The International Regime Complex for Climate Change

Robert O. KeohaneProfessor of International Affairs

Princeton University

10 February 2010Princeton University

The Regime Complex for Climate Change(fig.1)

Problem Diversity: Four Situations(fig.2)

1) The first-mover advantage situation. – Example: green technology.

2) The CPR co-benefits situation. – Example: the ozone regime.

3) The CPR benefits exclusion situation.– Example: the ocean oil-pollution regime (MARPOL).

4) The small-group reciprocity situation. – Example: The North Pacific Fur Seal Convention (1911).

Evaluation Criteria for Regime Complexes

(fig.3)

1) Coherence: compatibility and mutual reinforcement.

2) Accountability: some actors have the right to hold other actors to a set of standards, to judge whether they have fulfilled their responsibilities in light of these standards, and to impose sanctions if they determine that these responsibilities have not been met.

3) Effectiveness: appropriate rules, with a reasonable level of compliance with rules.

Evaluation Criteria for Regime Complexes

(fig.3 [cont.])

4) Determinacy: the rules have “a readily ascertainable normative content.”

5) Sustainability: it would require large shocks to destroy or fundamentally alter the regime.

6) Epistemic quality: the consistency between regime rules and scientific knowledge and their capacity to revise both their rules and their terms of accountability.