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For the last sixty years, there has been firm consensus about American support for the United Nations. Policy makers, public opinion, the media and party platforms confirmed a commitment to the values portrayed by the United Nations and its utility as an instrument of American statecraft. Yet, recently, we find claims that the United Nations is a “dangerous place” and even proclamations of its “irrelevance.” In addition, public support for the UN is experiencing a rapid decline. The long-term view of American approval ratings of the United Nations reveals a sharp decline over the last ten years, with the last four years particularly depleted. The current data finds that only 30 percent of Americans approve of the United Nations. This paper explores what is driving the decline in American public support for the United Nations. It utilizes polling data and content analysis to trace the determinates of public perceptions about the UN. This paper specifically explores whether the media is contributing to the decline in support as it frames the UN as anti-US. Understanding American attitudes about the United Nations helps to predict the future health of the organization and its mission. In addition, assessing these viewpoints also serves as a measure of support for America’s engagement in multilateralism, global human rights, development, efforts to address climate change, as well as many other values that the UN seeks to embody as an institution. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes climate change politics and policy making in the United States. It argues that developments in U.S. climate change policy is largely driven from below where most innovative and ambitious policy making efforts on climate change and greenhouse gas mitigation are developing apace at regional and local levels. A steadily growing number of states, municipalities and private corporations across the country are initiating climate change action beyond requirements mandated by the federal government. The paper examines major policy developments and activities on climate change in the public sector, civil society, and the private sector in the United States to date. The paper concludes with a discussion of possible ramifications and limitations of climate change policy making at local and regional levels in the United States, and how local and regional policy developments may influence U.S. foreign environmental policy and international climate cooperation more broadly. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the theory of two-level games, negotiators will tailor the agreement at level I so as to be ratifiable at level II in all major countries. This did not happen in the Kyoto negotiations as far as the United States is concerned. We interviewed 27 German, Norwegian, and U.S. participants in and observers to the climate change negotiations regarding their views on three explanations of why the United States did not become a party to the Kyoto Protocol. Explanation 1 argues that delegations in Kyoto mistakenly thought the U.S. Senate was bluffing when adopting the Byrd-Hagel resolution. Explanation 2 contends that the Europeans preferred a more ambitious agreement without the United States to a less ambitious agreement with the United States included. Finally, explanation 3 suggests that in Kyoto the Clinton-Gore administration had already given up on achieving ratification by the Senate, and essentially pushed for an agreement that would provide them with a climate-friendly face. All three explanations received at least some support from people we interviewed. However, explanations 1 and 3 received more support than explanation 2. Moreover, while explanation 1 received most support in Germany and Norway, explanation 3 received most support in the United States. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A framework detailing the structural causes of uncertainty is developed to explain why debates over nuclear proliferation and climate change are dominated by belief-oriented thinking. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]