Changing the rules of the game: The Philippines and the politics of climate change in the post-Paris era

• Main Author: Dispo, Alyssa Marie F.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2021
• Subjects: Natural disasters; Climatic changes; Typhoon Haiyan, 2013; International and Area Studies
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/5910; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=12903&context=etd_masteral
• Institution: De La Salle University

When and how does a natural disaster experienced in the periphery influence the rules of the international climate regime? This research seeks to understand when and under which political conditions a developing state playsthe role of rule-taker, rule-maker, or rule-breaker in international climate politics, and through which venues and with which implications for the architecture of the international environmental regime. It also departs from the Western-dominated literature of international environmental politics and instead, employs Carlos Escudé’s theory of peripheral realism. A deeper investigation of the political conditions leading up to the Haiyan disaster and its aftermath reveals that domestic politics and its translation to foreign climate policy under the rules of the climate regime is a complex process that necessitates the transition from rule-taker to either a transient rule-maker. In the Haiyan case, where a peripheral state seeks to establish itself as a promoter of new regime rules, it is the combination of domestic interest-group power, international networking, and bicephalous climate policy that activates the transition from partial rule-taker to transient rule-maker. Relevance to International Studies This study looks at how a climate change-induced natural disaster can reinforce a shift in the developing state’s behavior from rule-taking to rule-making. It is a departure from mainstream International Relations theories, instead, employs the potential of a Third World theory specifically, Realismo Periférico (RP) or the theory of peripheral realism to address the defining security challenge of the 21st century, climate change. Framed under a non-traditional security paradigm, this research extracts the gamechanging potential of the rule-taker’s modest role under the dynamic structure of past and current international environmental regimes. Keywords Philippines, disaster, typhoon Haiyan, climate action, international environmental politics, peripheral realism, international environmentalregime