Assessing the standard of legitimacy in the United Nations climate change regime through a compensatory constitutionalism lens
Date
30/11/2020Author
Topf Aguiar De Medeiros, Dagmar Susanne
Metadata
Abstract
The thesis assesses the standard of legitimacy in the United Nations climate change regime
through a compensatory constitutionalism lens. The objective of the research undertaken is
to recast the narrative surrounding the lack of political will to address climate change into a
more constructive framework of identifying legitimacy strengths and deficits.
In order to achieve this objective the thesis places legitimacy, climate change, and
constitutionalism at an intellectual crossroads. A key aspect of this is the identification of
constitutionalism as a set of shared values amongst states parties which can be used as
indicators of legitimacy. This is significant because the cumulative, indivisible, urgent, and
global characteristics of the issue of climate change emphasise the need for the United
Nations climate change regime to be underpinned by a high standard of legitimacy. For the
regime to successfully engage states parties in policy-making at the global level a high
standard of legitimacy is essential. In particular the regime must succeed in casting a
productive balance between the need for the exercise of authority both at a global and a
domestic level. This thesis therefore constructs an analytical framework around three
formal and three material features of constitutionalism which it applies to the treaty
provisions of the United Nations climate change regime as objective standards of
measurement through which to assess states parties’ perception of the regime’s standard of
legitimacy.