm in international environmental politics. The CBDR principle traces its origins to the developing world and today it is part of the framework principles of international environmental agreements. Thus, it represents a global norm promoted by, rather than diffused to, the developing world. In the process of tracing this norm’s rise, this article generates a set of hypotheses about the conditions under which developing countries create global norms