认知演化与全球气候治理的变革

Cognitive Evolution and the Transformation of Global Climate Governance

当今的全球气候治理是一个混合驱动系统。一方面,多边外气候治理实践自成体系,专注于直接供给治理方案和规则;另一方面,多边气候制度转而强调“引领”和“政治动员”。这与传统的主要由多边气候谈判驱动治理实践的模式不同。采用认知演化理论可以分析气候治理的演化。该理论认为:实践的负面绩效和由此激发的主动反思是深度规范变革的启动机制;创新实践既体现行为者的创造性,又受其既有知识和习惯的建构性影响;共同体对新治理方案的选择有赖于其对创新实践绩效的解读。气候治理领域的多边主义应被视为一种社会建构物。其衰落的主要推力是京都体制的困境激发的次/非国家行为体反思。多边外气候治理创新受多元行为体的既有知识、能力和利益的影响,体现出以市场和能力建设为导向的特性。新的气候治理实践由于能够促进去碳化能力的提升、启发新治理思路、创造新利益而得以体系化。同时,多边气候制度受实践惯性支撑并积极转型,因而得以继续作为气候治理混合驱动体系的重要环节。

In contemporary global climate governance,governance activities beyond the multilateral regime have proliferated and become self-organized.They are able to directly produce governance outcomes(e.g.setting rules)and to promote low carbon transformation.The multilateral climate regime is now focusing more on political mobilization and legitimacy provision.It is also embracing non-party stakeholders as co-governors of climate change.This marks a profound shift of the practices of global climate governance.How can we explain this change?This article utilizes the cognitive evolution theory to analyze the evolution of global climate governance.The theory makes several proposals about social change:first,habitus and norms evolve as reflectivity and uncertainty arise;practitioners creativity is bonded by existing background knowledge they carry in other social fields;the selective retention of novel ideas is dependent on the communal interpretation of their performance.Empirically,multilateralism in the climate field is a social construct,the change of which was triggered by the stalemate in the Kyoto regime.Governance innovation conducted by non-state and subnational actors is constituted by innovators own knowledge and habits in fields like climate/policy research and the market.This leads them to emphasize market mechanisms and capacity building.In general,innovators value new governance activities by their abilities to build capacity,to create and spread new norms,and to build new coalitions.The communal understanding of the positive performance of new governance activities supports the solidification of a new community of practices beyond the treaty-making circle.Multilateralism continues as an important component of the global climate governance system as it remains stable in the community of politicians and diplomats.In addition,the functional flaws of experimental governance(e.g.its small scale and its unstable trajectory)also make multilateral orchestration necessary.