A Systematic Analysis of the Social Relations Between Non-State Actors and the UNFCCC Secretariat

International bureaucracies and non-state actors have become important actors in global climate politics. However, little is known about the social relations between these two groups of actors. This paper aims to provide new insights into this field by systematically analyzing the social relations between different groups of non-state actors and the International Public Administration of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – the UNFCCC secretariat – over time. The question guiding this paper is the following: How did the social relations between the UNFCCC secretariat and various groups of non-state actor (ENGOs, business, sub-national actors, etc.) change during different phases of the global climate policy cycle? To answer this research question a network analytical approach will be employed, using Twitter data from the past nine annual Conferences of the Parties (2009 – 2017).