In international negotiations domestic politics and international relations are often entangled. The concept of a ‘two-level game’ can be used to understand when and how domestic politics and international relations interact. It is generally assumed to be a static state of interaction. While this may be a suitable assumption in one-off negotiations, it is unlikely to be so for prolonged negotiations which stretch across decades. In such cases the level of interaction may be greater in one round of negotiations than it is in another. In this seminar, Christian Downie will look at the role of the US and the EU over the last two decades of the international climate negotiations. In doing so, he will consider how the dynamic interactions between domestic politics and international relations might be conceived. A better understanding of these dynamics could help to explain why some international negotiations end in deadlock and others in agreement.

Christian Downie researches at the ANU Regulatory Institutions Network (RegNet) which is situated in the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.

Photo by ANU student Harriet Riley. This photo was entered in the 2009 CCI CAPTURE: Climate Change Impacts Photographic Competition.

Photo description by Harriet Riley

This image depicts delegates at the June 2009’s UNFCCC summit in Bonn, the former capital of West Germany. I attempted to capture the intensity, complexity and frustration inherent in negotiating an international climate treaty. The 3000 participants worked from five in the morning through to midnight. The head of the Belarusian delegation, a grey-heard diplomat of great gravitas, died from a heart attack halfway through a major plenary. In Negotiation1 magazines like ‘Planet’ and ‘Eco’, put out daily by participating NGOs, litter the tables between cups of coffee. Ironically, there were no recycling facilities available.