9. The Limitations of U.S. Climate Leadership: A Realist Perspective

Using the theoretical framework provided by the realist school of international relations, this article tries to explain why U.S. climate leadership has been mostly weak, erratic, and unreliable since the early 1990s, and why the attempt on the part of the Biden administration to revive U.S. climate leadership may yield disappointing results. From a realist perspective, flawed U.S. climate leadership may stem from a combination of three factors inherent to the international system: (1) the importance of material wealth in the international balance of power; (2) the willingness of nations to preserve their sovereignty; and (3) the enduring influence of nationalism, which undermines the ability of nations to trust one another.