vorgelegt von

I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who supported me so that I could complete this work. In the first place, thanks are due to the senior researchers who supervised me. To Thomas Straubhaar, Carsten Hefeker and Axel Michaelowa-all affiliated with the Hamburg Institute of International Economics. Without the intensive discussions we had I would not have been able to progress the way I did. My colleagues at the Department of World Economy contributed in a similar way. Acknowledgements are also due to a number of PhD-students from all over Europe who came (and still come9 together in a series of PhD-workshops on climate policy. The sharing of the ups and downs during the time of research and the discussions on various issues inspired not only my work but also helped to improve my awareness and understanding of the complexity of international climate policy. I will be failing if I do not thank my family- and my parents in particular- for making this thesis possible. It is the result of their continuous support and their understanding for whatever I plan to do- for already thirty years now