Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T01:27:54.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From Foe to Friend? Business, the Tipping Point and U.S. Climate Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Irja Vormedal
Irja Vormedal*
Affiliation:
University of Oslo
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article develops a model for analyzing corporate strategy formation and regulatory change in environmental politics. The model emphasize how conditions that materialize through the dynamic interplay between corporate preferences and multilevel environmental governance can trigger the emergence of “tipping points,” at which a critical mass of leading industries begin to push for regulatory change. It is argued that tipping points often generate new political momentum and may lead to considerable progress in political and legislative bargaining. The model is applied to a case study of U.S. climate politics between 1990 and 2010. The case demonstrates that the tipping point model provides a plausible account of the intersection between business strategies and the failures and successes of federal climate action in this period.

Keywords

environmental governancetipping pointbusinessclimate politics
Type
Research Article
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 13 , Issue 3: Special Issue: The Domestic Foundations of IPE: The U.S. Case in Current and Historical Perspective , October 2011 , pp. 1 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © V.K. Aggarwal 2011 and published under exclusive license to Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agder, Neil W., Brown, Katrina, Conway, Declan, and Hulme, Mike. 2003. “Adaptation to Climate Change in the Developing World.” Progress in Development Studies, 3: 179.Google Scholar
Cerny, Philip G. 2010. Rethinking World Politics. A Theory of Transnational Neo-Pluralism. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chan, Michelle. 2009. “Subprime carbon? Re-Thinking the Worlds New Largest Derivatives Market.” Friends of the Earth, March.Google Scholar
DeSombre, Elizabeth R. 1995. “Baptists and Bootleggers for the Environment: The Origins of United States Unilateral Sanctions.” Journal of Environment and Development 4: 1.Google Scholar
Dunn, Seth. 2002. “Down to Business on Climate Change.” Greener Management International. Autumn.Google Scholar
Falkner, Robert. 2008. Business Power and Conflict in International Environmental Politics. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Fisher, Dana R. 2006. “Bringing the Material Back In: Understanding the U.S. Position on Climate Change.” Sociological Forum 21, 3: 467–94.Google Scholar
Gladwell, Malcom. 2000. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. New York: Little, Brown and Company.Google Scholar
Gunningham, Neil, Kagan, Robert, and Thornton, Dorothy. 2003. Shades of Green: Business Regulation and the Environment. Stanford, California: Stanford Law and Politics.Google Scholar
Grodzins, M. 1957. Metropolitan Segregation. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Human Development Report (HDR). 2007. Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World. UNDP. Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Henriques, Irene and Sadorsky, Perry. 1995. “The Determinants of an Environmentally Responsive Firm: An Empirical Approach.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 30, 381–395.Google Scholar
Hoffman, Andrew and Woody, John. 2008. Climate Change: What's Your Business Strategy? Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2004. “16 Years of Scientific Assessment in Support of the Climate Convention.”Google Scholar
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2007a. Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report. Summary for Policymakers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2007b. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of the Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2007c. Summary for Policymakers Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, Gerry, Scholes, Kevan, and Whittington, Richard. 2005. Exploring Corporate Strategy. 7th edition. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.Google Scholar
Legget, Jeremy. 2001. The Carbon War: Global Warming and the End of the Oil Era. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Levy, David and Egan, Daniel. 1998. “Capital Contests: National and Transnational Channels of Corporate Influence in the Climate Negotiations.” Politics and Society 26 (3).Google Scholar
Levy, David. 2005. “Business and the Evolution of the Climate Regime: The Dynamics of Corporate Strategies.” In The Business of Global Environmental Governance, edited by Levy, David and Newell, Peter. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Levy, David and Newell, Peter. 2005. The Business of Global Environmental Governance. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Manzur, Allan and Lee, Jinling. 1993. “Sounding the Global Alarm: Environmental Issues in the U.S. National News.” Social Studies of Science Vol. 23, 681–720.Google Scholar
Mayer, A.J. 1960. “Russell Woods: Change Without Conflict.” In Glazer, N and McEntire, D. eds. 1960. Studies in Housing and Minority Groups Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Newell, Peter and Paterson, Matthew. 1998. “A Climate for Business: Global Warming, the State and Capital.” Review of International Political Economy 5 (4): 679–703.Google Scholar
O'Brien, Karen. 2006. “Are We Missing the Point? Global Environmental Change as an Issue of Human Security.” Global Environmental Change-Human and Policy Dimensions 16 (1): 1–3.Google Scholar
Pooley, Eric. 2010. The Climate War. True Believers, Power Brokers, and the Fight to Save the Earth. New York: Hyperion.Google Scholar
Rugman, Alan M. and Verbeke, Alain. 1998a. “Corporate Strategy and International Environmental Policy.” Journal of International Business Studies, 29, 4: 819–834.Google Scholar
Rugman, Alan M. and Verbeke, Alain. 1998b. “Corporate Strategies and Environmental Regulations: An Organizing Framework.” Strategic Management Journal Vol. 19, 363–375.Google Scholar
Schelling, Thomas C. 1971. “Dynamic Models of Segregation.” Journal of Mathematical Sociology 1: 143–186.Google Scholar
Selin, Henrik and VanDeever, Stacy D. 2007. “Political Science Prediction: What's Next for U.S. Climate Change Policy?” Review of Policy Research Vol. 24, No. 1.Google Scholar
Skodvin, Tora and Skjærseth, Jon Birger. 2003. Climate Change and the Oil Industry: Common Problems, Varying Strategies. New York: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Skodvin, Tora and Andresen, Steinar. 2009. “An agenda for change in U.S. climate policies? Presidential Ambitions and Congressional Powers.” International Environmental Agreements 9: 263–280.Google Scholar
Vormedal, Irja. 2011. “States and Markets in Global Environmental Governance: The role of Tipping Points in International Regime Formation.” European Journal of International Relations, forthcoming.Google Scholar