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Small island developing states and international climate change negotiations: the power of moral “leadership”

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Abstract

Being at the frontline of climate change, small island developing states (SIDS) hold a serious stake in climate negotiations. However, these countries usually are marginalized in the international political arena, due to their lack of structural power. This paper explores the strategic influence of SIDS and its representative organization, the Alliance of Small Island States, in the negotiations leading to the Copenhagen summit of December 2009. Using the concepts of leadership and discourses, the position, strategies, and impact of SIDS are analyzed on negotiation processes and their final outcome, focusing on three core demands of small island countries at Copenhagen: a temperature rise limit of 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels, funding for adaptation, and a legally binding outcome. Results reveal that SIDS practiced entrepreneurial, intellectual, and environmental leadership strategies and especially made use of moral claims in the debate. Given their near absence of structural power, they managed to secure a surprisingly large part of “their” agenda and interests in the final Copenhagen Accord, especially through (discourse) coalitions with various other state and non-state stakeholders.

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Notes

  1. As on December 2009, AOSIS counted with 43 members.

  2. Although AOSIS has also internal discussions and debates, it nevertheless operated to a large extent as a united front throughout the international climate change negotiations (e.g., Betzold et al. 2012; Deitelhoff and Wallbott 2012).

  3. Others make different classifications in leadership strategies performed by (small) states in international negotiations, but often containing similar elements. See for instance Saul and Seidel (2011) and Panke (2012).

  4. This definition and use of structural leadership are derived from Strange’s (1994: 24–25) concept of structural power, defined as the "power to shape and determine the structures of the global political economy within which other states, their political institutions, their economic enterprises and (not least) their scientists and other professional people have to operate." Within the EU literature Keukeleire (2003) and others (e.g., Keukeleire and MacNaughtan 2008; Holden 2009) use structural power in a similar tradition as the power of the EU to change structures and institutions in the global system. It deviates from the concept of structural leadership as used in the business and management studies literature.

  5. Personal interview, small island developing state chief negotiator, February 2011.

  6. Personal interview, small island developing state chief negotiator, February 2011.

  7. Personal interview, UNFCCC Secretariat member at Copenhagen, April 2011.

  8. Personal interview, UNFCCC Secretariat member at Copenhagen, April 2011.

  9. Personal interview, small island developing state chief negotiator, February 2011.

  10. Personal interview, small island developing state chief negotiator, February 2011.

  11. Personal interview, UNFCCC Secretariat member at Copenhagen, April 2011.

  12. Personal interview, climate change negotiations expert and observer, February 2011.

  13. Personal interview, small island developing state chief negotiator, February 2011.

  14. Personal interview, climate change negotiations expert and observer, February 2011.

  15. Personal interview, small island developing state chief negotiator, February 2011.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Policy Group, Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Inés de Águeda Corneloup & Arthur P. J. Mol

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  1. Inés de Águeda Corneloup
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Correspondence to Inés de Águeda Corneloup.

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de Águeda Corneloup, I., Mol, A.P.J. Small island developing states and international climate change negotiations: the power of moral “leadership”. Int Environ Agreements 14, 281–297 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-013-9227-0

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