“Governing the End is a major scholarly achievement. The book offers an expansive and detailed yet accessible analysis of the international political processes addressing (or evading, as often is the case) the challenges of climate change…the author’s analysis is brilliant, the topic timely, the narrative text interesting and exciting.”

Law & Society Review

“It has long been acknowledged that climate change is a matter of life and death for some states in the international system…But how precisely would “loss and damage” be pursued and realized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)? This is the subject of Lisa Vanhala’s excellent book…Vanhala’s book confronts one of the most important issues of our time.”

Perspectives on Politics

“Governing the End is a useful guide to the administrative structures established for work on Loss and Damage under the UNFCCC. The ethnographic detail, including long interview quotes, is rich, giving the reader a sense of what it is like to take part in negotiations—and thus, the ways in which developing countries’ demands and perspectives are often sidelined.”

Global Governance

“The monograph is also methodologically distinctive. Vanhala brings an ethnographic sensibility to global climate governance through interviews, participant observation and close attention to the everyday life of negotiations. She shows that diplomacy is made not only through texts, but through mundane material practices…Governing the End provides a sharper vocabulary for understanding how loss and damage was institutionalized while justice claims were thinned out.”

Environmental Politics

“Drawing on anthropological and sociological studies of international organizations, Vanhala uses a constructivist lens to examine the politics of ‘loss and damage’ within international climate change negotiations. She finds that structural inequalities continue to persist, despite the well-established concept of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities.’”

Choice

“Compelling, illuminating, and provocative, Governing the End is a major scholarly achievement that offers an expansive yet detailed and accessible analysis of the international politics addressing (or evading, as often is the case) the challenges of climate change.”

Michael McCann | author of "Union by Law: Filipino American Labor Activists, Rights Radicalism, and Racial Capitalism"

“A landmark contribution to one of the most urgent questions of global justice: how to compensate those the least responsible for and yet most affected by climate change. Grounded in rigorous research, Governing the End offers an incisive account of international law’s failures to address this pressing issue. It should be required reading for scholars, policymakers, advocates, and all those committed to understanding and advancing climate justice.”

César Rodríguez-Garavito | author of "Climate Change on Trial: Mobilizing Human Rights Litigation to Accelerate Climate Action"

“Vanhala provides a much needed and insightful account of the history, politics, and governance of loss and damage in the climate regime. She reveals how the constructive ambiguity of the concept sowed the seeds for future challenges—glossing over critical issues of responsibility and accountability. Ultimately, Vanhala argues, these problems have contributed to the end of governing—where policymakers have created minimal rules which fall short of addressing the underlying challenges we all now face.”

Jessica F. Green | University of Toronto