Leadership in Multilateral Negotiation and Domestic Policy: The Netherlands at the Kyoto Protocol Negotiation

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines the causal mechanisms through which domestic policies and underlying domestic structural and institutional factors influenced the Netherlands' leadership-taking capability during climate change negotiations leading up to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Two causal mechanisms are prominent. One is the importance and necessity of building domestic capacity before the negotiation, and the other is the role of the "power devise" for a middle power to become influential in the negotiation. In this case, a regional organization provided the framework for a middle power to materialise its leadership potential.