Great powers and environmental responsibilities: a conceptual framework

Abstract

This chapter develops a theoretical and conceptual framework for the study of great powers and great power responsibility in the international politics of climate change. It introduces the two main approaches material and social with which International Relations scholars have defined great powers and reviews some of the ambiguities in the great power concept. It explores the ongoing transformations in the international system that have changed our understanding of the role that great powers play and how great power capabilities can be mapped onto special rights and responsibilities in global international society. In a second step, the chapter then explores the role that great powers play in global environmental politics. It sets out a comprehensive understanding of environmental power that covers both its negative and positive uses and discusses what countries count as environmental great powers. The final section explores the question of great power responsibility and whether and how special responsibilities apply to great powers in the environmental field.