Small and smart: the role of Switzerland in the Cartagena and Nagoya protocols negotiations

Tobias Schulz (), Marc Hufty () and Maurice Tschopp ()
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Tobias Schulz: Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL
Marc Hufty: Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies (IHEID)
Maurice Tschopp: University of Bern

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 2017, vol. 17, issue 4, No 6, 553-571

Abstract: Abstract This paper looks at Switzerland to examine the role of a small state during the negotiations of the Cartagena and the Nagoya Protocols to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The influence of this small country was substantial at some point in the negotiation processes and on important features of the protocols. The main explanatory factors for this influence are identified as the competence and the tactical skills of the Swiss delegations as well as the flexible and timely mandates they received. This was reinforced by the way the position formation process was organized at the domestic level, namely a lead ministry strongly committed to the process and an efficient coordination between domestic actors, including the delegations. The Swiss delegations were thus able to support the progress of the negotiations, and in parallel to secure some of their interest, by assuming entrepreneurial and intellectual leadership strategies in function of the evolution of domestic and international constraints and opportunities.

Keywords: Nagoya protocol; Cartagena protocol; International negotiations; Domestic sources of environmental foreign policy; Influence; Small states (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10784-016-9334-9

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