Call for Letters of Interest: The Politics of Formulating and Implementing Climate Policies

Overview

EGAP launched the Climate Change Governance Priority Theme in 2022 to organize research on strategies for moving climate policy formulation and implementation processes forward. The priority theme steering committee includes EGAP members Evan Lieberman, Melina Platas, Tara Slough, and Linda Stern, and EGAP Executive Director Cyrus Samii. The work is supported by EGAP Sr. Methods Manager, Matt Lisiecki. The steering committee has engaged in discussions with researcher and practitioner stakeholders, including a February 2023 workshop at University College London.

Based on these discussions, the focus of future work will be the politics of climate policy, with special emphasis on the factors that influence the decisions of leaders and officials in a position to formulate or implement climate adaptation or mitigation policies. 

The steering committee identified the following as topics for further research:

• Ways that electoral incentives affect, and possibly interfere, with elected leaders’ commitment to long-term climate policy planning and implementation (in the context of either international or domestic frameworks), and strategies to reinforce such commitment in democratic contexts;

• Beyond elections, other institutional or organizational reasons for heavily lagged or incomplete implementation toward mitigation or adaptation goals (again, defined in terms of international or domestic frameworks), and strategies for sustaining officials’ commitment to implementation;

• How political leaders respond to special interests and in particular, how those with a vested interest in limiting mitigation or adaptation might capture policy processes and strategies to limit the potential of such capture;

• Reasons that some communities may be marginalized in mitigation or adaptation policies, and strategies to limit the extent to which inequalities are exacerbated by such policies.

Case Studies

The steering committee is commissioning a set of case studies to offer insight into the priority topics listed above. The case studies could highlight patterns of within-case variation in politics and policy-making over time.

To apply for a case study grant, you will submit a letter of interest that indicates (i) the country in which you would like to do the case study, (ii) why you have selected that country, (iii) how you would go about researching the five Case Study Components described in the concept note (see button below), including an indication of data or qualitative sources that you would consult, and (iv) your qualifications for performing the research in this case and topic. The letter of interest should be 2-3 pages long. The research could be entirely desk-based or, if possible, could include interviews with key informants, scholars, or officials. The steering committee aims to fund a total of 6 case studies, drawing from the list of countries in the concept note.

Click the button below for the full concept note and call for letters of interest.

Grant Size & Eligibility

EGAP will award up to USD 32,000 in total to successful proposals and expects to select 6 award winners. The funds will be allocated as follows:

• Up to USD 6,000 per study for 4 studies conducted by Global South scholars. This includes scholars from all Global South countries, not merely the countries listed in the concept note. For details on who is eligible as a Global South scholar, please see the full concept note above.
• Up to USD 4,000 per study for 2 studies conducted by scholars from any background or location, including the Global North.

Application Instructions

Letters of Interest are due to EGAP by 11:59PM Pacific on Thursday, June 15. Please send your letter, along with your CV (and the CVs of any coauthors) to admin@egap.org.

Completed case studies must be returned to EGAP via email by 11:59PM Pacific on Sunday, October 15.

For questions related to the concept note or letters of interest, contact admin@egap.org.