Linda Wallbott

Beyond soft balancing: small states and coalition-building in the ICC and climate negotiations

The role of small states has been largely neglected in research on the process and outcome of multilateral negotiations. Even though these states may be active in the agenda-setting processes or display a specific engagement in certain thematic aspects of negotiations, in the end game the outcome of negotiations has been perceived to be dependent on the bargaining between major powers. However, small states also have strategies at their disposal to compensate for these weaknesses. Two principal ones come to mind, prioritization or niche diplomacy, and coalition-building to join forces with like-minded states in order to draw on their resources, expertise and manpower. In the article, we compare two cases of small state coalitions in multilateral negotiations, namely the Like Minded (LM) group in the negotiations that led to the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in United Nations climate negotiations. While the two coalitions resort to similar strategies, they have not been comparably successful. We will show that the ability to translate discursive power into measurable effects on outcomes ultimately depends on the institutional setting of the negotiations and the nature of the issue that coalitions are tackling.

Tracing Sustainability Transformations and Drivers of Green Economy Approaches in the Global South

This article provides the introduction to a special issue on Green Economies in the Global South, that sheds light on the causes, complexities, consequences, and different practices of state engagement regarding national-level transitions from business as usual toward integrated economic, ecological, and social policies. Empirically, the special issue comprises four additional papers that open the black box of the state with a focus on state-society relations and the management of trade-offs in the fields of energy and land use politics in developing countries. This introduction guides these country cases with an analytical outline that builds on two specific sets of research questions: (a) Which change agents do have an impact on national politics, and why? What is the particular role of the state in developing and implementing Green Economy policies? (b) Which trade-offs and tensions occur between and within the economic, ecological, and social dimensions of a Green Economy approach? How are they addressed, by whom, and with which consequences?

Political in Nature: The Conflict-fuelling Character of International Climate Policies

Climate change is a political issue and currently a hot cake of the international debate. Agenda-setting surrounding this issue, framing of the problem, determination of the character of the crisis, and the possible solutions that are put on the table are subject to multilateral negotiations. Science points out that warming of the climatic system is unequivocal, and it is similarly clear that this is mostly due to human-made emissions of atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHG), mostly CO2 (IPCC 2007).

Keeping discourses separate: explaining the non-alignment of climate politics and human rights norms by small island states in United Nations climate negotiations

The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) encompasses more than 40 low-lying and island developing states that are among the most vulnerable but also most vocal parties in international climate negotiations. Over the years AOSISs strategies comprised of the building of scientific expertise, and leadership by example, but also a particular framing that puts emphasis on multilateral processes to deal with issues of common concern and established principles of the international community. The initial assumption of the paper is that a frame alignment of climate change and human rights concerns would strengthen the coalitions moral and legal arguments. However, as a frame analysis of close to 50 coalition submissions and statements reveals, such a linkage is not established. The paper concludes by outlining three possible explanatory factors for this observation: the nature of the issue area, the character of the coalition and the professional background of AOSIS negotiators.

Safeguards, Standards, and the Science-Policy Interfaces of REDD+: Greening Land Use Through Forest-Based Mitigation in Costa Rica?:

This article looks at the evolving concept of “Green Economy” and its potential synergies and trade-offs with biodiversity governance and land use management. By analyzing the accelerating debate and institutionalization of forest-based mitigation projects that are inclined to market-based funding in developing countries through Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+), this study aims to critically engage with the promises of a Green Economy that have been purported internationally. We empirically analyze the global development of REDD+ safeguards and standards with a special focus on the role of science–policy interfaces and monitoring, reporting, and verification. These outlines are projected to the exemplary case of Costa Rica, a front-runner in developing land use approaches with a strong reputation for conservation and sustainable forestry.

Negotiating by own standards? The use and validity of human rights norms in UN climate negotiations

Abstract Since its inception, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has been inclined to natural scientific and technocratic perceptions of climate change challenges and policy solutions. Furthermore, states have traditionally been depicted as the main subjects of international climate politics. Only in 2010, concrete references to human rights were incorporated into UN climate agreements. This has a double binding force: First, states thereby re-emphasize the principal validity of those standards that they have acknowledged—qua signature and/or ratification—as guiding their actions: the social and political rights that are captured in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the two binding human rights covenants. Second, the incorporation of human rights norms into UN climate agreements officially and formally broadens the normative scope of negotiating and implementing these policies. However, after 2010, states have neither substantiated this engagement nor further built on it argumentatively. In contrast, human rights references are—again—mostly absent from states’ positioning in UNFCCC politics. In this article, we aim at explaining this empirical puzzle. In the first part, we elaborate our theoretical approach and carve out the functional, political and legal linkages between human rights and climate politics. Building upon participatory observation, expert interviews and analysis of primary and secondary documents, this will then be followed by explaining parties’ anew reluctance to further apply a human rights-based approach in climate politics.

Calling on Peace: The International ICT Sector and the Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Great Lakes region in Central Africa is one of the most conflict-torn regions in the world. Mary Kaldor characterizes it as being part of a fast-growing group of states called ‘bad neighbourhoods’ (Kaldor 2007: 183–6) which are characterized by parasitic social constellations and war economies.’ Rebel groups, warlords, regular armies and governments use the illegal extraction of natural resources as a means to keep a steady flow of money that can then be used to prolong conflict. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country that has been exposed to devastating conflicts for more than a decade, the mixed crystal coltan attracted the interest of parties to the conflict. Coltan is necessary for the production of all kinds of processors within technological products such as consoles, mobile phones, notebooks, domestic appliances, and military, automotive and medical equipment. By 2008, with a new surge of violence, the extraction and sale of coltan and tantalum (the metal derived from coltan and used as a semi-conductor) was no longer regarded as the most important conflict-fuelling natural resource. Today, other resources such as cassiterite, tin and gold play a dominant role in North Kivu.2 Disputes over coltan sources shaped the conflict process, especially during the second Congo war (1998–2003), also referred to as the first African World War, to the extent that the mineral was the synonym of the conflict and corporate involvement.

Green transformations in Vietnam's energy sector

Abstract Vietnam has experienced rapid economic growth over the past few decades, as well as growing environmental pressures. The country is therefore pursuing strategies for green transformations, which are the processes of restructuring to bring economies and societies within the planetary boundaries. This article addresses the opportunities, barriers, and trade‐offs for green transformations in Vietnams energy sector and examines them from an energy justice perspective. The article draws on in‐depths expert interviews with representatives from government agencies, private firms, academic institutions, and multilateral institutions in Vietnam. The article finds that Vietnam is undergoing efforts to move away from business as usual by promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency, as well as aligning energy and climate plans with national development priorities such as energy security and economic growth. Yet there is a need for more coordinated, integrated approaches and policies that span across the 3 areas that address green transformations in Vietnam: green growth, sustainable development, and climate change. Finally, although key actors seem to be aware and may be critical of major trade‐offs such as land grabs for energy projects, the impacts on affected people need to be better understood and mitigated.

Staat, Gesellschaft und grüne Transformationen im globalen Süden

Die Anbahnung und Umsetzung gruner Transformationen ist ein komplexer, sektoren- und ebenenubergreifender Prozess, der auf die Unterstutzung machtiger Akteurskonstellationen angewiesen ist. Solche Transformationen mussen von staatlichen Akteuren angestosen oder begleitet werden, wie das Beispiel der „grunen“ Republik Costa Rica zeigt.