The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: the Analysis through the Prism of Collective Action Theory

This thesis analyses out whether the effective collective action on climate change mitigation is possible within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It provides comparative analysis of the two environmental Conventions - the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and concludes why the collective action was ineffective in the first case and resulted in success in the second case. Then it analyses the possible approaches to solving the collective action problem within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The research concludes that effectiveness of the collective actions on climate-related problems highly depends on the support of the hegemonic leader and international regime supported by this actor and cost-benefit ratio of participation in cooperation. The paper expands understanding of the causes of inefficiency of collective actions within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate. The research is limited to the extent that it doesn’t give an answer on how else coercion can be provided other than by a hegemon. There further suggestions on a new framework, not within the UN, under which the coercion would be possible, may be necessary.