This book surveys current conceptual, theoretical, and methodological approaches to global climate change and international relations. Although it focuses on the role of states, it also examines the role of nonstate actors and international organizations whenever state-centric explanations are insufficient.The book begins with a discussion of environmental constraints on human activities, the environmental consequences of human activities, and the history of global climate change cooperation. It then moves to an analysis of the global climate regime from various conceptual and theoretical perspectives. These include realism and neorealism, historical materialism, neoliberal institutionalism and regime theory, and epistemic community and cognitive approaches. Stressing the role of nonstate actors, the book looks at the importance of the domestic-international relationship in negotiations on climate change. It then looks at game-theoretical and simulation approaches to the politics of global climate change. It emphasizes questions of equity and the legal difficulties of implementing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. It concludes with a discussion of global climate change and other aspects of international relations, including other global environmental accords and world trade. The book also contains Internet references to major relevant documents.

Analyses of the international climate change regime consider the challenges of maintaining current structures and the possibilities for creating new forms of international cooperation. The current international climate change regime has a long history, and it is likely that its evolution will continue, despite such recent setbacks as the decision by President Donald Trump to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement of 2015. Indeed, the U.S. withdrawal may spur efforts by other members of the international community to strengthen the Paris accord on their own. This volume offers an original contribution to the study of the international political context of climate change over the last three decades, with fresh analyses of the current international climate change regime that consider both the challenges of maintaining current structures and the possibilities for creating new forms of international cooperation. The contributors are leading experts with both academic and policy experience; some are advisors to governments and the Climate Secretariat itself. Their contributions combine substantive evidence with methodological rigor. They discuss such topics as the evolution of the architecture of the climate change regime; different theoretical perspectives; game-theoretical and computer simulation approaches to modeling outcomes and assessing agreements; coordination with other legal regimes; non-state actors; developing and emerging countries; implementation, compliance, and effectiveness of agreements; and the challenges of climate change mitigation after the Paris Agreement. Contributors Michael Aklin, Guri Bang, Daniel Bodansky, Thierry Brechet, Lars Bruckner, Frank Grundig, Jon Hovi, Yasuko Kameyama, Urs Luterbacher, Axel Michaelowa, Katharina Michaelowa, Carla Norrlof, Matthew Paterson, Lavanya Rajamani, Tora Skodvin, Detlef F. Sprinz, Arild Underdal, Jorge E. Vinuales, Hugh Ward