Profiling national institutional archetypes for climate change technology implementation: application in small islands and least developed countries

In developing countries, when the implementation success of new climate adaptation and mitigation technologies fall short of expectations, the typical “suspects” cited are lack of funding or country expertise and allusions to “lack of institutional capacity.” The premise of this study is that the national institutional environment is the fundamental prerequisite for successful technology implementation, and despite much effort, a diagnostic approach to assessing this prerequisite is missing. Here, I propose an approach to do this, based on an understanding of the dynamics that interconnect country-level legal, regulatory and market mechanisms, societal norms, and inter/intra governmental structures. I estimate levels of country structural and systems supports, operating environment, implementer acceptance and country tractability. A preliminary test of the approach was completed through a survey of experts involved in the United Nations Technology Needs Assessment programs in Least Developed and Small Island Developing Countries. It was found that countries fall into four fundamental archetypes. A country’s archetype suggests characteristics of the institutional environment that help to explain the potential for technology implementation success. A further implication is that some countries that typically would not be considered very similar may possess similar country institutional environments. One consequence of this is that archetype-based groups could work together and learn from each other more effectively.