The Impact of China's Legitimation Process on its Actions and Statements at Multilateral Environmental Negotiations (1985-2010)

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With the impending expiration of the Kyoto Protocol, the negotiations toward a new agreement to reduce the global emission of greenhouse gasses have become a leading factor in contemporary international relations. Amidst these negotiations a central focus has been on the potential actions of the People’s Republic of China, with the country’s recent development making its signature crucial to any future agreement. To best understand China’s past and potential future actions at multilateral environmental negotiations, this paper has looked to the domestic factors influencing China’s foreign actions. This paper has adopted a theoretical framework in which the Chinese Communist Party’s process of legitimation is held as a major factor in determining its diplomatic actions and statements. Several recent theories on Chinese governance have established that in lieu of institutions capable of legitimating the leadership’s rule, their legitimacy has been maintained primarily through the continued reproduction of outputs demanded by the populace. These include general demands such as sustained economic growth and the development of national pride along with more specific ones including improved environmental protection. The government’s continued focus on these outputs has become central to China’s policy process, with the CCP adopting a pragmatic approach to decision making more responsive to these bottom-up pressures that is having an increasing effect on the country’s foreign actions. The results of this study show a pattern of bottom-up influence on China’s actions and statements during the three cases of Montreal, Kyoto, and Copenhagen, with the influence of the populace’s demands for economic development, national pride, and environmental development evident in each case. This evidence provides support to established theories that hold the CCP’s process of domestic legitimation to be a primary factor in China’s contemporary multilateral environmental negotiation.