ABSTRACT
What is it about climate change that has caused governments to react so slowly? One answer is found in ideas about climate change and their effect on politics. The notion that ideas matter in international affairs is not new, as reflected in the constructivist literature cited in preceding essays. In the case of climate change, problems lie in the multiple identities it evokes. For example, some officials view climate change as a minor issue, less important than other concerns. Alternatively, some people and governments recognize that in the medium and long-term climate change will have profoundly adverse consequences. For them, it is a priority. For other officials, climate change is about environmental stewardship or even morality, and many nongovernmental actors—alongside developing world governments—view it as a matter of fairness. In short, the spectrum of views on climate change is very wide. What is more, some people see climate change from many perspectives: it may be simultaneously perceived as a short-term economic concern for one’s own state, a question of international distributive justice in the medium term, and a vital matter of national and global security in the long term.
