Leaders, Pioneers, and Followers in Environmental Governance

Liefferink, Duncan; Andersen, Mikael Skou; Gheuens, Jana; Tobin, Paul; Torney, Diarmuid; Wurzel, Rüdiger K.W.

Abstract

The authors explore the role of leadership in environmental governance. During recent decades, insights from the International Relations and Comparative Politics literature have been combined to improve our understanding of the different motives, positions, types and styles of leadership. A basic distinction can be made between leaders, who actively seek to attract followers, and pioneers, who focus mainly on stringent internal policies. The complex ‘polycentric’ dynamic of global and European climate politics has given an important additional boost to the study of environmental leadership. The initial focus on states as leaders has been gradually widened to include the role of followers, as well as leadership by sub-national and non-state actors. However, leadership in and by the Global South still remains largely unexplored.

Citation

Liefferink, D., Andersen, M. S., Gheuens, J., Tobin, P., Torney, D., & Wurzel, R. K. (2023). Leaders, Pioneers, and Followers in Environmental Governance. In H. Jörgens, C. Knill, & Y. Steinebach (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Environmental Policy (237-248). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003043843-20

• Online Publication Date: Jun 28, 2023
• Publication Date: Jun 28, 2023
• Deposit Date: Oct 21, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 29, 2024
• Publisher: Routledge
• Pages: 237-248
• Series Title: Routledge Environment and Sustainability Handbooks
• Book Title: Routledge Handbook of Environmental Policy
• Chapter Number: 17
• ISBN: 9781000893977; 9780367489922
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003043843-20
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4421573