US energy policy and its position in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations: a theory-guided historical analysis

Azarch, Anna

US energy policy and its position in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations: a theory-guided historical analysis

Doctoral Thesis

2019

Abstract

The multilateral negotiations aimed at securing international cooperation on climate change and its mitigation have widely been criticised as a political deadlock since the establishment of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992. Since the formation of the UNFCCC, the United States of America (USA) has being recognised as both an essential, but also as a highly controversial actor within the negotiations due to its historical responsibility for anthropogenic climate change and relative structural power which has allowed it to wield immense influence in the negotiations. Because of energy’s essential input into all economic sectors, any attempts to mitigate climate change will influence a sector that is essential for a country’s economic strength. Within these processes, there is a link between energy policy and the UNFCCC negotiations. The overarching research aim of this interdisciplinary study is to understand the historical interaction between the USA’s energy policy and its negotiating position in the UNFCCC. Within these dynamics, understanding how different administrations attempt to balance competing policy goals are pivotal in understanding these dynamics within domestic and international constraints. This study analyses this by conducting a historical case study of the USA’s position in these negotiations and how its energy policy interacts with this. This study makes use of the neoclassical realist framework to understand the cooperation of the USA through the interaction between its energy policy and its position in the UNFCCC negotiations within two levels of analysis, that is the unit- and structural-levels, referring to factors found at the state-level and the international distribution of power respectively. The policy positions and energy policies of the administrations of George H.W. Bush (1989 - 1993), Bill Clinton (1993 - 2001), George W. Bush (2001 - 2009) and Barack Obama (2009 - 2017) are investigated through the interaction of the unit- and structural-levels. A historical overview indicates the challenges that succeeding administrations faced in grappling with contradictory policy objectives in accordance with the perceived costs of various policy goals at both the domestic and international levels and its implications for their position and ability to cooperate within the UNFCCC. The thesis has indicated that the history of the United States’ position in the negotiations and the analysis of the influences on this position reveal that simple mono-causal explanations cannot satisfactorily attribute the differences amongst US administrations therein. As such, since 1992, successive US administrations have displayed varying degrees of cooperation towards the UNFCCC that have been based on the domestic and international distribution of power, and policy-makers’ perception of the related costs and benefits of pursuing a set of policy goals. The research has established that since the 1970s, efforts to design US energy policy to factor in environmental externalities have resulted in haphazard progress as two ideational frameworks emerged, one that viewed economic growth and environmental regulation as compatible, and another that promoted the opposing view, which has resulted in stalemate and a cyclical approach complicating the interaction between US energy policy and its position in the UNFCCC. Within these dynamics, domestic constraints, à la the two-level game, place an important limitation on US participation and ratification of climate change agreements and its energy policy and highlights the important role played by domestic institutions with bipartisan politics and ideology forming a staggering fissure. The thesis has found that rather than an objective set of criteria, policy-makers are influenced by a complex range and interaction of factors in their approach to energy policy, international negotiations, as well as international opportunities and threats. Within these dynamics, the structure of the international system is essential in understanding state behaviour. The thesis confirms that the influence of the distribution of power in the international system therefore complements domestic factors in analysing the motivation and behaviour of policy-makers acting on behalf of the state, although it is imperative to understand how its influence is filtered at the unitlevel. Understanding the historical context permits deeper insights into the multi-dimensional influences on decision-makers. It is therefore necessary to delve into the historical origins of state behaviour and the evolution of their domestic and foreign policies.

Keywords

Engineering

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Collections

PhD / Doctoral

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