Abstract

Based on a major three-year research project, this book explores the various roles of political actors and the policies that deal with the governance of reducing transport-related carbon emissions. Using this clear - and globally crucial - example of climate change governance, the authors are able to tease apart a range of debates and dilemmas and to fully explore the nature, pace and significance of core policies designed to tackle climate change.

Much research in the field has over-emphasized the international realm and global policy, whereas this text uncovers the huge importance that domestic policy development plays in reducing emissions. It highlights normative positions that lie at the heart of institutional structures, enabling broader debates into the capacity and future of democratic governance.
The authors provide a richly detailed account of the political pressures and divides that have impeded implementation of the UK’s Climate Change Act. Using examples from transport in four major cities, the authors document the socio-political landscape of climate change policy and test alternative theories of multi-level governance. The book should be required reading for anyone concerned with governance in an increasingly complex world.
Elizabeth Deakin, Professor of City and Regional Planning and Urban Design, University of California, Berkeley
Ian Bache is Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield, UK. His books include: Europeanization and Multi-level Governance, Cohesion Policy and Multilevel Governance in South East Europe (with George Andreou), Politics in the European Union 4e (with Simon Bulmer, Stephen George and Owen Parker) and The Politics and Policy of Wellbeing (forthcoming, with Louise Reardon).

Matthew Flinders is Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield, UK. He is Co-Editor of the journal Policy and Politics. His previous books include Defending Politics (shortlisted for 'Political Book of the Year 2012' and nominated for the Orwell Prize), Multilevel Governance (co-edited with Ian Bache), Delegated Governance, Democratic Drift and The Oxford Handbook of British Politics.

Greg Marsden is Professor of Transport Governance and Director of the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds, UK. He is a member of the Independent Transport Commission and has acted as specialist adviser to the UK Parliamentary Transport Scrutiny Committee.

Ian Bartle is Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Politics at the University of Sheffield, UK, and has also held research positions at the universities of Bath and Exeter. He is author of Globalization and EU Policy-Making as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters.

This pioneering book promotes climate change as a life problem that cuts across all aspects of everyday life, and nowhere is this more apparent than in decisions relating to transport. The authors combine wide ranging theoretical thinking with informative case study material. They convincingly demonstrate that progress can only be made through a multi level governance ‘plus’ approach that explicitly addresses accountability and the gaps that exist across various institutional, social, economic and political dimensions.
David Banister, Professor of Transport Studies and Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford University