The UBC Department of Political Science’s Distinguished Speaker Series
and the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs
at the UBC Institute for Asian Research
present a talk by
Prof. Tana Johnson
Duke University
“A Revolution in Global North-South Politics? Evidence from Trade-Environment Negotiations”
Friday, April 8
12:15 – 1:45pm
C.K. Choi Building (Room #120)
Lunch available at 11:30am
Abstract: With the rise of China, India, Brazil, and other states from the global South, many observers claim that dynamics between the industrialized North and developing South are undergoing a major shift. But is a revolution truly taking place? Are emerging powers truly leading the South and mounting challenges to the North in international politics? Or are they diverging from other developing countries and now acting more like industrialized ones? This talk presents the results of a study that probes North-South politics by examining the intersection of two policy areas in which developing and industrialized states have traditionally disagreed: trade liberalization and environmental protection. We code all statements made by participants in the World Trade Organization’s Committee on Trade and Environment between 1995 and 2011. With statistical analyses of over 5,000 observations over 16 years, we consider how well a state’s development level predicts its policy positions, or its bandwagoning with other countries. The findings point to surprising constancy, rather than revolution. Traditional industrialized countries are still dominant in international negotiations — meanwhile, despite their growing wealth, emerging powers continue to side more with the South than the North.
Bio: Tana Johnson is Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at Duke University. Her research interests include global governance, international organizations, energy/environmental policy, interactions between the private and public sectors, and U.S. foreign policy. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in International Organization, Journal of Politics, Review of International Organizations, and Oxford Handbook of the American Presidency. Johnson’s book Organizational Progeny: Why Governments are Losing Control over the Proliferating Structures of Global Governance (2014, Oxford University Press) shows that in a variety of policy areas, global governance structures are getting harder for national governments to control — not only because the quantity and staffing of international organizations has mushroomed, but also because the people working in these organizations try to insulate any new organizations against governments’ interference. Organizational Progeny is the recipient of the International Studies Association’s 2015 Chadwick F. Alger Prize for best book on international organization and multilateralism. Johnson has received research fellowships from the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton University, and from the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions at Vanderbilt University.
