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6 ThePoliticsof (andBehind) theUNFCCC’sLoss… 165
membersof thePhilippines insurance industryparticipated in the forumbyprovid-
ing technical expertise.A separate eventwas also hosted by the PSI togetherwith
the Philippines Insurers and Reinsurers Association the day following the forum
(UNEPFI2016).Thisevent involveddiscussionof theL&D,andinvolvedmembers
ofExCom.Chapters13(Schäferetal.)and21(Linnerooth-Bayeretal.)of thisbook
lookat the roleof insurance forL&Dingreaterdetail.
6.4 TheL&DNegotiationProcessThroughtheLenses
of IRTheories
In theprevious sectionattentionwasdrawn to thedifferent actors involved inL&D
negotiations, describing their positions and contributions. In particular,we empha-
sisedthatdevelopingcountries’negotiators,includingAOSIS,afterlongnegotiations
managed to reach at least a partial victory in terms of theWIMandArt. 8 of the
ParisAgreement.Wenowinvestigatethissomewhatsurprisingvictoryfromdifferent
IRperspectives tobetterunderstand thecomplexitiesoffinding international agree-
ment on L&D solutions.More specifically, we look at L&Dnegotiations through
the lenses of themain school of thoughts in IR, namelyneorealism, liberalismand
constructivism(Snyder2004).Webelieve thatapluralisticapproach isnecessary to
understandhowglobaloutcomesareproduced (Barnett andDuvall 2005).
Ingeneralterms,aneorealistviewpointisusefultohighlightresource-endowment
asymmetries andhighlight strategies toovercome them.Neorealism is avery influ-
ential strand in IRandseesstatesaspursuing their self-interest (which isultimately
securityorwealth)inaninternationalsystemdefinedbyanarchy.Statespossessvary-
ingcapabilities,orpower, that theyusetoturndeals intheirfavour.ThepowerStates
possess depends on their resource endowment, including the economy, population,
andmilitary forces.Nevertheless, aggregatemeasuresofpowermight explain little
aboutpowerpositionswhenconsideringaspecificbargainingcircumstance(climate
talks, in this case).What becomes relevant, instead, is “issue-specific power”; that
is, theamountof relevant resourcesaPartycanuseforaspecificconflictorconcern
(Habeeb1988). In amultilateral setting such as theUNFCCC, twomain resources
acquireparticular relevanceandareconsidered forouranalysis:delegationsizeand
capacity.
Liberalism shares some assumptionswith realism (anarchy of the international
system and rationality of actors), but rejects power as the sole explaining factor
and stresses the role of international cooperation and mutual benefits in shaping
international outcomes. In particular, liberalismpostulates that (i) it is the interde-
pendence among state preferences to influenceworld politics [that promotes inter-
national cooperation,] and that (ii) states’ preferences mirror the views of some
subset of (domestic) social groups (Moravcsik 2008). Thefirst assumption derives
from the special emphasis liberals place on globalisation as a characteristic of the
international political-economic system. In an interconnectedworld, characterised
Loss and Damage from Climate Change
Concepts, Methods and Policy Options
- Title
- Loss and Damage from Climate Change
- Subtitle
- Concepts, Methods and Policy Options
- Authors
- Reinhard Mechler
- Laurens M. Bouwer
- Thomas Schinko
- Swenja Surminski
- JoAnne Linnerooth-Bayer
- Publisher
- Springer Open
- Date
- 2019
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-319-72026-5
- Size
- 16.0 x 24.0 cm
- Pages
- 580
- Keywords
- Environment, Climate change, Environmental law, Environmental policy, Risk management
- Categories
- International
- Naturwissenschaften Umwelt und Klima