Political Opportunities for Climate Policy

Abstract

Analysis of climate change policies focuses mainly on the prospects for international agreements or how climate policies should be designed. Yet effective domestic climate policies are essential to any global solution, and we know too little about how and why such policies are adopted. Political Opportunities for Climate Policy examines in depth the causes of effective climate policies in the United States, using a statistical analysis of all fifty states and long-term case studies of California, New York, and the federal government. Roger Karapin analyzes twenty-two episodes in which policies were adopted, blocked, or reversed. He shows that actors and events have positively affected climate policy making, despite the constraints presented by political institutions and powerful fossil fuel industries. Climate policy advocates have succeeded when they mobilized vigorously and astutely during windows of opportunity - which opened when events converged to raise both problem awareness and the political commitment to address them.

Political Economy Determinants of Carbon Pricing

“…Rabe (2018, 22-24) argues that public belief in human-made climate change has also been a fundamental condition for substantial carbon prices at the US state level. Karapin (2016) agrees and concludes that ambitious climate policy depends on whether the public perceives climate change as being a "large enough" problem. Comparing subnational climate policies across the United States and Canada, Lachapelle et al (2012) suggest that different levels in public attitude on climate change might be related to the different levels of climate policies in the Canadian provinces and US states.…”

“…Among democracies, countries that have proportional election systems are considered to be more likely to pass climate legislation, because proportional election systems increase the probability of smaller ecological and left-leaning parties with strong climate change agendas being represented in parliament and government (Karapin 2016). We therefore expect that it is more likely for these countries to implement carbon pricing.…”

“…Karapin also argues that a high concentration of power in the executive branch of government decreases the number of veto points and therefore makes strong government intervention in favor of climate policy more likely (Karapin 2016). On the other hand, separation of power and federalism can also provide multiple pathways over which more stringent climate policy can be realized (Biber et al 2017).…”

“…Political economy theory, explaining the successful implementation of a given policy, can address the characteristics of the policy itself, the dynamics of the political process in which the process is negotiated, and the social-political structure of the jurisdiction in which this process occurs (Karapin 2016). Structural conditions are important, as they provide the broader economic, political, and cultural environment in which political processes unfold and policies are implemented (or not).…”

Responses to the Clean Power Plan: Factors Influencing State Decision‐Making

“…Much has been written about the various policy responses to climate change that have taken place over the years in the United States (e.g., Karapin, ; Lutsey & Sperling, ; Rabe, , , ; Schreurs, ; Selin & VanDeveer, ). This article does not attempt to reiterate this information, but instead it focuses in on a recent climate change policy approach—the Clean Power Plan.…”