Replication Data for: The Institutionalization of a Cleavage: How Differential Treatment Affects State Behavior in the Climate Negotiations

Differential treatment is a key norm in multilateral environmental agreements. Its main objective is to increase compliance and reduce the free-rider problem by apportioning the costs and benefits of implementation more equitably across the parties in an agreement. The question of how to differentiate those burdens is inextricably linked to national interests, and while in some instances differential treatment is well designed and facilitates cooperation, in other cases a rigid divide—or cleavage—leads to a stalemate and constant conflict. This article studies the consequences of differential treatment as institutionalized under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Previous research has shown that the separation of UNFCCC parties into two opposing groups has deepened the polarization in the negotiations. We identify two causal mechanisms that may have driven this polarization, namely socialization through material incentives and the formation of group identity. We draw on an original dataset that records (dis)agreements between country pairs, coded from negotiation summaries between 1995 and 2013. Using a relational events model, we show that the division of UNFCCC parties into Annex I (with obligations) and non-Annex I (without obligations) is related primarily to material incentives and less to group identity formation.

差别待遇是多边环境协定（multilateral environmental agreements）的核心规范。其主要目标是通过在协定缔约方间更公平地分配履约的成本与收益，提升履约率并缓解搭便车问题（free-rider problem）。如何界定此类负担的差异化分配，与国家利益密不可分；尽管部分场景下差别待遇设计合理，能够推动合作，但在另一些情形中，僵化的划分（或分野）会导致谈判陷入僵局与持续冲突。
本文聚焦《联合国气候变化框架公约》（United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change，UNFCCC）框架下制度化差别待遇所产生的影响。已有研究表明，将UNFCCC缔约方划分为两个对立阵营，加剧了谈判中的极化现象。我们识别出两种可能推动该极化进程的因果机制：一是基于物质激励的社会化，二是群体身份的构建。
本研究依托一套原创数据集，该数据集对1995年至2013年间各国谈判摘要中提炼的国家间（非）共识情况进行了编码记录。通过关系事件模型（relational events model）分析，我们发现，UNFCCC缔约方被划分为附件一缔约方（Annex I，承担履约义务）与非附件一缔约方（non-Annex I，不承担履约义务）两大阵营的现象，主要与物质激励相关，而与群体身份构建的关联度较弱。