Date of Award

8-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Alcock, Frank

Area of Concentration

Environmental Studies and Political Science

Abstract

A growing area of climate research explores the forms of government best equipped to confront the climate crisis and shape long-term environmental policy. The theories amongst this research seem to advocate for polar solutions: authoritarianism or democracy. Climate change and related ecological challenges increasingly test the capacity of existing political systems to deliver timely and effective responses. This research project aims to answer the questions: To what extent does democracy influence the adoption and implementation of national climate policy? How do democracies and autocracies differ in the strength and durability of their climate policies? Investigating this relationship can inform future institutional reforms, ensuring that political systems are better equipped to respond to the challenges posed by a changing climate. Volatile policy is particularly harmful in the context of climate policy; meaningful progress toward emissions reductions and long-term climate goals depends not only on the strength of climate policies but also on their durability, credibility, and feasibility. Using the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) Climate Policy dataset, this study examines changes in national climate policy scores over time and develops a measure of climate policy volatility (CPV). These measures are compared across strong democracies and autocracies and analyzed alongside regime transitions between 2007 and 2025. The findings highlight the importance of climate policy stability, identify climate policy volatility as an underexplored dimension of climate governance, and suggest the need for further research and institutional efforts to promote more durable climate policies.

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

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