Comparative case studies and analyses of the influence of domestic politics on countries' climate change policies and Kyoto ratification decisions. 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 Decisions explains 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.

Comparative case studies and analyses of the influence of domestic politics on countries' climate change policies and Kyoto ratification decisions. 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 Decisions explains 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.

Global Commons: Issues, Concerns and Strategies presents a comprehensive international perspective on the global commons - natural resource domains that are not subject to national jurisdictions and are accessible to all nations. These include the oceans, atmosphere and outer space, and specific locations such as Antarctica. Due to their critical importance in maintaining human lives and livelihoods, and their vulnerability to depletion, the collaborative preservation of the global commons is of great relevance to all human communities. Leading world powers, such as France, are increasingly adopting environmental policies as key to their functioning as democracies. After the Paris Climate Conference, there has been a spurt in cooperation between major nations, such as France and India, in the fight against climate change. This book provides exhaustive coverage of all the major facets of preservation of the global commons. It will, therefore, prove indispensable to all stakeholders in a new, just and sustainable world order.

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

Russia remains among the top-5 greenhouse gas emitters in the world and thus an important player in the field of international climate politics. To gain a deeper understanding of how Russian climate politics is formed, the changing and somewhat unexpected role scientists and scientific knowledge play in shaping Russian policymaking is explored.

"The Fight for Climate after COVID-19 draws on the troubled and uneven COVID-19 experience to illustrate the critical need to ramp up resilience rapidly and effectively on a global scale. After years of working alongside public health and resilience experts crafting policy to build both pandemic and climate change preparedness, Alice C. Hill exposes parallels between the underutilized measures that governments should have taken to contain the spread of COVID-19 -- such as early action, cross-border planning, and bolstering emergency preparation -- and the steps leaders can take now to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Through practical analyses of current policy and thoughtful guidance for successful climate adaptation, The Fight for Climate after COVID-19 reveals that, just as our society has transformed itself to meet the challenge of coronavirus, so too will we need to adapt our thinking and our policies to combat the ever-increasing threat of climate change." --

Global climate governance has presented problems that have led to failures, yet it has also opened the door to new transregional governance schemes, especially in North America. This book introduces an environmental dimension into the concept of governance. Almost fifteen years after the climate global governance concept emerged, results worldwide have not been as favorable as expected. This book details previous discussions about the concept of global climate governance and its limits. It highlights how the Kyoto Protocol has a limited design taking into account a national approach to global, regional, and transnational problems, had no obligatory mechanisms for implementation and explains the emergence of new polluters not committed under it such as China and India. Furthermore this book explores other levels of authority such as regional institutions - the North American agreement on trade (NAFTA) and on environment (NAAEC), as well as the regional energy working group (NAEWG). The author puts forward a theoretical proposal for re-territorialization and coordination of policies for climate change into new forms of articulating interests in what she terms transnational green economic regions (TGERs) and tests this on two case studies - the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and the Western Climate Initiative (WCI). This study presents the challenges and opportunities of a transregional approach in North America.