Understanding the paradoxes of multilevel governing: Climate change policy in the European Union

Andrew Jordan*, Harro van Asselt, Frans Berkhout, Dave Huitema, Tim Rayner

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

95 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The European Union (EU) has sought to lead the world in the adoption of ambitious climate change mitigation targets and policies. In an attempt to characterize and broadly explain the resulting pattern of EU climate governance, scholars have employed the term "multi-level reinforcement." This term does help to account for the paradoxical situation whereby the EU seeks to lead by example but is itself a relatively leaderless system of governance. Drawing on a much fuller empirical account of the evolution of EU climate governance, this article finds that the term captures some but not all aspects of the EU's approach. It identifies four other paradoxical features of the EU's approach and assesses the extent to which they exhibit "multi-level reinforcement." It concludes by looking forward and examining the extent to which all five features are expected to enable and/or constrain the EU's ability to maintain a leading position in climate governance.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)43-66
Number of pages24
JournalGlobal Environmental Politics
Volume12
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2012
Externally publishedYes

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