India in the international climate negotiations: from traditional nay-sayer to dynamic broker
India in the international climate negotiations: from traditional nay-sayer to dynamic broker / Katharina and Axel Michaelowa, Center for Comparative and International Studies (CIS) at University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, 2011, 34 p. (Working Paper # 70)
http://www.cis.ethz.ch/publications/publications/WP_70
Indian negotiation strategies in international climate policy have considerably changed over time. The shift from defensive, pure distributive strategies to mixed strategies with a number of value creating elements, dynamism and flexibility is more clearly visible in international climate policy than in other areas of international policy making, and appears to have been relatively successful. Using a novel dataset based on interviews with delegates at the UNFCCC negotiations, country submissions, negotiation summaries, and newspaper reporting, we confirm this change in Indian positions and strategies and make a comparison to other countries. The change appears to be driven by developments in the national political economy, notably by the rising public awareness of India’s vulnerability to climate change, increasing domestic energy constraints, direct economic benefits of the Kyoto Protocol’s market mechanisms, reactions to international pressure from other developing countries, the dynamic personality of the responsible Minister of Environment and Forests, and reporting by domestic media (© Michaelowa)