Political Opportunities for Climate Policy
California, New York, and the Federal Government

This book examines the causes of effective climate policies in the US, through statistical analysis and three longitudinal case studies.

Roger Karapin (Author)

9781107074392, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 April 2016

364 pages, 15 b/w illus.
23 x 15.3 x 3 cm, 0.72 kg

'The US is often pilloried for lack of action on climate change but this is not true of the state level. This analysis of the factors that influence climate policy adoption in California and New York and at the federal level, which combines statistical and historical approaches, shows that while structural factors such as dependence on fossil fuel production do stand in the way of strong climate policies, structure is not destiny. Other important factors include strategic choices such as framing climate policy in terms of economic benefits, emphasizing cobenefits for air pollution, health, and job creation, designing policy proposals to shift costs to later years, reducing the visibility of costs, and using any additional revenues generated for popular public purposes. The depth and rigour of this analysis, as well as its constructive recommendations, makes it essential reading for anyone interested in the politics of climate change today.' Hugh Compston, Cardiff University

Analysis of climate change policies focuses mainly on the prospects for international agreements or how climate policies should be designed. Yet effective domestic climate policies are essential to any global solution, and we know too little about how and why such policies are adopted. Political Opportunities for Climate Policy examines in depth the causes of effective climate policies in the United States, using a statistical analysis of all fifty states and long-term case studies of California, New York, and the federal government. Roger Karapin analyzes twenty-two episodes in which policies were adopted, blocked, or reversed. He shows that actors and events have positively affected climate policy making, despite the constraints presented by political institutions and powerful fossil fuel industries. Climate policy advocates have succeeded when they mobilized vigorously and astutely during windows of opportunity - which opened when events converged to raise both problem awareness and the political commitment to address them.

1. Introduction and overview
2. Climate policies in the United States
3. Theories of climate policy
4. The structural theory applied to the cases
5. Causes of climate policies in the fifty states
6. Air-pollution and energy policy making in California (the 1940s to the 1980s)
7. Climate policy making in California (the 2000s to the present)
8. Energy and climate policy making in New York State
9. Energy and climate policy making by the federal government
10. Conclusions - political opportunities for climate policy in the United States.

Subject Areas: Social impact of environmental issues [RNT], Environmental economics [KCN], Comparative politics [JPB]