Global Climate Governance between State and Non-State Actors: Dynamics of Contestation and Re-Legitimation

Abstract

Global climate governance is one of the most complex global governance systems that is also ridden with divergent interests of states and non-state actors. Since the 2000s, the authority of UN-led global climate governance has been contested by the states declining their mitigation targets of the Kyoto Protocol and by those that find the international climate negotiations inefficient to ramp up climate action. These divergent views of states resulted in the counter-institutionalization apparent in the proliferation of minilateral forums and hybrid coalitions of climate initiatives oftentimes bringing states and non-state actors together. These non-UNFCCC partnerships have functioned to be strategic actions that put pressure on the global climate governance system to re-legitimate itself. Meanwhile, transnational actors have also contested the same system demanding a deeper cooperation that will keep the temperature goal below 2 degrees. This study argues that with its new mode of governance named hybrid multilateralism, the Paris Agreement was actually an institutional adaptation to the contestations by states and non-state actors in the forms of counter-institutionalization and politicization. It also discusses the problematic sides of the functions that non-state actors are expected to provide in this new governance mode. This paper is composed of four parts: firstly, the theoretical background that feeds into the analysis of empirical data with regard to global climate governance will be presented. Secondly, beginning from the Rio Conference, milestone developments in global climate governance will be examined by taking the contestation by the states into consideration. In the third part, the process of the politicization of climate change in which transnational actors and specifically the climate change movement demanded more decisive climate action will be explicated. In the last part, the existing legitimacy deficits with regard to non-state actors in post-Paris climate governance will be elaborated.

Keywords

• global climate governance
• Paris Agreement
• legitimacy
• non-state actors
• civil society

Devlet ve Devlet-dışı Aktörler arasında Küresel İklim Yönetişimi: Çekişme ve Yeniden Meşrulaştırma Dinamikleri

Abstract

Küresel iklim yönetişimi, devlet ve devlet-dışı aktörlerin farklı çıkarlarıyla dolu en karmaşık küresel yönetişim sistemlerinden biridir. 2000’lerden beri BM liderliğindeki küresel iklim yönetişiminin otoritesi, Kyoto Protokolü’nden gelen azaltım hedeflerini reddeden devletler ve uluslararası iklim müzakerelerini iklim eylemini geliştirmek için yetersiz bulan devletlerce sorgulandı. Devletlerin bu farklı görüşleri, minilateralist forumlar ve sıklıkla devlet ve devlet-dışı aktörleri bir araya getiren melez koalisyonların meydana getirdiği iklim inisiyatiflerinin artışında görülebilen bir karşı-kurumsallaşmayla sonuçlandı. Birleşmiş Milletler İklim Değişikliği Çerçevesi (BMİDÇ)-dışı bu ortaklıklar, kendini yeniden meşrulaştırması için küresel iklim yönetişim sisteminin üstünde baskı kuran stratejik eylemler olma işlevi gördü. Diğer yandan, ulusötesi aktörler de ısınma artışını 2 derecenin altında tutacak daha derin işbirlikleri talep ederek bu sistemi zorladı. Bu çalışma, hibrit çoktaraflılık adındaki yeni bir yönetişim moduyla Paris Anlaşması’nın, aslında devlet ve devlet-dışı aktörleri tarafından ortaya konan karşı-kurumsallaşma ve politikleştirme şekillerindeki çekişmelere kurumsal bir adaptasyon olduğunu savunmaktadır. Ayrıca yeni yönetişim itibariyle devlet-dışı aktörlerden beklenen işlevlerin sorunlu yanlarını tartışmaktadır. Makale dört bölümden oluşmaktadır: öncelikle, küresel iklim yönetişimine dair ampirik verinin analizini besleyen teorik arka plan sunulacaktır. İkinci olarak, Rio Konferansı’ndan başlayarak küresel iklim yönetişiminin dönüm noktası niteliğindeki gelişmeler devletlerin meydan okumaları dikkate alınarak incelenecektir. Üçüncü bölümde, ulusötesi aktörlerin ve özellikle de iklim değişikliği hareketinin daha kararlı bir iklim eylemi talep ederek iklim değişikliğini politikleştirme süreçleri anlatılacaktır. Son bölümde, Paris-sonrası iklim yönetişiminde devlet-dışı aktörleri ilgilendiren meşruiyet sorunları ele alınacaktır.

Keywords

• küresel iklim yönetişimi
• Paris Anlaşması
• meşruiyet
• devlet-dışı aktörler
• sivil toplum

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