The Global Governance of Climate Change: G7, G20, and UN Leadership by John J. Kirton and Ella Kokotsis
| DOI | 10.1177/0020702019855345 |
| Date | 01 June 2019 |
| Author | Miranda A. Schreurs |
| Published date | 01 June 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
So how did US ‘‘gatekeepers’’ so spectacularly fail to isolate and defeat Trump?
The answer unfolds over subsequent chapters, but particular emphasis is placed on
changes to the nomination system for presidential candidates following the fateful
Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968. As a result of the reforms inspired by
the McGovern–Fraser Commission, delegates at subsequent conventions were
elected in state-level primaries and caucuses, thereby circumventing the pivotal
role of the gatekeepers. ‘‘The path to the nomination no longer had to pass through
the party establishment’’ (51).
By the time Donald Trump emerged on the political landscape, Levitsky and
Ziblatt argue, party gatekeepers were already ‘‘shells of what they once were’’
(55–56), and confronted the added challenges of a seemingly bottomless pool of
money and widespread (and largely free) media coverage for candidate Trump.
Nonetheless, the authors identify pivotal moments where more effective gatekeep-
ing might have worked.
Some readers will quibble with the authors’ striking assertion that by the time
the Republican Convention rolled around in July 2016, there was no chance of
wresting the nomination from Trump. This view rests on respecting the current
primary-based system as conferring ‘‘a legitimacy that cannot easily be circum-
vented or ignored’’ (60). But there is a seeming mismatch here between a general
argument that rests heavily on norms and individual behaviours, and a more deter-
ministic claim that structural changes to the primary system made the rise of out-
siders (almost) unstoppable.
More broadly, Levitsky and Ziblatt’s thesis rests too heavily on the ideas of
political scientist Juan Linz, whose formative experiences in Weimar Germany and
civil war Spain influenced his focuson political elites in the breakdownof democratic
regimes. It seems incontrovertible to suggest that in the ‘‘extraordinary times’’ facing
many new and consolidated democracies today, ‘‘courageous partyleadership means
putting democracy and country before party.’’ At the same time, historical analogies
can only take us so far. Established parties themselves—let alone their traditional
norms—are under profound challenges, not only from digital technology and new
media, but also from widening socioeconomic inequalities that parties have at best
tolerated and at worst fostered. So, although we can and should cultivate better
gatekeeping, the survival of democracy will require a battle on more than one front.
John J. Kirton and Ella Kokotsis
The Global Governance of Climate Change: G7, G20, and UN Leadership
London and New York: Routledge, 2015. 401 pp. $145.00 (hardcover)
ISBN: 978-0-8153-8041-2
Reviewed by: Miranda A. Schreurs (miranda.schreurs@hfp.tum.de), Technical University of
Munich, Germany
Just how important have the G7/8 and the G20 been in creating a global climate
regime? John J. Kirton and Ella Kokotsis argue that their role has been not only
326 International Journal 74(2)
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