Curriculum Vitae - Linda Wallbott, M.A.
Since October 2009 Linda Wallbott has been research associate and Ph.D. candidate to the professorship "International Relations and Theories of Global Orders" at Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University and the Cluster of Excellence "The Formation of Normative Orders", Frankfurt/ Main. Prior she worked as a research associate within the Cluster-project "Transnational Justice and Democracy" at Technical University of Darmstadt.
Linda Wallbott studied political science at Technical University of Darmstadt and at Karlstad University in Sweden (2002-8) and worked as a student research assistant for a research project on "The Role of Business in Global Governance: Corporations as Norm-Entrepreneurs" (2005-8), and as an intern at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt on the role of business in zones of conflict (2005). She gained further work experience, for example as an intern in Deutsche Telekom´s unit "Corporate Sustainability & Citizenship" (2007-8), Amnesty International and as volunteer for UNDP Brazil.
Between 2009-11 Linda Wallbott was research associates' representative of the Cluster's Research Area 3, and 2009-10 deputy staff representative of all research areas. She is founder of the interdisciplinary and international Ph.D. network "REDD-Y for Research" on transnational forest politics.
In her Ph.D. with the working title "The dynamics of normative orders: Construction and effectiveness of justice demands in international climate and biodiversity negotiations" she analyses the role and effect of justice/fairness arguments in international negotiations, and pays special attention to the influence of institutional interaction in this process.
Research Interests
- Inter-/ transnational norm development
- International negotiations
- Global Environmental Governance
Research Projects
Dissertation: "The dynamics of normative orders: Construction and effectiveness of justice demands in international climate and biodiversity negotiations" (working title)
Struggles between various schools of thought within IR have traditionally focused on the conditions of original norm genesis and institutionalization as well as the question, under which conditions actors comply effectively with norms. Less light has been shed on another phase of the political process, namely the negotiation stage, where diverging normative claims clash, opposition and contestation take place and some kind of agreement has to be reached among participants. Claims of justice and fairness are among the strongest normative demands herein, but again, surprisingly, little attention has been given to research on the role of justice/ fairness arguments, how they shape the negotiation process, how different institutional settings interact, and how this process influences the participating actors.
My work, against this background, focuses on the endogenous dynamics of norm development in an already institutionalized environment. I ask how diverging principles of justice and fairness are created discursively and by building upon instances of institutional interaction, how they shape the process of international negotiations, and which factors decide on the success or failure of competing principles in the further development of already existing international political orders. This will be embedded in an analysis of the stability/change of global environmental politics' 'normnative nucleus'.
In this undertaking, I build upon latest waves of constructivist research/ discourse analytical institutionalist perspectives that put emphasis on contestation and the dynamic quality of norms, and combine normative theory with 'traditional' IR approaches. For this purpose I analyse according developments within two multilateral environmental institutional settings, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). For these two, a broadening as well as a discursive convergence of their normative foundations can be stated. In the case of the UNFCCC I focus on the new recognition of indigenous peoples' rights in the context of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation). In the case of the CBD I trace developing countries demands for benefit-sharing for those genetic resources that have been extracted in colonial times. Both cases are examples for 'weak' actors who challenge the prevalent normative order (though with differing success) and who aim at influencing the design of international institutions beyond their assumed weight. Equally, both cases have to be analysed in relation to developments in other sectors like especially the human rights and trade regime.
The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in international climate negotiations
In my contribution to the joint research project "The Quest for a 'New Deal': Opposition and the global political order" I analyse the role of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in the climate negotiations of the United Nations. Bringing together those states that are extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change, yet economically weak at the same time, AOSIS was able to impact on the negotiations of the Kyoto Protocol (the so far only legally binding agreement of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) in the mid-1990s. However, this success could not be sustained in the more recent negotiations on a follow-up Protocol (as the KP will run out in 2012), within which AOSIS has lobbied for ambitious and legally binding emission reduction targets. Against this background, the project deals with the (change of) AOSIS' negotiation strategies, conditions of success, and development.
Women in international climate negotiations: Diplomats and lobbyists inter pares?
Multilateral negotiations in the United Nations are characterized by formal equality of state participants. However, for example delegations of less developed countries are challenged by comparably little material resources and man power. While this aspect is well received in research, to date analyses of international negotiations so far mostly neglected non-material factors of inequality as well as socio-psychological aspects. For example, most delegations do not represent different social groups in an equal manner, with women usually being outnumbered. Against this background, the project focuses on how women actually perceive of their participation and standing in international negotiations. The project builds on one of the main concepts of gender-analysis (recognition) in order to elucidate the informal dynamics of negotiation processes and to contribute to a more "realistic" understanding of multiateral diplomacy."
Transnational Justice and Democracy (concluded)
Congruency of spaces, that contain political and social problems and within which generally binding regulations to those issues can be enforced, is - contrast to the zenith of the Westphalia state system - not given any more. Issue-specific governance-structures are increasingly called upon to provide for spaces of deliberation and issue-specific regulatory arrangements.
As basic normative terms of the political, like justice and democratic legitimacy, have traditionally been defined in relation to intra-state orders, those developments of transnationalization and de-nationalization are leading to conceptual and empirical tensions between the new institutions on the one hand and claim of justification on the other hand. Against this background, the project initiative "Transnational Justice and Democracy" deals with inter- and supranational arrangements of regulation, which also form part of a global pluralism of those structures. For example the following types of pluralization have been empirically identified and conceptualized: (i) fragmentation of orders; (ii) overlap of orders; (iii) rivalry of regulatory principles within one order, and (iv) asymmetry of orders.
Next to a further elaboration of this taxonomy, the project also aims at transferring the basic normative terms of the political (mentioned above) to those categories.
See the website of the Technical University of Darmstadt for more information.
Business actors as political actors (concluded)
Private (business) actors are increasingly considered to be politically relevant, equipped with competencies to implement human rights, environmental- and social standards. Especially the international level sees regulatory efforts of transnational companies as relevant supplements of international arrangements which cannot be enforced hierarchically.
In the last years a number of sector-specific but also cross-sectoral initiatives came into existence under the label Social Responsibility (CSR), the United Nation´s Global Compact can be named as the most prominent example. The younger political and academic debate on Corporate Security Responsibility is moreover dealing with possible business? contributions to conflict prevention and conflict resolution.
Against this background, two research projects, located at Technical University of Darmstadt and the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, are dealing with the question, under which conditions private business actors are willing to contribute actively to enhanced social and environmental standards, possibly even in zones of conflict.
Further information are available on the websites of the Technical University of Darmstadt and PRIO.
