Climate Change Decisions: International Influences on Argentina's Foreign Policy Decision Making

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to both environmental and Latin American foreign policy decision making literatures, both of which are comparatively underrepresented areas of study. Specifically, it analyzes the factors affecting former Argentine President Carlos Saul Menem when he chose to join the Kyoto Protocol in 1998 and, thus, the international climate change regime. President Menem made a bold announcement that his country would voluntarily reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, a pledge well beyond what was required of the developing nation (as prescribed by the Protocol). This paper suggests that international factors, specifically Menem’s desire to align his nation with the United States, critically influenced the president’s decision, thereby advancing the argument that in this instance international (and individual), and not domestic factors, determined the president’s behavior. The paper concludes with a discussion of the boarder implications of the importance of international variables in the decision making processes of Latin American leaders and environmental foreign policy.