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This article aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of Turkey's approach to climate change on its path to an ecological civilisation. How does Turkey perceive climate change? What proposals does Turkey offer to tackle climate change? How have Turkey's perception and policy proposals on this matter taken their current shape? This article uses qualitative content analysis and descriptive statistics to address these questions. A fuller understanding of Turkey's climate change strategy can be gained through an integrative analysis of its recent Strategic Plan and Five-Year Plans in tandem with its key official documents related to climate change strategy and action plans. Our analysis suggests that Turkey's approach to climate change centres on an ambitious mission to place economic and social development within a sustainability framework. This mission springs from Turkey's growing percipience that the key to success in the struggle against climate change is in pursuing these efforts in coordination with the Sustainable Development Goals. The selected documents reflect a growing awareness that these efforts can be enhanced through closer cooperation between the public sector, private sectors, and civil society. Moreover, Turkey exhibits a strong understanding of the need for strengthening ties between the environment and future generations on the road to "green development". The addressed documents acknowledge the current obstacles on this road, particularly those relating to scant institutional, financial, and technical capabilities. Finally, the documents' frequent emphasis on sustainable energy, energy efficiency, and clean energy technologies points to the relevance of taking into consideration Turkey's energy strategy and action plans. In this area, Turkey's efforts at improving its institutional, financial, and technical capabilities seem to have borne their first fruits, though there is still a very long way to go to attain the capabilities required for fully implementing the intended strategies and action plans. A promising development is that enhanced public support for clean energy technologies and production has led Turkey to become a leading actor in clean energy.

Under 2017 och 2018 ökade Kinas direktinvesteringar i Sverige avsevärt till följd av ett antal stora förvärv, mestadels i fordonsindustrin. Samtidigt har den svenska offentliga debatten kring kinesiska investeringar blivit mer kritisk sedan 2017, då investeringarna överlag talades om i positiva ordalag. Under 2018 och 2019 har en rad aktörer inom statliga myndigheter, politiska partier, media och civilsamhället beskrivit Kinas investeringar som ett potentiellt säkerhetshot. Näringslivsrepresentanter är mindre synliga i debatten men även här finns det en tydlig trend av ökad uppmärksamhet på potentiella säkerhetsrisker kopplade till kinesiska investeringar. Den svenska synen på Kina tycks konvergera allt mer med vad EU har kallat för sin nya "mer realistiska" hållning gentemot Peking. Ett antal policyprocesser har inletts, vilket sannolikt kommer leda till att svensk lagstiftning stärks på flera områden för att öka kontrollen av Kinas investeringar och engagemang i Sverige, särskilt i kritisk infrastruktur såsom telekommunikationsnät men även vad gäller företag vars verksamhet anses som säkerhetskänslig i mer generell bemärkelse.
Abstract in EnglishChinese Investments in Sweden: From Fame to Fear?China's direct investment in Sweden surged in 2017 and 2018 due to a number of large acquisitions, mostly in the automotive industry. At the same time, the public debate on Chinese investments has become more critical since 2017, when they were typically seen in a positive light. Throughout 2018 and 2019, a number of actors in government authorities, political parties, the media and civil society have described China's investments as a potential security threat. Although less prominent in the public debate, business representatives have also become increasingly vocal about potential security risks associated with Chinese investment. The Swedish view of China seems to be aligning with what the EU has called its new "more realistic" approach to Beijing. Meanwhile, a number of policy processes have been launched which are likely to lead to the strengthening of existing legal frameworks to scrutinise Chinese investment and activity in Sweden, especially concerning critical infrastructure such as telecommunications networks, but also more generally concerning companies whose activities are regarded as sensitive from a security perspective.

The Peruvian Andes are one of the most important water sources for the country. Therefore, their exploitation might pose critical threats for local farming activities, national economy, and water quantity and quality. At the same time, the Andes have experienced activities of the mining industry over the last decades, which has boosted the national economy. The mining concessions and operations have brought together campesino communities and mining companies. This has led to the escalation of conflicts due to mining impacts on water, the mining-related misinformation, the distribution of mining royalties, and the compensations in return to the rent of campesino community lands to mining companies. Focused on the farming-mining lands, this research adapts mixed-methods to analyze the land-use conflicts and to build a risk index to support decision-making processes. It aims to evaluate the environmental, social and institutional roots of land-use conflicts to model conflicting situations between the small-scale farming communities and mining companies. It follows four key objectives. First, the analysis of heavy metal concentrations in water and soil with land-cover classification and participatory mapping allowed the measurement of key biophysical parameters in farming-mining lands. Second, mixed-methods via semi-structured surveys, in-depth interviews, social and content analyses were used to assess the social and institutional aspects related to the management of water and soil. Third, the results from the multi-criteria analysis were compared with content analysis, surveys and interviews to integrate and consolidate the aforementioned biophysical, social and institutional components in a theoretical framework and land-use conflict risk index. Fourth, three main scenarios were developed to simulate the conflicts between communities and mining companies. The resulting land-use conflict risk index can provide a useful decision-making tool for the governments to tackle conflict management through revealing the conflict-triggering criteria and indicators. Furthermore, this is the first interdisciplinary research that depicts a thorough understanding of the interaction of the fourteen studied campesino communities with state institutions, civil society, and mining companies once the mining concession is given.

First Published Online: 15 September 2020 ; In recent years, the global financial crisis and the ensuing austerity measures in European countries have resulted in dire cuts to public services, massive job losses, and diminished incomes. At the same time, and parallel to the economic crisis, a refugee crisis has arisen. In this context, ordinary citizens and new or re-energised networks of cooperation among civil society actors (e.g. non-governmental organisations (NGOs), churches, trade unions, cooperatives, grassroots initiatives) foster (transnational) solidarity practices. These practices grow in importance as they try to address people's needs, often unmet by national governments given their lack of financial resources. This article investigates whether and to what extent civic initiatives and organisations are involved in transnational solidarity activities. Moreover, it seeks to identify those factors that seem to promote or inhibit the scope of transnational activities. The article critically analyses the initiatives and practices of Transnational Solidarity Organisations (TSOs) in eight European countries on the basis of data on transnationally oriented civic groups and organisations committed to organising solidarity activities in three fields of work (disabilities, unemployment, and assistance to refugees). The analysis aims to contribute, through fresh empirical data, to the scholarly discussion in the field of transnational solidarity mobilisation and organisations by pointing out that most solidarity organisations remain active primarily at the local and/or national level(s) and that only a minority of solidarity organisations are engaged in cross-national activities. Transnational activities are associated with formalisation and professionalisation. Moreover, maintaining a web of transnational partners, being able to communicate with such partners, and conventional action repertoires seem to be conducive to transnational activism. Organisational values linked to cosmopolitanism are also important, but their impact on transnational solidarity actions is mediated and conditioned by the TSOs' level of formalisation. ; Results presented in this article have been obtained through the project 'European paths to transnational solidarity at times of crisis: Conditions, forms, role-models and policy responses' (TransSOL). Tis project was funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 649435).

The recent emphasis on the role of tropical forests in facing climate change has made forest decentralization debates more relevant than ever. Discussions on multilevel governance, polycentricity, and nested approaches to governance surround the central question, ever more pertinent considering global environmental change, of who holds the mandate over forests. Different levels of government, as well as private and civil society actors (companies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), indigenous peoples, and local communities), compete over the rights of ownership, administration, and management of forest landscapes—decisions with a crucial impact on land use, land use change and the future of forests. Understanding the relations among different levels of governance, and government specifically, is essential to understand how carbon forestry has engaged with decentralization and the role of subnational governments (SNGs) in developing practical land use solutions. We draw on current trends in the forestry decentralization literature to ask: (i) has carbon forestry opened new opportunities for SNGs to support the sustainable governance of forest landscapes? (ii) have meaningful powers been assigned to SNGs in support of democratic processes of decision-making over forest landscapes? and (iii) is carbon forestry influencing the relationships between levels of government in a way that challenges unequal power relations? By examining carbon forestry projects and forestry decentralization processes across five countries (Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Tanzania and Vietnam) with carbon forestry initiatives, we demonstrate how the role of SNGs is circumscribed by existing forestry decentralization trends. Decentralization initiatives in recent decades have provided SNGs with new mandates to manage forests, but new attributions do not always imply meaningful powers. The implementation of carbon forestry projects is molded by pre-existing power relations that shape the impacts of forestry decentralization on livelihoods and forest ecosystems. We find that carbon forestry, with both centralizing and decentralizing tendencies, operates within the spaces left by existing power dynamics that mold the way transfers of power are put into practice. Jurisdictional approaches will need to negotiate with this context to be able to push forward sustainable pathways.

BACKGROUND: Southeast Asian countries host signficant numbers of forcibly displaced people. This study was conducted to examine how health systems in Southeast Asia have responded to the health system challenges of forced migration and refugee-related health including the health needs of populations affected by forced displacement; the health systems-level barriers and facilitators in addressing these needs; and the implications of existing health policies relating to forcibly displaced and refugee populations. This study aims to fill in the gap in knowledge by analysing how health systems are organised in Southeast Asia to address the health needs of forcibly displaced people. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We conducted 30 semistructured interviews with health policy-makers, health service providers, and other experts working in the United Nations (n = 6), ministries and public health (n = 5), international (n = 9) and national civil society (n = 7), and academia (n = 3) based in Indonesia (n = 6), Malaysia (n = 10), Myanmar (n = 6), and Thailand (n = 8). Data were analysed thematically using deductive and inductive coding. Interviewees described the cumulative nature of health risks at each migratory phase. Perceived barriers to addressing migrants' cumulative health needs were primarily financial, juridico-political, and sociocultural, whereas key facilitators were many health workers' humanitarian stance and positive national commitment to pursuing universal health coverage (UHC). Across all countries, financial constraints were identified as the main challenges in addressing the comprehensive health needs of refugees and asylum seekers. Participants recommended regional and multisectoral approaches led by national governments, recognising refugee and asylum-seeker contributions, and promoting inclusion and livelihoods. Main study limitations included that we were not able to include migrant voices or those professionals not already interested in migrants. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is one of the first qualitative studies to investigate the health concerns and barriers to access among migrants experiencing forced displacement, particularly refugees and asylum seekers, in Southeast Asia. Findings provide practical new insights with implications for informing policy and practice. Overall, sociopolitical inclusion of forcibly displaced populations remains difficult in these four countries despite their significant contributions to host-country economies.

Yönetişim, kamu sektörü, özel sektör, sivil toplum ve vatandaşların yönetim süreçlerine dâhil olduğu çok düzlemli bir yönetim sürecidir. Bununla birlikte, 1990'lı yıllardan sonra ülke yönetimlerinde yönetişim yaklaşımının benimsenmesi ile ilgili öneriler ağırlık kazanmıştır. Bu bağlamda, yönetişim küresel, ulusal ve yerel anlamda uygulanması gerekli bir yönetim anlayışı olarak ortaya çıkmıştır. Bununla birlikte Dünya Bankası, yönetişim yaklaşımının etkin olarak kullanılabilmesi ve ülkelerin yönetişim düzeylerini ölçebilmek amacıyla yönetişim göstergelerini belirli kriterlere göre oluşturmuştur. Bu çalışmanın amacı, Dünya Bankası'nın üç dönemine ait (1998, 2008 ve 2018) yönetişim verilerinin kümeleme analizi ve ARAS yöntemiyle değerlendirmektir. Bu kapsamda, ülkeler kümeleme analizi yöntemlerinde k-ortalama ile üç kümede sınıflandırılmış ve ARAS ile sıralamalar elde edilmiştir. Ayrıca, 1996-2018 yılları Dünya Bankası verilerine göre Türkiye'nin yönetişim bakımından sıralaması tespit edilmiş ve değerlendirilmiştir. Elde edilen bulgular, ülkelerin yönetişim kaliteleri ile gelişmişlik düzeyleri arasında benzerlik olduğunu göstermektedir. Bununla birlikte, Türkiye örneğinde olduğu gibi bazı ülkelerin kendine özgü koşulları yönetişim düzeyleri üzerinde etkili olmuştur. ; Governance is a multi-level management process in which the public sector, private sector, civil society, and citizens are involved in management processes. After the 1990s, suggestions about the adoption of governance approaches in countries have gained importance. In this context, governance has emerged as a management approach that should be implementation globally, nationally, and locally. In addition, the World Bank has created governance indicators based on certain criteria to use the governance approach effectively and to measure the governance levels of countries. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the governance data of the World Bank for three periods (1998, 2008 and 2018) by cluster analysis and ARAS method. In this context, countries were classified into three clusters with k-mean in cluster analysis methods, and rankings were obtained with ARAS. Moreover, according to World Bank data, Turkey's ranking in terms of governance has been determined and evaluated on the basis of the years 1996-2018. According to the findings, there is a similarity between governance and the development level of countries. Besides, as in the case of Turkey, the specific circumstances of some countries affected levels of governance.

Youth articulations of climate change injustice are experiencing an unprecedented moment in the spotlight as, inspired by Greta Thunberg, young people around the world take to the streets demanding justice for their generation in the face of climate emergency. Formal opportunities for youth voices to be heard in environmental governance are slim, although the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) offers a rare opportunity for youth to share their perspectives as one of nine civil society constituencies: YOUNGO. Recent research in Global Environmental Change has called for empirical exploration of justice claims-making by different stakeholders to develop understanding of how justice is conceptualised and negotiated in climate change governance spaces. To date, climate justice claims from youth have not been explored in the academic literature. This paper draws upon rich, ethnographic, longitudinal data on the evolution of justice claims made by a group of youth participants in the UNFCCC to contribute to this empirical gap. In our research, a UK-based case study organisation and long-established member of YOUNGO was studied between 2015 and 2018, including observation of their participation at the 21st, 22nd and 23rd Conferences of the Parties. We find that youth participants first articulated injustices based on perceived future risks to their generation but, over time, switched to solidarity claims about injustices experienced by other groups in the present. Whilst laudable, this impedes their mandate as representatives of younger generations. We also make three theoretical contributions to environmental justice theory. First we expand participation justice theory to both the visible structures of participation (procedural justice) and the informal rules and discourses shaping participation (representation justice). Second we demonstrate the importance of both external and self-recognition for the articulation of justice claims. Third we clarify the relationship between power and justice claim-making, proposing that we must look beneath what is articulated to shed light on the exercise of ideological power that shapes the framing and claiming of justice in environmental governance spaces.

All over Europe urban mobility services are subject to specialized regulatory regimes. In the last decade, new technologies have upended the sector, making possible new ways of organizing the industry. Platforms like Uber and Lyft have been among the first to seize these possibilities. However, they have often done so without regard for national and local laws. In response to these changes many EU jurisdictions have amended their sectoral regulations, revisiting issues such as licensing, background checks and insurance. The result has been a vast landscape of legal, commercial, and political conflict where local administrators, private operators and citizens are obliged to act within a normative chaos. Sharing mobility is facing a major challenge in Europe. In its landmark judgment in December 2017, the European Court of Justice concluded that platforms such as Uber is 'a service in the field of transport' that are excluded from the scope of the Freedom to provide services, the Directive on services and the Directive on e-commerce. It follows that it is for the Member States and local authorities to regulate the conditions under which such services are to be provided (Case C-434/15). Yet, EU law is deeply involved in the regulation of such services. The surrounding legal framework for sharing mobility includes not only competition, labor law and consumer protection, but it also deeply affects social inclusion, environmental sustainability and urban planning, among others. For these reasons, the central question for the European Union regards the appropriate site of authority in multi-level systems. This Special Issue has been conceived within the framework of the Jean Monnet Project RIDER: an innovative project that combines research and teaching to offer a "new product" with a clear idea: "from the Academic world to Civil society". The aim is to offer real support to the public administrator in the creation of new policies and rules for sharing mobility and in following those good practices that will be developed during the lifetime of the project, taking into account the many dimensions involved: urban impact, social inclusion, environment, and so on.

The Lithuanian Ministry of Education adopted the sexual education and preparation for a family life policy in 2016. Policy formulation stage became the centre of the conflict between secular reproductive health and sex education activists and religious civil society organizations as well as Lithuanian Catholic Church which exerts its informal political power and utilizes institutional opportunity structures in various stages of policy-making. These groups clashed not only in the chambers of the Lithuanian Parliament but also in the media. Competing discourses were created and maintained in various public spaces. Non-governmental human rights organizations have tried to counter the discourse of oppositional conservative and religious political actors and actively participated in policy formulation. However, these attempts did not prevent the Ministry of Education from adopting a family and abstinence-oriented sex education, which favours specific religious values. This paper seeks to understand religious influence in sexual education policy formation in Lithuania. I utilize news media articles and anonymous in-depth interviews with various relevant actors involved. This case study also enriches theoretical literature on informal institutions, and institutional opportunity structures concerning religious actors influence morality policy-making. ; 2016 m. Lietuvos Respublikos Švietimo ministerija priėmė ilgai lauktą sveikatos ir lytiškumo ugdymo bei rengimo šeimai programą. Šios programos formavimo procesą galima pavadinti "mūšio lauku", kuriame susidūrė pasaulietiškos, mokslu grįstu lytinio švietimo aktyvistų pilietinės organizacijos ir katalikiškos pakraipos pilietinės organizacijos bei Lietuvos Katalikų bažnyčios atstovai, kurie pasinaudojo neformalia įtaka bei institucinėmis galimybėmis įvairiose politikos formavimo stadijose. Darbo grupėje, skirtoje šios programos kūrimui, retai sekėsi pasiekti kompromisą. Nors nevyriausybinės žmogaus teisių ir lytinio švietimo advokacijos organizacijos aktyviai dalyvavo tiek darbo grupės veikloje, tiek kuriant diskursą žiniasklaidoje, Švietimo ministerija priėmė katalikiškoms vertybėms palankią lytiškumo ugdymo programą. Šio straipsnio tikslas – pasitelkiant anonimiškus kokybinius interviu su tiesiogiai susijusiais asmenimis, atskleisti Katalikų bažnyčios įtaką lytiškumo programos kūrimo procese. Pranešimai žiniasklaidoje šia tema naudojami, siekiant papildyti ir validuoti interviu duomenis. Ši atvejo analizė taip pat papildo neformalios politinės kultūros ir institucinių galimybių moralės politikos formavimo procesuose literatūrą.

This study aimed at identifying the success factors of implementing E-Government in Palestine from the viewpoint of senior employees working at Palestinian ministries. The study focused on exploring six success factors of e-government, identified through interviews, namely: understanding and vision, administrative factors, IT Infrastructure, human competencies, laws and regulations, and awareness. The study followed the mixed-method approach. It employed a self-administered questionnaire as a main tool of data collection accompanied by interviews to support and explain some of study findings and answering research questions. Data were collected from a convenient stratified sample of (234) senior employees working at Palestinian ministries in West Bank and Gaza and were analyzed using descriptive statistical tests. The study highlighted the most relevant factors required for the successful implementation of e-government as well as the obstacles facing the implementation in Palestine. The findings showed that the most prominent factor is the availability of understanding and vision (74%) followed by the availability of both administrative factors and laws & regulations (70%) each. The findings also showed that IT infrastructure, human competencies, and awareness are available with (68%). The findings also showed that Palestinian internal divide, low involvement of both key senior staff and civil society in the planning and implementation process are among the most prevalent obstacles. Moreover, the findings showed that there is a lack of administrative and legal support to cover all aspects of e-government and a lack of awareness of its availability and importance among Palestinian people. The study highlighted the necessity to unite both the strategy and efforts between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to ensure better implementation. It also recommended making senior management in the ministries more involved as well as establishing laws that are more relevant and legislation sufficient to cover issues related to e-government. It also recommended the need for more administrative reform and sufficient provision of technical requirements, and development of human resources. Finally, it recommended enhancing the public awareness about e-government and its services

This paper deals with transformations having occurred in Yakut culture from the second half of the 18th century to the 1920s-1930s and concerning both material and spiritual culture. According to the authors, Yakut culture came a long way from traditions to modernity over this extensive period. In the first place, these transformations are associated with reforms carried out in the political order and economy, namely, the provincial reform of 1775 (constitution of the Yakutia Region), the First Yasak (fur tribute) Reform of 1766-1769, agrarian reforms of the 1770s and M. M. Speransky's Siberian Reform of 1822, among others. This research study used the retrospective and comparative methods. Special attention was given to the modernization of culture, the transformation and disappearance of traditional forms of culture. What is meant by modernization is a shift away from tradition to the formation of mass culture and the establishment of civil society institutions. The authors made for the first time in research history an attempt to identify the critical periods, which were of multi-stage nature, of this process. The first stage relates to the second half of the 18th century when innovations in material and spiritual culture started to penetrate Yakut culture not yet influenced by the Russian expansion. The second stage connected with the reforms implemented in the 1820s introduced into Yakut culture certain elements borrowed from Russian culture and assimilated by the Yakuts. At the turn of the 20th century, the third stage is marked by the widespread modernization of many facets of Yakut culture. Finally, the fourth stage dating back to the first decades of Soviet rule is characterized by intensive modernization which led to the disappearance of a great number of traditions and the emergence of various forms of mass culture. The abovementioned stages highlight the historic milestones in the development of Yakut culture influenced by modernization. The present paper examines for the first-time transformations having taken place in specific areas of Yakut culture such as mundanity and art. The authors conclude that these transformations were evolutionary and unmarked by any regrettable incidents.

In recent decades self-regulation of politicians and political parties has become less acceptable and public control over the design of such rules and their evolutionary mechanisms gains paramount importance. In line with this statement my cumulative dissertation presents four papers on transparency regulation of political finance and conflict of interest. It not only conceptually defines and embeds these types of regulation into the overall anti-corruption regulatory framework but also provides interested readers with a theoretical framework on why countries change these sensitive rules and hereby often go for various designs. This thesis develops further already classical theoretical approaches of neo-institutionalism used to study party finance reforms by discussing the importance of international factors and existing regulatory traditions. To test the theoretical propositions, I construct original data sets inter alia from the evaluation and compliance reports provided by the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) as well as from personally conducted in-depth interviews. Although political finance regimes, at least in Europe, in general tend to converge, we lack empirical evidence that countries adopt similar transparency regulation on political finance and conflict of interest. A detailed discussion of findings concludes that domestic political competition to a large extent determines the launch of reforms, apart from scandals. Also, international organisations, like GRECO, contribute to the reforms´ initiation by drawing public attention to political corruption upon examining loopholes in existing practices, and to some extent empowering civil society in combating corruption. Political parties which favour transparency reforms and control the veto points as well as successful regulatory experience in similar contexts significantly affect the positive outcome of reforms. Overall, the outcome of transparency reforms is a product of domestic competition between political parties, costs of domestic implementation of these reforms as well as reputational benefits and loses for the country in the international arena. Thereby, democratic dissent seems to be the central mechanism for diminishing corruption and establishment of an effective anti-corruption regulatory framework. Suggestions for future research round up each of the chapters.

The recent emphasis on the role of tropical forests in facing climate change has made forest decentralization debates more relevant than ever. Discussions on multilevel governance, polycentricity, and nested approaches to governance surround the central question, ever more pertinent considering global environmental change, of who holds the mandate over forests. Different levels of government, as well as private and civil society actors (companies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), indigenous peoples, and local communities), compete over the rights of ownership, administration, and management of forest landscapes—decisions with a crucial impact on land use, land use change and the future of forests. Understanding the relations among different levels of governance, and government specifically, is essential to understand how carbon forestry has engaged with decentralization and the role of subnational governments (SNGs) in developing practical land use solutions. We draw on current trends in the forestry decentralization literature to ask: (i) has carbon forestry opened new opportunities for SNGs to support the sustainable governance of forest landscapes? (ii) have meaningful powers been assigned to SNGs in support of democratic processes of decision-making over forest landscapes? and (iii) is carbon forestry influencing the relationships between levels of government in a way that challenges unequal power relations? By examining carbon forestry projects and forestry decentralization processes across five countries (Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Tanzania and Vietnam) with carbon forestry initiatives, we demonstrate how the role of SNGs is circumscribed by existing forestry decentralization trends. Decentralization initiatives in recent decades have provided SNGs with new mandates to manage forests, but new attributions do not always imply meaningful powers. The implementation of carbon forestry projects is molded by pre-existing power relations that shape the impacts of forestry decentralization on livelihoods and forest ecosystems. We find that carbon forestry, with both centralizing and decentralizing tendencies, operates within the spaces left by existing power dynamics that mold the way transfers of power are put into practice. Jurisdictional approaches will need to negotiate with this context to be able to push forward sustainable pathways.

The recent emphasis on the role of tropical forests in facing climate change has made forest decentralization debates more relevant than ever. Discussions on multilevel governance, polycentricity, and nested approaches to governance surround the central question, ever more pertinent considering global environmental change, of who holds the mandate over forests. Different levels of government, as well as private and civil society actors (companies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), indigenous peoples, and local communities), compete over the rights of ownership, administration, and management of forest landscapes—decisions with a crucial impact on land use, land use change and the future of forests. Understanding the relations among different levels of governance, and government specifically, is essential to understand how carbon forestry has engaged with decentralization and the role of subnational governments (SNGs) in developing practical land use solutions. We draw on current trends in the forestry decentralization literature to ask: (i) has carbon forestry opened new opportunities for SNGs to support the sustainable governance of forest landscapes? (ii) have meaningful powers been assigned to SNGs in support of democratic processes of decision-making over forest landscapes? and (iii) is carbon forestry influencing the relationships between levels of government in a way that challenges unequal power relations? By examining carbon forestry projects and forestry decentralization processes across five countries (Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Tanzania and Vietnam) with carbon forestry initiatives, we demonstrate how the role of SNGs is circumscribed by existing forestry decentralization trends. Decentralization initiatives in recent decades have provided SNGs with new mandates to manage forests, but new attributions do not always imply meaningful powers. The implementation of carbon forestry projects is molded by pre-existing power relations that shape the impacts of forestry decentralization on livelihoods and forest ecosystems. We find that carbon forestry, with both centralizing and decentralizing tendencies, operates within the spaces left by existing power dynamics that mold the way transfers of power are put into practice. Jurisdictional approaches will need to negotiate with this context to be able to push forward sustainable pathways.