Addressing climate change and promoting democracy abroad

Compatible Agendas

Bibliographic Data

ID6252995
AuthorsChristopher Hobson (0000-0001-6895-9670, United Nations University Institute for Sustainability and Peace, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume19
Issue5
Pages974-992
Publication date2012-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDemocratization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1351-0347 • E-ISSN: 1743-890X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13510347.2012.709691
OpenAlexW2075849389
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited17

This inquiry focuses on how climate change might intervene with the democracy support agenda. On first glance it may seem unusual to combine these issues, but as will be shown, they are increasingly impinging upon each other. The inquiry considers how climate change raises questions for all the major components of democracy promotion: the end itself, the means used to support democratization, and the actors involved. In regards to the ends of democracy assistance, if democracies fail to adequately respond to global warming, the desirability of this form of rule could be weakened, especially if China is perceived as representing an attractive alternative. In terms of means, environmental disasters could directly impact upon democratization projects that are instituted, as well as worsening ‘donor fatigue’. As for the actors involved, the moral authority of industrialized democracies is likely to be questioned due to their historical culpability and present failure in making serious progress in reducing emissions. By examining these issues together it can be seen that climate change could pose an increasingly significant challenge to the democracy promotion agenda. Keywords: democracy promotionclimate changeChinabacklash Notes Bush, ‘President Bush Discusses Global Climate Change’. Bush, ‘Introduction’. Stern, Stern Review. Foresight, International Dimensions of Climate Change, 10. The literature sometimes differentiates democracy ‘assistance’, ‘promotion’ and ‘support’, but they are used interchangeably here. OECD, OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050. United Nations General Assembly, World Summit Outcome Document; McFaul, ‘Democracy Promotion’. Carothers, ‘A Quarter-Century’. Carothers, ‘The Continuing Backlash’. On this notion see Carothers, ‘The End of the Transition Paradigm’. Carothers, ‘The Continuing Backlash’. Carothers, Democracy Promotion During and After Bush. Carothers, ‘The Continuing Backlash’. Foresight, International Dimensions of Climate Change, 7. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2007, 2, 5. Parkinson, ‘Climate Change’. OECD, OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050, 22. Allison et al., The Copenhagen Diagnosis. IPCC, Climate Change 2007, 12. Teivainen, ‘The Pedagogy of Global Development’. Youngs, ‘Misunderstanding the Maladies’, 100. Giddens, The Politics of Climate Change, 4. ‘Environmental debt’ comes from Doyle and Chaturvedi, ‘Climate Territories’, 519. See Burnell, ‘Democracy, Democratization and Climate Change’. Dryzek, ‘Democracy and Earth System Governance’, 2; Eckersley, The Green State, 86. Dryzek, ‘Democracy and Earth System Governance’, 1. For a discussion of the relevance of these alternative democratic models to democracy promotion, see Hobson, ‘Liberal Democracy and Beyond’. Hobson and Kurki, The Conceptual Politics of Democracy Promotion. Beeson, ‘The Coming of Environmental Authoritarianism’, 276–7. Suzuki, ‘Chinese Soft Power’. Gills and Huang, ‘Sources and Limits’, 20. Jaccard and Tu, ‘Carbon Capture and Storage in China’. Gordon and Zhang, ‘Driving Force’. Lynas, ‘How Do I Know China Wrecked the Copenhagen Deal? Suzuki, ‘Chinese Soft Power’, 789. World Resources Institute, ‘China's Energy Conservation Accomplishments’. Seligsohn, ‘The Transformation of China's Energy System’, 1. Australian Government, ‘China's Action on Climate Change’. World Resources Institute, ‘China's Energy and Carbon Emissions Outlook’. Stern, Stern Review, vii. United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Human Development Report 2007/2008, 14. UNDP, Human Development Report 2007/2008, 191. World Bank, The Cost to Developing Countries. Carothers, ‘The Elusive Synthesis’, 25. Carothers, ‘The Research Imperatives of Democracy Promotion’, 12. Carothers, ‘The Continuing Backlash’, 62–3. Ibid., 61–3. Ibid., 61–3. Breslin, ‘Democratizing One-Party Rule in China’, 134. Economy, ‘Environmental NGOs in China’. Demick, ‘Protests in China’. Larson, ‘The New Epicenter of China's Discontent’. US Environmental Protection Agency, ‘Greenhouse Gas Emissions’. UNDP, Human Development Report 2007/2008, 6. Robinson, ‘Climate Change is an Issue of Human Rights’. German Advisory Council on Global Change, Climate Change as a Security Risk, 173–4. Eckersley, The Green State, 2

Climate change · Culpability · Democracy · Democracy promotion · Democratization · Development economics · Economics · Global warming · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Promotion (chess · Sociology · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration · Ecology · Law · Political Philosophy and Ethics

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub