International Journal of Social Science Research (IJSSR)

Institutional Layering without Supranational Authority: Organising Climate Cooperation in South Asia

Climate governance has evolved into a dispersed and multi-level system in which authority extends beyond formal multilateral institutions. Yet existing scholarship continues to associate effective leadership with institutional density and delegated authority, leaving underexplored how cooperation is organised in regions where such conditions are absent. This paper addresses that gap by examining climate governance under conditions of weak regional institutionalisation. It argues that cooperation in such contexts does not consolidate within multilateral frameworks nor fragment into ad hoc arrangements. Instead, it is structured through institutional layering—the allocation of governance functions across multilateral, minilateral, and bilateral modalities, each performing distinct roles under constraint. This configuration enables the expansion of cooperation without corresponding growth in supranational authority. The argument is developed through the case of cross-border renewable electricity integration in South Asia, a region characterised by shallow delegation, political fragmentation, and asymmetrical interdependence. Drawing on evidence of electricity trade, infrastructure development, and institutional arrangements, the analysis shows that cooperation has deepened through infrastructural and contractual embedding, while regional institutional capacity has remained limited. The findings suggest that climate leadership under weak regionalism is modality-dependent: it operates through the organisation of cooperation across institutional forms rather than through institutional consolidation. The paper contributes to climate governance scholarship by reframing the relationship between cooperation and institutional structure, and to the study of rising powers by highlighting adaptation under constraint as a distinct form of strategic statecraft.