Investigating transnational business power in environmental regime formation

Abstract

How do business actors influence the output of environmental regime negotiations? The rise of business power in the wake of globalization has by and large been neglected by mainstream International Relations (IR) theory, which continues to apply a state-centric government perspective to developments in the realm of international regimes. This paper highlights gaps in our understanding of business influence over regime effectiveness and suggests mending it by applying a multi-dimensional concept of business power to a cyclical perspective of regime formation. The focus of the paper is to explore the extent to which business actors manage to influence the effectiveness of international environmental regimes. The first section identifies a void in existing IR theory regarding transnational business actors as sources of power. The second section will demonstrate how this void can be filled and pair Doris Fuchs’ concept of business power with Oran Young’s cyclical perspective on regime formation in order to construct an analytical framework for business power in global governance. The third section applies this framework to empirical data about the Swedish government’s role in the formation and implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. Finally, its findings are used to reflect upon a future research agenda for environmental governance scholarship.