Changing the climate? Non-state actors in international environmental politics

This thesis examines the role of non-state actors in the international politics of climate change. It suggests a theoretical approach to understanding the contributions of non-state actors to international politics, identifying patterns of information provision on the part of non-state actors (what kind of information is provided, and by whom), target audiences (negotiators or the public), and the nature of coalitions and consensus. This thesis considers the stage of issue development, the nature of international institutions, and national boundaries as factors that may shape these patterns of non-state actor contributions. It challenges some of the conventional wisdom about the contributions of non-state actors in international politics.; The thesis establishes that scientists and non-state actors were important contributors of scientific information to the process that put climate change on the international agenda. The non-state actors continued to present scientific information after the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an intergovernmental scientific body, but with diminishing direct connections to international negotiations. As states began to address climate change at the international level, particular experts provided information.; The development of closer connections between the IPCC and the negotiations served to limit the audiences and messages available to non-state actors, as the creation of the IPCC and its development over time reflects state choices about information sources. While previous accounts of the role of transnational actors have stressed the extent to which international institutions may facilitate the role of such agents, this thesis points to evidence that international institutions, such as the IPCC, may actually limit the audiences available to non-state actors. As states increasingly endorse the information provided by the IPCC, they are less likely to be an available audience for other scientific arguments.; Finally, the activity of non-state actors, particularly environmental organizations, is less transnational and reflects less consensus over time than some practitioner observers and international relations theorists have assumed. To a certain extent, national and regional boundaries still shape the preferences and activity of non-state actors, particularly their presentation of information about political preferences, as even those actors present at international negotiations target their own government negotiators.