A searing account of how the international community is trying—and failing—to address the worst effects of climate change and the differential burdens borne by rich and poor countries.Climate change is increasingly accepted as a global emergency creating irrevocable losses for the planet. Yet, each country experiences these losses differently, and reaching even inadequate political agreements is fraught with contestation. Governing the End untangles the complex relationship between deteriorating environmental conditions, high politics, and everyday diplomatic practices, focusing on the United Nations’ agreement to address “loss and damage” and subsequent battles over implementation. Lisa Vanhala looks at the differing assumptions and strategic framings that poor and rich countries bring to bear and asks why some norms emerge and diffuse while others fail to do so. Governing the End is based on ethnographic observation of eight years of UN meetings and negotiations and more than one hundred and fifty interviews with diplomats, policymakers, UN secretariat staff, experts, and activists. It explores explicit political contestation, as well as the more clandestine politics that have stymied implementation and substantially reduced the scope of compensation to poor countries. In doing so, Governing the End elucidates the successes and failures of international climate governance, revealing the importance of how ideas are constructed and then institutionally embodied.

A searing account of how the international community is trying—and failing—to address the worst effects of climate change and the differential burdens borne by rich and poor countries.Climate change is increasingly accepted as a global emergency creating irrevocable losses for the planet. Yet, each country experiences these losses differently, and reaching even inadequate political agreements is fraught with contestation. Governing the End untangles the complex relationship between deteriorating environmental conditions, high politics, and everyday diplomatic practices, focusing on the United Nations’ agreement to address “loss and damage” and subsequent battles over implementation. Lisa Vanhala looks at the differing assumptions and strategic framings that poor and rich countries bring to bear and asks why some norms emerge and diffuse while others fail to do so. Governing the End is based on ethnographic observation of eight years of UN meetings and negotiations and more than one hundred and fifty interviews with diplomats, policymakers, UN secretariat staff, experts, and activists. It explores explicit political contestation, as well as the more clandestine politics that have stymied implementation and substantially reduced the scope of compensation to poor countries. In doing so, Governing the End elucidates the successes and failures of international climate governance, revealing the importance of how ideas are constructed and then institutionally embodied.

Climate-related loss and damage has been dominating international climate change negotiations in recent years. Until now we have had little understanding of how individual states are grappling with climate change destruction. Governing Climate Change Loss and Damage offers among the first book-length explorations of how loss and damage policy works at a national level. It focuses specifically on countries in the Global South on the frontline of climate change to identify new mechanisms through which key factors - climate risks and impacts, international developments, national institutions and the ideational landscape - shape policy engagement, development and adoption. Guided by an original theoretical framework and seven original empirical case studies, this book shows the way to more effective governance of loss and damage now and in the future. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Climate-related loss and damage has been dominating international climate change negotiations in recent years. Until now we have had little understanding of how individual states are grappling with climate change destruction. Governing Climate Change Loss and Damage offers among the first book-length explorations of how loss and damage policy works at a national level. It focuses specifically on countries in the Global South on the frontline of climate change to identify new mechanisms through which key factors - climate risks and impacts, international developments, national institutions and the ideational landscape - shape policy engagement, development and adoption. Guided by an original theoretical framework and seven original empirical case studies, this book shows the way to more effective governance of loss and damage now and in the future. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Making Rights a Reality? explores the way in which disability activists in the United Kingdom and Canada have transformed their aspirations into legal claims in their quest for equality. It unpacks shifting conceptualizations of the political identity of disability and the role of a rights discourse in these dynamics. In doing so, it delves into the diffusion of disability rights among grassroots organizations and the traditional disability charities. The book draws on a wealth of primary sources including court records and campaign documents and encompassing interviews with more than sixty activists and legal experts. While showing that the disability rights movement has had a significant impact on equality jurisprudence in two countries, the book also demonstrates that the act of mobilizing rights can have consequences, both intended and unintended, for social movements themselves.

A searing account of how the international community is trying—and failing—to address the worst effects of climate change and the differential burdens borne by rich and poor countries.Climate change is increasingly accepted as a global emergency creating irrevocable losses for the planet. Yet, each country experiences these losses differently, and reaching even inadequate political agreements is fraught with contestation. Governing the End untangles the complex relationship between deteriorating environmental conditions, high politics, and everyday diplomatic practices, focusing on the United Nations’ agreement to address “loss and damage” and subsequent battles over implementation. Lisa Vanhala looks at the differing assumptions and strategic framings that poor and rich countries bring to bear and asks why some norms emerge and diffuse while others fail to do so. Governing the End is based on ethnographic observation of eight years of UN meetings and negotiations and more than one hundred and fifty interviews with diplomats, policymakers, UN secretariat staff, experts, and activists. It explores explicit political contestation, as well as the more clandestine politics that have stymied implementation and substantially reduced the scope of compensation to poor countries. In doing so, Governing the End elucidates the successes and failures of international climate governance, revealing the importance of how ideas are constructed and then institutionally embodied.

A searing account of how the international community is trying—and failing—to address the worst effects of climate change and the differential burdens borne by rich and poor countries.Climate change is increasingly accepted as a global emergency creating irrevocable losses for the planet. Yet, each country experiences these losses differently, and reaching even inadequate political agreements is fraught with contestation. Governing the End untangles the complex relationship between deteriorating environmental conditions, high politics, and everyday diplomatic practices, focusing on the United Nations’ agreement to address “loss and damage” and subsequent battles over implementation. Lisa Vanhala looks at the differing assumptions and strategic framings that poor and rich countries bring to bear and asks why some norms emerge and diffuse while others fail to do so. Governing the End is based on ethnographic observation of eight years of UN meetings and negotiations and more than one hundred and fifty interviews with diplomats, policymakers, UN secretariat staff, experts, and activists. It explores explicit political contestation, as well as the more clandestine politics that have stymied implementation and substantially reduced the scope of compensation to poor countries. In doing so, Governing the End elucidates the successes and failures of international climate governance, revealing the importance of how ideas are constructed and then institutionally embodied.

Climate-related loss and damage has been dominating international climate change negotiations in recent years. Until now we have had little understanding of how individual states are grappling with climate change destruction. Governing Climate Change Loss and Damage offers among the first book-length explorations of how loss and damage policy works at a national level. It focuses specifically on countries in the Global South on the frontline of climate change to identify new mechanisms through which key factors - climate risks and impacts, international developments, national institutions and the ideational landscape - shape policy engagement, development and adoption. Guided by an original theoretical framework and seven original empirical case studies, this book shows the way to more effective governance of loss and damage now and in the future. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Climate-related loss and damage has been dominating international climate change negotiations in recent years. Until now we have had little understanding of how individual states are grappling with climate change destruction. Governing Climate Change Loss and Damage offers among the first book-length explorations of how loss and damage policy works at a national level. It focuses specifically on countries in the Global South on the frontline of climate change to identify new mechanisms through which key factors - climate risks and impacts, international developments, national institutions and the ideational landscape - shape policy engagement, development and adoption. Guided by an original theoretical framework and seven original empirical case studies, this book shows the way to more effective governance of loss and damage now and in the future. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Making Rights a Reality? explores the way in which disability activists in the United Kingdom and Canada have transformed their aspirations into legal claims in their quest for equality. It unpacks shifting conceptualizations of the political identity of disability and the role of a rights discourse in these dynamics. In doing so, it delves into the diffusion of disability rights among grassroots organizations and the traditional disability charities. The book draws on a wealth of primary sources including court records and campaign documents and encompassing interviews with more than sixty activists and legal experts. While showing that the disability rights movement has had a significant impact on equality jurisprudence in two countries, the book also demonstrates that the act of mobilizing rights can have consequences, both intended and unintended, for social movements themselves.