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Still a green leader? The European Union's role in international climate negotiations

Kilian, Bertil and Elgström, Ole LU (2010) In Cooperation and Conflict 45(3). p.255-273
Abstract
Since the early 1990s, the European Union (EU) has presented itself as a leader on climate change. Recently, however, this picture has been challenged in the media and by non-governmental organization representatives. The aim of our article is to evaluate the Union's present role in the area of international climate politics. We do this by scrutinizing the EU's own role conception, but also, and primarily, by investigating the perceptions and expectations of government representatives from outside the Union itself. Our results - reflecting external perceptions of the EU after COP 14 (Conference of the Parties) in December 2008 - demonstrate that the EU is indeed still seen as a green leader. Officials from both developing states and major... (More)
Since the early 1990s, the European Union (EU) has presented itself as a leader on climate change. Recently, however, this picture has been challenged in the media and by non-governmental organization representatives. The aim of our article is to evaluate the Union's present role in the area of international climate politics. We do this by scrutinizing the EU's own role conception, but also, and primarily, by investigating the perceptions and expectations of government representatives from outside the Union itself. Our results - reflecting external perceptions of the EU after COP 14 (Conference of the Parties) in December 2008 - demonstrate that the EU is indeed still seen as a green leader. Officials from both developing states and major powers share the view of the Union as a largely coherent and credible leader, though some observers question the correspondence between what the EU says and what it does. The EU is mainly perceived to lead by example by being a role model for other state actors. We discuss how these results fare in the light of the COP 15 Copenhagen meeting in December 2009. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
leadership, role, model, external perceptions, climate change, European Union
in
Cooperation and Conflict
volume
45
issue
3
pages
255 - 273
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • wos:000282251200001
  • scopus:77957225429
ISSN
0010-8367
DOI
10.1177/0010836710377392
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d85b0ea5-07e2-4615-80e2-7eb2c36eb921 (old id 1695384)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:49:10
date last changed
2022-04-06 07:17:27
@article{d85b0ea5-07e2-4615-80e2-7eb2c36eb921,
  abstract     = {{Since the early 1990s, the European Union (EU) has presented itself as a leader on climate change. Recently, however, this picture has been challenged in the media and by non-governmental organization representatives. The aim of our article is to evaluate the Union's present role in the area of international climate politics. We do this by scrutinizing the EU's own role conception, but also, and primarily, by investigating the perceptions and expectations of government representatives from outside the Union itself. Our results - reflecting external perceptions of the EU after COP 14 (Conference of the Parties) in December 2008 - demonstrate that the EU is indeed still seen as a green leader. Officials from both developing states and major powers share the view of the Union as a largely coherent and credible leader, though some observers question the correspondence between what the EU says and what it does. The EU is mainly perceived to lead by example by being a role model for other state actors. We discuss how these results fare in the light of the COP 15 Copenhagen meeting in December 2009.}},
  author       = {{Kilian, Bertil and Elgström, Ole}},
  issn         = {{0010-8367}},
  keywords     = {{leadership; role; model; external perceptions; climate change; European Union}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{255--273}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Cooperation and Conflict}},
  title        = {{Still a green leader? The European Union's role in international climate negotiations}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0010836710377392}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/0010836710377392}},
  volume       = {{45}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}