IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ieaple/v16y2016i1p49-65.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The 2 °C target: a European norm enters the international stage—following the process to adoption in China

Author

Listed:
  • Olivia Gippner

Abstract

“The 2 °C target—a European norm enters the international stage” is an empirical, qualitative study, using the case of China to illustrate the role played by the EU as a leader and forerunner pushing for a 2 °C target using diffusion mechanisms of persuasion and socialization. In order to better understand and evaluate how international and European climate norms enter the global and domestic discourse, the article details the nascent theoretical debate and critically assesses the role of the scientific community as translating medium. In the field of climate change China has been an increasingly important member of the UNFCCC process and a key target of European engagement policies. Process tracing shows that British scientific and political personalities took central roles introducing the discourse about the 2 °C target in China. The article aims to set an example of possible trajectories a norm can follow and will require further testing in the future. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Suggested Citation

  • Olivia Gippner, 2016. "The 2 °C target: a European norm enters the international stage—following the process to adoption in China," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 49-65, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ieaple:v:16:y:2016:i:1:p:49-65
    DOI: 10.1007/s10784-014-9246-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10784-014-9246-5
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10784-014-9246-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joeri Rogelj & David L. McCollum & Andy Reisinger & Malte Meinshausen & Keywan Riahi, 2013. "Probabilistic cost estimates for climate change mitigation," Nature, Nature, vol. 493(7430), pages 79-83, January.
    2. Checkel, Jeffrey T., 2005. "International Institutions and Socialization in Europe: Introduction and Framework," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 59(4), pages 801-826, October.
    3. Stern,Nicholas, 2007. "The Economics of Climate Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521700801, January.
    4. Miranda A. Schreurs & Yves Tiberghien, 2007. "Multi-Level Reinforcement: Explaining European Union Leadership in Climate Change Mitigation," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 7(4), pages 19-46, November.
    5. Putnam, Robert D., 1988. "Diplomacy and domestic politics: the logic of two-level games," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(3), pages 427-460, July.
    6. Graham, Erin R. & Shipan, Charles R. & Volden, Craig, 2013. "The Diffusion of Policy Diffusion Research in Political Science," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(3), pages 673-701, July.
    7. Jasper Vliet & Maarten Berg & Michiel Schaeffer & Detlef Vuuren & Michel Elzen & Andries Hof & Angelica Mendoza Beltran & Malte Meinshausen, 2012. "Copenhagen Accord Pledges imply higher costs for staying below 2°C warming," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 113(2), pages 551-561, July.
    8. Legro, Jeffrey W., 1997. "Which norms matter? Revisiting the “failure” of internationalism," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(1), pages 31-63, January.
    9. Diarmuid Torney, 2012. "Assessing EU Leadership on Climate Change - The Limits of Diffusion in EU Relations with China and India," KFG Working Papers p0046, Free University Berlin.
    10. Risse-Kappen, Thomas, 1994. "Ideas do not float freely: transnational coalitions, domestic structures, and the end of the cold war," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(2), pages 185-214, April.
    11. Acharya, Amitav, 2004. "How Ideas Spread: Whose Norms Matter? Norm Localization and Institutional Change in Asian Regionalism," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(2), pages 239-275, April.
    12. Torben Heinze, 2011. "Mechanism-Based Thinking on Policy Diffusion. A Review of Current Approaches in Political Science," KFG Working Papers p0034, Free University Berlin.
    13. Mohira Suyarkulova & Kenneth Wilson & Oleksandr Svyetlov & Alastair Kocho-Williams & Laura Cashman & Randall E. Newnham & Jennifer Yuan-Jean Hsu & Ulrike Ziemer & Kristie Thomas & Sabrina Luk & George, 2010. "Reviews," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(2), pages 367-383.
    14. Louise Van Schaik & Simon Schunz, 2012. "Explaining EU Activism and Impact in Global Climate Politics: Is the Union a Norm‐ or Interest‐Driven Actor?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 169-186, January.
    15. Tim Forsyth, 2012. "Politicizing Environmental Science Does Not Mean Denying Climate Science Nor Endorsing It Without Question," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 12(2), pages 18-23, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Diarmuid Torney, 2015. "Bilateral Climate Cooperation: The EU’s Relations with China and India," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 15(1), pages 105-122, February.
    2. Diarmuid Torney, 2012. "Assessing EU Leadership on Climate Change - The Limits of Diffusion in EU Relations with China and India," KFG Working Papers p0046, Free University Berlin.
    3. Tanja A. Börzel & Thomas Risse, 2009. "Diffusing (Inter-) Regionalism - The EU as a Model of Regional Integration," KFG Working Papers p0007, Free University Berlin.
    4. May-Britt Stumbaum, 2015. "The diffusion of norms in security-related fields: views from China, India and the EU," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 331-347, September.
    5. Schaeffer, Michiel & Gohar, Laila & Kriegler, Elmar & Lowe, Jason & Riahi, Keywan & van Vuuren, Detlef, 2015. "Mid- and long-term climate projections for fragmented and delayed-action scenarios," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 90(PA), pages 257-268.
    6. Schunz, Simon, 2012. "Explaining the evolution of European Union foreign climate policy: A case of bounded adaptiveness," European Integration online Papers (EIoP), European Community Studies Association Austria (ECSA-A), vol. 16, February.
    7. Nicholas Khoo, 2015. "The ASEAN Security Community: A Misplaced Consensus1," Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs, , vol. 2(2), pages 180-199, August.
    8. Inga Jacobs, 2012. "A community in the Orange: the development of a multi-level water governance framework in the Orange-Senqu River basin in Southern Africa," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 187-210, May.
    9. Baptiste Perrissin Fabert & Antonin Pottier & Etienne Espagne & Patrice Dumas & Franck Nadaud, 2014. "Why are climate policies of the present decade so crucial for keeping the 2 °C target credible?," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 126(3), pages 337-349, October.
    10. Christian Elliott & Steven Bernstein & Matthew Hoffmann, 2022. "Credibility dilemmas under the Paris agreement: explaining fossil fuel subsidy reform references in INDCs," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 735-759, December.
    11. Martha Butler & Patrick Reed & Karen Fisher-Vanden & Klaus Keller & Thorsten Wagener, 2014. "Inaction and climate stabilization uncertainties lead to severe economic risks," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 463-474, December.
    12. ., 2013. "The dynamics of global governance," Chapters, in: The Dynamics of Global Economic Governance, chapter 2, pages 38-59, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Finbarr Brereton & Eoin O’Neill, 2019. "Europe in Transition: The Future Place of the Environment in the European Union," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 50(3), pages 515-528.
    14. Michaël Aklin & Matto Mildenberger, 2020. "Prisoners of the Wrong Dilemma: Why Distributive Conflict, Not Collective Action, Characterizes the Politics of Climate Change," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 20(4), pages 4-27, Autumn.
    15. Hoyoon Jung, 2019. "The Evolution of Social Constructivism in Political Science: Past to Present," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(1), pages 21582440198, February.
    16. Karoline Steinbacher & Michael Pahle, 2016. "Leadership and the Energiewende: German Leadership by Diffusion," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 16(4), pages 70-89, November.
    17. Bello, Mufutau Opeyemi & Solarin, Sakiru Adebola & Yen, Yuen Yee, 2018. "Hydropower and potential for interfuel substitution: The case of electricity sector in Malaysia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 966-983.
    18. Amanda Klassen, 2022. "From Vulnerability to Empowerment: Critical Reflections on Canada’s Engagement with Refugee Policy," Laws, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-17, March.
    19. Riahi, Keywan & Kriegler, Elmar & Johnson, Nils & Bertram, Christoph & den Elzen, Michel & Eom, Jiyong & Schaeffer, Michiel & Edmonds, Jae & Isaac, Morna & Krey, Volker & Longden, Thomas & Luderer, Gu, 2015. "Locked into Copenhagen pledges — Implications of short-term emission targets for the cost and feasibility of long-term climate goals," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 90(PA), pages 8-23.
    20. Tanja A. Börzel, 2011. "Comparative Regionalism - A New Research Agenda," KFG Working Papers p0028, Free University Berlin.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ieaple:v:16:y:2016:i:1:p:49-65. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.