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The Transformation of Global Climate Governance: Assessing Architecture, Agency and Accountability Dear Colleagues, We invite paper proposals for our workshop on "The Transformation of Global Climate Governance: Assessing Architecture, Agency and Accountability". Deadline for submission of abstracts is 1 December 2010. For more information on the theme of our workshop, please see below. Kind regards, Philipp Pattberg; Email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Johannes Stripple; Email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Theme/Focus: A divided scholarly focus on either climate diplomacy (intergovernmental negotiations, the design of post 2012 treaties) or on the activities 'beyond the state' (partnerships, standards, epistemic communities) limits our possibility to conceive of a transformation of global climate governance understood as a totality, as a global climate governance complex. There is furthermore a need to bring in adaptation as a specific concern and object of global governance. This ECPR workshop consequently focuses on a broader transformation, which we conceptualize by analyzing a number of profound trends in global climate governance. 1. Commodification and financialization Carbon markets have emerged as the major response to climate change and are increasingly being entrenched around the world, but much more research is needed into how carbon is, and has been, turned into a commodity and/or currency and the implications of this trend. We need to better situate and link the carbon economy to global climate governance as well as pay attention to emerging subjectivities around climate change and carbon. 2. Fragmentation and deterritorialisation The de-territorialization of climate governance (the process of regulating carbon emissions beyond national territories and state sovereignty). Whereas the international 'targets-and-timetables' approach of the Kyoto Protocol is based on national emission reduction targets, within the transnational arena a host of ambitious emission reduction schemes have emerged that are not longer bound to nation-states and their claim to sovereignty. These novel forms of de-territorialized climate governance are substantially under-researched, in particular when it comes to their functional interlinkages with the international regime. 3. Hybridization The hybridization of climate governance (the process of involving private actors in climate change politics). Global climate governance is based on the activities of governments and international organisations, but increasingly includes institutional arrangements that are not purely public, but of a rather hybrid nature. These arrangements might include public actors, but often attempt to govern climate change beyond the state, deliberately excluding public actors. These hybrid forms of governance are insufficiently understood, in particular when it comes to their real-world impacts and broader implications for our understanding of key social science concepts such democratic legitimacy and accountability. This ECPR workshop starts from three distinct analytical perspectives to investigate the current state of global climate governance transformations: agency, architecture and accountability. Agency, understood as the capacity of collectives to change the course of events or the outcome of processes, is increasingly located in sites beyond the state and its international organizations. A number of collectives deliberately form social institutions to address the problem of climate change without being forced, persuaded or funded by states and other public agencies. There is both a need for more research on what kind of agency non-state collectives possess, but also what kind of responsibility that might follow from being an agent. Consequently, we invite papers that investigate a) how different collectives (states, NGOs, firms, IGOs etc) possess agency in global climate governance and how that agency is constructed and contested; b) what impacts and measurable effects agency has in global climate governance; c) how agency beyond the state is linked to international and national governance attempts; d) how we can conceive of the moral agency of states as well as other collectives Architecture can be understood as the interlocking web of principles, institutions and practices that shape decisions by stakeholders at all levels. Most research has hitherto been focused on single institutions (predominantly at the inter-state level). As a result, we today possess a fairly good understanding of the determinants of institutional effectiveness. In comparison, however, the effectiveness of the overall institutional structure including the many non-state governance arrangements remains much less understood. We invite papers that investigate the overall global climate governance complex, the norms and rules it embodies as well as the linkages with other international governance arenas. Questions of architecture can be addressed both with regards to mitigation and adaptation. Accountability as a concept refers to a more or less coherent set of rules and procedures, delineating who takes part in decision-making, who holds whom responsible for what kind of actions, and by which means. Accountability furthermore has an internal as well as external dimension and both are highly relevant for climate governance beyond the state. We invite papers that investigate the novel mechanism through which accountability of global climate governance is constructed and contested in the realm of climate change governance. The workshop aims to make two contributions: first, it provides a coherent and theory-based analysis of the global climate governance complex; second, it advances our theoretical and conceptual understanding of agency, architecture and accountability. We invite both empirical and normative papers that deal with either mitigation, adaptation or both. We plan to publish the results of our workshop as an edited volume (either with ECPR-Routledge Series in European Political Science or, alternatively, with the MIT Series on Earth System Governance). More information on our workshop can be found here: http://www.ecprnet.eu/joint_sessions/st_gallen/workshop_details.asp?workshopID=17 A full outline can be found here: http://www.ecprnet.eu/joint_sessions/st_gallen/documents/outlines/17.pdf For general information about the ECPR Joint Sessions (including funding opportunities, please visit: http://www.ecprnet.eu/joint_sessions/st_gallen/default.asp). Important note: participation of scholars from non-ECPR institutions is limited. Please note that non-ECPR members are required to pay a conference fee of £300 and they will be invoiced accordingly by ECPR Central Services in advance of the Joint Sessions. Philipp Pattberg and Johannes Stripple
