Who is to Blame? Agency, Causality, Responsibility and the Role of Experts in Russian Framings of Global Climate Change

Rowe, Elana Wilson

doi:10.1080/09668130902826154

Cited by 40 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…However, overall, the coverage is scant even in the most climate‐aware and balanced sources. For example, Wilson Rowe reports that there were 82 climate change‐related publications in Rossiiskaia Gazeta over 2000–2007. For a leading state‐owned daily newspaper, 10 articles per year at the height of public debate on climate change (the pre‐ and post‐Kyoto Protocol ratification discussion) indicate a low importance assigned to the topic.…”

Section: Climate Change and Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change regional review: Russia

Sharmina

Anderson

Bows‐Larkin

2013

WIREs Climate Change

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With climate change, an increasingly important focus of scientific and policy discourse, the Russian government has aimed to position the country as one of the leaders of the global process for addressing climate change. This article reviews a breadth of literature to analyze the politico-economic situation in Russia with regard to international climate change negotiations, related domestic policies, societal attitudes, and climatic change impacts on Russia's territory. The analysis demonstrates how Russia has a pivotal role in influencing the future direction of international climate change mitigation and adaptation. Not only is Russia predisposed geographically to the impacts of climate change, but also it is a major emitter of greenhouse gases and a global supplier of fossil fuels, and remains a major force in international politics. This unique confluence of circumstances leaves Russia with a challenging dilemma. It can choose to acquiesce to shortterm political and economic considerations, adopt weak mitigation measures, and face potentially significant impacts. Or it can apply its considerable attributes and powers to initiate an epoch of international action to secure a low-carbon climate-resilient future. Although the former will see Russia subsumed into the international malaise on climate change, the latter may both quench the nation's 'thirst for greatness' and fill the void of international leadership.

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Section: Climate Change and Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change regional review: Russia

Sharmina

Anderson

Bows‐Larkin

2013

WIREs Climate Change

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“…Whereas the driving forces behind ratification had been political and economic, two scientists were the lone expert witnesses in governmental ‘deliberations’: they were Alexander Bedritsky, head of Russia's Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring Agency ‘Rosgidromet’; and Russian Academy of Sciences member Yurii Izrael . Moreover, scientific input (from both Russian and international sources) clearly outweighed political, business, and NGO voices in the Russian media debate on climate change …”

Section: Russian Climate Politics—the Big Picturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…After Russia's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in 2004, the domestic debate over climate science cooled, and the official discourse on the causes of climate change came somewhat closer to international consensus, with a stronger emphasis on the role of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions . To take one recent example, the same Bedritsky, now Russia's chief climate advisor, has criticized the Kyoto Protocol for not doing enough to curb GHG emissions .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate science, Russian politics, and the framing of climate change

Rowe

2013

WIREs Climate Change

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Historical studies have shown how Soviet scientists figured in politics in unexpected ways. However, little research has been done on the interplay between scientific expert knowledge and contemporary Russian policymaking. This article reviews existing research on a question central to understanding Russia's positions on climate change: What is the relationship between expert knowledge and politics in Russia today? We first address the narratives and practices that have emerged around environmental problems and the science–policy interface in Russia and the Soviet Union more generally and then provide a brief overview of Russia's international and domestic climate politics. How climate change has been framed in the Russian media and the role that scientists have played in these framings and in the Russian policymaking process more generally is then examined. Conceptually, this review draws upon scholarly work in Science and Technology Studies and international relations on the politics of scientific reception. WIREs Clim Change 2013, 4:457–465. doi: 10.1002/wcc.235 This article is categorized under: Social Status of Climate Change Knowledge > Climate Science and Decision Making

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“…A few studies have examined the process surrounding Russia's domestic politics on climate change (Wilson-Rowe 2009;Henry and McIntosh-Sundstrom 2007;Tynkkynen, 2010;Korppoo et al 2006Korppoo et al , 2015. In-depth work on Russia's approach to international climate negotiations can be found, but not in abundance (Antonova and Alexieva 2012;Henry and McIntosh-Sundstrom 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Who is driving Russian climate policy? Applying and adjusting veto players theory to a non-democracy

Korppoo

2015

Int Environ Agreements

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What is driving Russian climate policy? This article focuses on the veto player approach developed by George Tsebelis and its applicability for examining the power relations in climate change policy-making in Russia. It makes two original contributions: veto players analysis on Russian climate policy and proposals how to adjust to theory to be applied to nondemocracies for comparison with democracies. After identifying the veto players and their preferences, and determining their equivalence in the decision-making process, two case studies are examined: the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and the establishment of one of the Kyoto flexible mechanisms, Joint Implementation, in Russia. Regarding the power play between actors, the latter emerges as far more accessible than the former, where scholars can generally observe only the domestic debate-which, due to the absorption of democratic decision-making institutions by the president, is detached from the actual decision-making process. Three proposals are made for adjusting the veto players approach to facilitate qualitative analysis of Russian decisionmaking: (1) select cases which involve also lower-level actors in charge of policy implementation; (2) due to implementation problems, changes in the status quo must be sought deeper than in statute-level changes; and (3) note that motivations of actors beyond the actual policy substance can facilitate explanations of puzzling outcomes in the process.

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Who is to Blame? Agency, Causality, Responsibility and the Role of Experts in Russian Framings of Global Climate Change

Cited by 40 publications

References 8 publications

Climate change regional review: Russia

Climate change regional review: Russia

Climate science, Russian politics, and the framing of climate change

Who is driving Russian climate policy? Applying and adjusting veto players theory to a non-democracy

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