Description
It is becoming widely accepted that we have entered the polycrisis era. Global challenges are becoming more frequent and occurring simultaneously, thus challenging the capability of states to effectively respond to them. While scholars have long studied capability in international cooperation, the polycrisis era poses novel challenges. Conventional approaches to overcoming capability challenges have usually focused on the use of incentives to induce cooperation. Such incentive mechanisms work under conditions of equilibrium, where the more capable actors provide incentives to the less capable ones. In this paper, I use the case of global climate cooperation, focusing on the net zero regime, to develop a more dynamic concept of capability. I show that endogenous capability is becoming increasingly more significant than incentive mechanisms in the provision of key global public goods. Insights from the paper contribute to our understanding of how we can redesign global governance regimes to work effectively in an increasingly challenging geopolitical environment.
