Switzerland : International commitments and domestic drawbacks
Details
Serval ID
serval:BIB_6EE40C960991
Type
A part of a book
Publication sub-type
Chapter: chapter ou part
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Switzerland : International commitments and domestic drawbacks
Title of the book
Climate Governance across the Globe : Pioneers, Leaders and Followers
Publisher
Routledge
Address of publication
Oxon, New-York
ISBN
978-0-367-43436-6
Publication state
Published
Issued date
30/12/2020
Editor
Wurzel Rüdiger K.W., Andersen Mikael Skou, Tobin Paul
Series
Routlegge research in Comparative Politics
Pages
235-256
Language
english
Abstract
The discourse and policies Switzerland adopted during the early nineties approximates the behavior of what Liefferink & Wurzel describe as a ‘climate pusher’, a state which innovates with regard to its domestic climate policy and lobby other states to follow its lead. At the end of the nineties, however, Switzerland seemed not capable of translating the propositions made at the international level into national measures anymore. Despite being an early advocate for a world tax on CO2, Switzerland was never able to introduce a CO2 tax on motor fuels on its own territory. Moreover, Switzerland came under criticism for its tendency to buy CO2 certificates instead of introducing national reduction measures, and for the failure to regulate the emissions of the transport sector effectively. In this chapter, we aim to explore these drawbacks in the Swiss climate policy by placing the focus on the political process around the tax on CO2. We rely on social network analysis to demonstrate the difficulty to introduce effective climate policy instruments in the absence of cooperation within actors involved in national politics. Based on these results, we suggest that the structure and type of actor networks engaged in domestic politics might very well explain deviations from climate pushing or pioneering.
Create date
15/06/2020 15:11
Last modification date
24/11/2021 6:38