Abstract/Description

For decades scholars have thought about the climate change problem as one that involves collective action on a global scale. That logic has animated the creation of treaties like the UN Framework Convention and the Kyoto Protocol that have failed spectacularly in having any real impact on the underlying problem. The Paris Agreement arrived with the great hope it would change everything; so far, its impacts have been modest too. This talk will explain what we know, as international relations scholars, about why the diagnoses of troubles with climate cooperation have not led to real solutions and where more effective strategies, building on the Paris Agreement, could be forged. It will be based partly on work done with the UK government (which hosts the next Conference of the Parties) and a forthcoming book (Princeton University Press) with Charles Sabel on Experimentalist Governance.