Procedural Justice in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (eBook)

Luke Tomlinson is an expert on the subject with both academic and professional experience in the field. The book is partly based on a Thesis accepted for the award of a Doctoral Degree by the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford. The author has professional experience of participating in multilateral environmental negotiations at the United Nations and experience of writing to academic standard in a research institute within the same field.

Preface 6
Acknowledgements 8
Contents 10
List of Abbreviations 14
1 Introduction 15
1.1 Introduction 15
1.2 Climate Change and the UNFCCC 17
1.3 Guiding Principles for International Cooperation on Climate Change 20
1.4 Literature Review 25
1.5 Methodology 29
1.5.1 Wide Reflective Equilibrium 30
1.5.2 Ideal and Non-ideal Theory 31
1.6 Chapter Outline 33
References 35
2 Reasonable Disagreement and Political Deadlock 42
2.1 Introduction 42
2.2 Reasonable Disagreement 43
2.2.1 Disagreement 43
2.2.2 Reasonableness 45
2.2.3 Reasonable Disagreement 47
2.2.4 The Burdens of Judgement 48
2.2.5 Summary 50
2.3 The Fair Distribution of Emission Rights 50
2.3.1 Allocation Rules for the Distribution of Emission Rights 50
2.3.2 Basic Emissions Rights 52
2.3.3 Grandfathering 54
2.3.4 Equal Rights 56
2.3.5 Historical Responsibility 58
2.3.6 Equal Costs 62
2.3.7 Multi-criteria Approaches 64
2.3.8 Reasonable Disagreement Over the Fair Distribution of Emissions 65
2.4 Reasonable Disagreement in Theory and Practice 66
2.5 Reasonable Disagreement in the UNFCCC 67
2.6 Summary 68
References 68
3 Reaching Agreement Through Fair Process 71
3.1 Introduction 71
3.2 The Importance of Fair Procedures 71
3.3 Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change 74
3.3.1 Stringency 75
3.3.2 Urgency 76
3.3.3 Consensual Agreement 80
3.3.4 Necessary Criteria for the UNFCCC 81
3.4 Resolving Reasonable Disagreement 82
3.4.1 Procedural Fairness 85
3.4.2 Resolving Disagreement Through Fair Procedures 87
3.5 Procedural Values Appeal to Substantive Ends 88
3.5.1 Disagreement About Procedural Values 89
3.5.2 Why Should People Accept the Outcome of a Procedure? 91
3.6 Conclusion 91
References 92
4 Getting a Seat at the Table: Fair Participation in the UNFCCC 96
4.1 Introduction 96
4.1.1 In One's Name 99
4.1.2 The All Affected Principle 100
4.1.3 Subject to the Law 104
4.1.4 Coercion 106
4.1.5 Affected Interests 108
4.2 Affectedness, Coercion, and the UNFCCC 110
4.3 Fair Participation in the UNFCCC 113
4.4 Conclusion 115
References 115
5 Political Equality: Levelling the Playing Field 119
5.1 Introduction 119
5.2 Democracy and the Grounds for Procedural Justice 120
5.3 Political Equality and Climate Change 125
5.3.1 The Decision-Making Authority 128
5.3.2 Other Decision-Makers 129
5.4 Political Equality and Equal Opportunity (1): Resources and Capabilities 130
5.5 Political Equality and Equal Opportunity (2): Capabilities and Functionings 132
5.6 Political Equality and Equal Opportunity (3): SufficientResources 134
5.7 Political Equality and Equal Opportunity (4): A Level Playing Field 137
5.8 Conclusion 139
References 139
6 Fair Bargaining Voluntariness and Reciprocity
6.1 Introduction 142
6.2 Voluntariness 143
6.2.1 Manipulation 144
6.2.2 Coercion 146
6.3 Reciprocity and Exploitation 149
6.3.1 Consent and Mutual Advantage 150
6.3.2 Alternative Notions of Exploitation 151
6.3.3 Exploitation (1): Asymmetric Bargaining Power 152
6.3.4 Exploitation (2): Unfair Advantage 154
6.3.5 Reciprocity 155
6.4 Issue Linkage 156
6.4.1 Related and Unrelated Issue Linkage 157
6.4.2 Issue Linkage and Procedural Efficiency 157
6.5 Issue Linkage in the UNFCCC 159
6.5.1 Constraint (1): Negative Linkage 159
6.5.2 Constraint (2): Manipulation, Coercion and Exploitation 160
6.5.3 Constraint (3) Side-Payments 161
6.6 Conclusion 162
References 162
7 Voting 165
7.1 Introduction 165
7.2 Voting Rules 166
7.2.1 Unanimity 167
7.2.2 Consensus 168
7.2.3 Majority Rule 169
7.3 Vote Weighting 171
7.3.1 Proportionality 172
7.3.2 Proportional Representation 174
7.3.3 Democratic Legitimacy 175
7.3.4 Contribution 176
7.3.5 Moral and Technical Competence 177
7.4 Voting in the UNFCCC (1): Majority Rule 178
7.5 Voting in the UNFCCC (2): Equal Time to Views in Debates 180
7.6 Voting in the UNFCCC (3): Population Weighting 180
7.7 Voting in the UNFCCC (4): Excluding Unrepresentative States 181
7.8 Conclusion 182
References 182
8 The UNFCCC: A Necessary Ideal 185
8.1 Introduction 185
8.2 Procedural Trade-Offs 186
8.3 Bypassing the UNFCCC to Avoid Deadlock 189
8.4 `Minilateral' Agreements for Climate Change 191
8.5 Sustained Cooperation 192
8.6 Comprehensiveness 193
8.7 Global Public Support 197
8.8 The Necessity of Procedural Fairness for Climate Change 199
8.9 The Primacy of the UNFCCC for Addressing Climate Change 200
8.10 Combining Institutional Approaches 201
8.11 Summary of Policy Recommendations 204
References 207