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Governance and the Geography of Authority: Modalities of Authorisation and the Transnational Governing of Climate Change

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  • Harriet Bulkeley

    (Department of Geography, Durham Energy Institute, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, England)

Abstract

Within debates about the emergence and nature of governance, it has become commonplace to debate the whereabouts and possibilities of authority. Traditionally, authority is conceived as a property of some actor or institution and is regarded as divisible over time and space. Drawing on theories of power, in which it is regarded as constitutive of social relations, this paper proposes an alternative account of authority in which it is seen as one form of power that can be enacted towards three distinct purposes—instrumental (as consent), associational (as consensus), and governmental (as concord)—involving particular forms of recognition and compliance, and mediated through distinct sociospatial relations. The paper examines the potential of such an approach through exploring the workings of authority in transnational climate-change governance. Given the sustained debates within this field concerning the shifting geographies of authority between public/private actors and across different political spaces, this provides an important test of the explanatory value of this approach. The analysis suggests that, while these modes are not mutually exclusive, they orchestrate the ‘will to govern’ in significantly different ways, with important implications both for how governing is accomplished and for the geographies of global environmental governance.

Suggested Citation

  • Harriet Bulkeley, 2012. "Governance and the Geography of Authority: Modalities of Authorisation and the Transnational Governing of Climate Change," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(10), pages 2428-2444, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:44:y:2012:i:10:p:2428-2444
    DOI: 10.1068/a44678
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Erik Swyngedouw, 2009. "The Antinomies of the Postpolitical City: In Search of a Democratic Politics of Environmental Production," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 601-620, September.
    2. Philipp Pattberg & Johannes Stripple, 2008. "Beyond the public and private divide: remapping transnational climate governance in the 21st century," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 367-388, December.
    3. Hoffmann, Matthew J., 2011. "Climate Governance at the Crossroads: Experimenting with a Global Response after Kyoto," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195390087.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Alexander Paulsson & Karolina Isaksson, 2019. "Networked authority and regionalised governance: Public transport, a hierarchy of documents and the anti-hierarchy of authorship," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 37(6), pages 985-1004, September.
    3. Antonella Maiello, 2022. "In, Out or Beyond? Waste Pickers and Policy Networks: A Story from Jardim Gramacho (Rio de Janeiro)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-25, December.
    4. Michelle Betsill & Navroz K. Dubash & Matthew Paterson & Harro van Asselt & Antto Vihma & Harald Winkler, 2015. "Building Productive Links between the UNFCCC and the Broader Global Climate Governance Landscape," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 15(2), pages 1-10, May.
    5. Yasmine Willi, Marco P tz, Heike Mayer, 2018. "Policy Entrepreneurship and Regional Development," Diskussionsschriften credresearchpaper21, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft - CRED.
    6. Will Eadson, 2016. "State enrolment and energy-carbon transitions: Syndromic experimentation and atomisation in England," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(8), pages 1612-1631, December.
    7. Magnus C. Abraham-Dukuma & Michael O. Dioha & Natalia Bogado & Hemen Mark Butu & Francis N. Okpaleke & Qaraman M. Hasan & Shari Babajide Epe & Nnaemeka Vincent Emodi, 2020. "Multidisciplinary Composition of Climate Change Commissions: Transnational Trends and Expert Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-23, December.
    8. Harriet Bulkeley & Andy Jordan, 2012. "Guest Editorial," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 30(4), pages 556-570, August.
    9. Yasmine Willi & Marco Pütz & Martin Müller, 2018. "Towards a versatile and multidimensional framework to analyse regional governance," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(5), pages 775-795, August.

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