Climate Change and Political Strategy

Although the science of climate change is well-established and there are well-known policy instruments that could significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions without prohibitive economic costs, political obstacles to more determined action remain despite heightened concern among mainstream politicians and the public. This book analyses the political dynamics of climate policy in affluent democracies from a number of different theoretical angles in order to improve our understanding of which political strategies would be likely to enable national governments to make deep cuts in GHG emissions while avoiding significant political damage.

The authors argue that different conceptual and logical theories highlight different features of political situations. Describing the politics of climate policy in this way will result in different conceptual, logical views of this phenomenon. And to some extent the inferences drawn from such differing views about the nature of political obstacles to more vigorous action on climate change - and the best ways of overcoming them - will also be different. Singly and together, these analyses reveal a more detailed, nuanced view of the political options open to activist governments.

This book was previously published as a special issue of Environmental Politics.

Hugh Compston is Reader in Politics in the School of European Studies at Cardiff University, UK. Major publications include Policy Networks and Policy Change (2009), Turning Down the Heat: The Politics of Climate Policy in Affluent Democracies (ed. with Ian Bailey, 2008), King Trends and the Future of Public Policy (2006), Handbook of Public Policy in Europe: Britain, France, as well as numerous journal articles on public policy and political economy.