UC San Diego

How and why do countries respond differently to the dilemma of pursuing global climate reform through national legislation? This dissertation project explores the socio-political foundations of national carbon price policies, which resonate with global ideals and prioritize a global challenge over national economic benefits. An investigation into carbon prices in France, the United States, and Nordic countries reveals key sites of trade-offs. In France, this project traces the formation of their carbon tax, comparatively neoliberal by design, and the backlash from the populist Yellow Vest movement. In the United States, this project investigates the demise of a proposed carbon price, revealing how economic growth models complicate effective climate reform and empower business-elites to block regulatory reforms. In Nordic countries, this project compares the socio-politics of their relatively strong policies. All in all, this project explores the conditions under which such a law can be adopted, but it also emphasizes that enactment is not the end of the story. Rather, policies, themselves, reshape continuing political controversies over climate change. Carbon pricing thus becomes a case study in the trade-offs between global norms and national interests, highlighting the importance of national growth models, business-elite power, neoliberalism, and populist movements.