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In this article the author discusses aspects of the article "Disenfranchisement of Countries and Civil Society at COP-15 in Copenhagen," by Ian McGregor within the issue. The author offers two main criticisms of McGregor's report regarding the influence of developing countries and civil society participation at the COP-15 summit meeting negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark, including restricted access and a lock out of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

What happened to non-governmental organizations' participation at the COP-15 round of climate negotiations in Copenhagen? Although the climate regime has been seen as relatively open to civil society, everything changed in Copenhagen and civil society became increasingly disenfranchised. This article discusses the three main forces that led to civil society's disenfranchisement at this round of the climate negotiations: increased registration, poor planning by the Danish organizers and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat, and the merging of movements. I conclude by discussing implications of the increase in civil society disenfranchisement to the climate regime and to the study of global environmental politics more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]