Climate Policy
Climate Policy 4 (2005) 347–357
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Research Article
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Clashing strategic cultures and climate policy
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Megan Ceronsky, Cameron Hepburn, Michael Obersteiner and Yoshiki Yamagata
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Received 17 June 2003
; received in revised form 18 October 2004
; accepted 5 January 2005
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Abstract
Kagan (2002) argues that the different responses of Europeans and Americans to major strategic and international challenges is not simply due to differences in the current administrations, but rather results from (i) a power gap and (ii) differing ideologies. This article applies Kagan's theory to climate policy, employing terrorism policy as a point of comparison. We argue that the power gap between Europe and America is unable to explain the differences in climate policy. In contrast, the ideology gap may indeed have some explanatory value. Furthermore, we argue that one additional feature is critical – the costs and benefits imposed by climate change and terrorism prevention, and the process by which such costs and benefits are evaluated, differ between America and Europe.
Keywords: Climate policy; Terrorism; Kyoto Protocol; International negotiations; Transatlantic divide; Power and weakness
*Corresponding author.
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