By Duncan Liefferink, Mikael Skou Andersen, Jana Gheuens, Paul Tobin, Diarmuid Torney, Rüdiger K. W. Wurzel
Book: Routledge Handbook of Environmental Policy
Abstract
The authors explore the role of leadership in environmental governance. During recent decades, insights from the International Relations and Comparative Politics literature have been combined to improve our understanding of the different motives, positions, types and styles of leadership. A basic distinction can be made between leaders, who actively seek to attract followers, and pioneers, who focus mainly on stringent internal policies. The complex ‘polycentric’ dynamic of global and European climate politics has given an important additional boost to the study of environmental leadership. The initial focus on states as leaders has been gradually widened to include the role of followers, as well as leadership by sub-national and non-state actors. However, leadership in and by the Global South still remains largely unexplored.
