Emerging Economies in Multilateral Environmental Agreements

Speaking of "emerging countries" seems to put these countries in a homogeneous category of States which could, then, be recognised some rights or be subjected to different obligations as developed, developing or the least developed States usually are, under differential treatment. However, when studying MEAs, it appears that no such legal State category is formally recognised. And yet, the creation of the BASIC group in the climate regime shows that these countries are in need of specific recognition. More disturbingly, this lacking of recognition seems to allow these countries to speak either as emerging or developing countries according to the matter that is under discussion; and that, could create great difficulties. Through an empirical approach of international multilateral agreements, this paper aims to assess the existence of an "emerging countries" category as well as the consequences of its lacking or recognition on the field