Justice, governance and climate change: designing fair and effective climate institutions

Thesis

Multilateral efforts are yet to produce meaningful action on climate change. Part of the problem with these approaches is a perceived lack of fairness among state actors. Whilst academic discussion has traditionally focused on the issue of distributive fairness, very little has been said about procedural fairness in this respect. To this end, this thesis analyses principles of procedural justice in order to develop practical policy measures for institutional design. It does so in four steps. First, it argues that procedural justice is important for reaching a mutually acceptable agreement when there is reasonable disagreement about the substantive ends that collective action should achieve. Second, it develops several principles of procedural justice that should govern the decision-making processes of climate institutions. This includes principles that govern who should participate in decisions, how these decisions should take place, and how transparent they should be. Third, it considers the relative value that procedural justice should be given against other important ends. In doing so, it proposes that procedural justice is a fundamental feature of fair and effective climate institutions. Finally, it considers what this means for climate institutions in practice by determining a set of pragmatic policy prescriptions that can guide the design of climate governance institutions.

Authors: Tomlinson, L

• Publication date: 2014
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-j0awmbdyk
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: Oxford University, UK
• Language: English
• Keywords: Governance; Climate Change; Procedural Justice; Democracy
• Subjects: Political Theory