Why the frustration? Explaining civil society constrains in international climate politics

Sebastian Levi

doi:10.22151/politikon.23.4

Authors

Sebastian Levi Free University Berlin

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.23.4

Keywords:

civil society, climate politics, international diplomacy, international environmental politics, NGO participation, UNFCCC, United Nations

Abstract

Civil society organizations play an increasingly important role in global politics. However, during the last years, civil society has become frustrated from the negotiations in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This frustration reached a new quality when civil society organizations walked out in the middle of the 19th Conference of Parties (COP19) in 2013. Drawing from empirical data from the COP19 and the negotiations on Loss and Damage, this thesis seeks to explain the low level of influence which has lead to this frustration. It can be shown that neither civil society capabilities, nor changing state attitudes towards civil society can explain their contemporary low influence. Instead, this paper argues that the increasing financial and legal relevance of the negotiations substantially constrain civil society from exercising influence.

Author Biography

Sebastian Levi, Free University Berlin

Sebastian Levi, 23, has studied Political Science at Free University Berlin and University of California, Santa Barbara and has finished his BA degree in March 2014. In October 2014 he will continue his studies with the MPhil International Relations at University of Oxford. After studying at the Global Studies and Environmental Studies program at UCSB and having done several internships in this area, Levi currently focuses on Environmental and Climate Politics. Within this policy field he is most interested in researching about power structures and legitimacy gaps in international economic and environmental governance regimes.