Negotiations and leadership in Kyoto

The purpose of this article is to shed light on the role of various forms o f political leadership in the negotiations of the Kyoto protocol under the UN Climate Change Convention. During the negotiations several forms of lead ership could be observed. For example, the EU was a kind of directional lea der in establishing ambitious reduction targets. The USA was on several occ asions an instrumental leader, for instance in the work of getting the so-c alled flexible mechanisms in place. Power was, however, to a large extent a precondition for leadership. Structural power, power given by formal posit ion and power rising from linking the climate change issue to other policy areas, for example development aid, are all likely to have played a role re garding the opportunities for actors to lead.