Showing papers in "Global Environmental Politics in 2003"
TL;DR: The notion of "civic science" is used interchangeably with participatory, citizen, stakeholder and democratic science, which are all catch words that signify various attempts to increase public participation in the production and use of scientific knowledge.
Abstract: The essay reviews the notion of “civic science” in global environmental governance and how it is articulated in international relations, science studies, democratic theory and sustainability science. Civic science is used interchangeably with participatory, citizen, stakeholder and democratic science, which are all catch words that signify various attempts to increase public participation in the production and use of scientific knowledge. Three rationales for civic science are identified: restoring public trust in science, re-orienting science towards coping with the complexity of environmental problems and installing democratic governance of science. A central proposition is that the promotion of civic science needs to be coupled with a theoretical understanding of its institutional, normative and epistemological challenges. The science-politics interface needs to be reframed to include the triangular interaction between scientific experts, policy-makers and citizens.
520 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the signiacance of private environmental governance (PEG) for International Relations, seeking a better understanding of the signicaance of PEG for international relations.
Abstract: •This article is concerned with private environmental governance at the global level. It is widely acknowledged that private actors play an increasing role in global environmental politics. Corporations lobby states during negotiations on multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), featuring prominently in the implementation of international accords. They also interact with each other, as well as with states and other nonstate actors, to create institutional arrangements that perform environmental governance functions. The rise of such private forms of global governance raises a number of questions for the study of global environmental politics: How does private governance interact with statecentric governance? In what ways are the roles/capacities of states and nonstate actors affected by private governance? Does the rise of private governance signify a shift in the ideological underpinnings of global environmental governance? This article explores these questions, seeking a better understanding of the signiacance of private environmental governance (PEG) for International Relations.
364 citations
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168 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that accounts of global environmental governance grounded in orthodox International Relations lack an analysis of agency and power relations, and argued that the potentiality of radical social movement agency is best understood through a neo-Gramscian approach, which identifies global civil society as simultaneously a site for the maintenance of, as well as challenges to, hegemony.
Abstract: In line with a critical theoretical perspective, which sees global environmental governance as embedded in the wider neoliberal global political economy, this article argues that accounts of global environmental governance grounded in orthodox International Relations lack an analysis of agency and power relations. This is particularly visible in the problematic assertion that global civil society—where social movements are said to be located—presents a democratizing force for global environmental governance. Through a critical conceptualization of agency the article analyzes social movements (including NGOs) and the challenges to global environmental governance, with an illustration of movements campaigning against toxic waste. It suggests that the potentiality of radical social movement agency is best understood through a neo-Gramscian approach, which identifies global civil society as simultaneously a site for the maintenance of, as well as challenges to, hegemony. It explores the extent to which global...
136 citations
TL;DR: The concept of global environmental governance has become one of the key themes in global environmental politics (GEP). Much of the strength of the concept derives from its capacity to convey a sense of an overarching set of arrangements beyond the speciacities of individual issue areas or thematic concerns that encompasses a broad range of political foci as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Governance has become one of the key themes in global environmental politics (GEP). Much of the strength of the concept derives from its capacity to convey a sense of an overarching set of arrangements beyond the speciacities of individual issue areas or thematic concerns that encompasses a broad range of political foci. Governance as a concept also connects GEP to more general patterns of global politics. It does this not only by showing how broader global political forces and trends shape GEP (narrowly understood), but also how the environment is increasingly central to the institutional arrangements governing global life. However, there is still great variation in how the term global environmental governance (GEG) is used. In the inaugural issue of Global Environmental Politics two sets of themed articles explored the general patterns of governance in GEP. There were, however, important differences between them in terms of what GEG was taken to be. In one set, the debate focused on whether an overarching World Environmental Organization is needed.1 As a green version of the debates surrounding the Commission on Global Governance, GEG here is taken to mean a programmatic, reformist orientation to the institutional arrangements in global politics, principally the UN system. Such a conception of GEG informed the run up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD, Johannesburg, 2002), with a ministerial-level group meeting on precisely this question; how to reform the UN machinery to deliver more effective environmental governance. In debates within this group, governance was expressed in terms of concerns about the fragmentation of existing environmen-
134 citations
TL;DR: The Oslo-Potsdam solution has been criticised by Oran Young as mentioned in this paper, who argued that for some of the most profound problems there is no escape; we need to engage in counterfactual reasoning, and we need some notion of the "best" solution achievable (such as the collective optimum).
Abstract: In international regimes research, one of the most important questions is how effective regimes are in delivering what they were established and designed to achieve. Perhaps the most explicit and rigorous formula for measuring regime effectiveness is the so-called Oslo-Potsdam solution. This formula has recently been criticized by Oran Young, himself one of the founding fathers of regime analysis. The present article reviews and responds to his critique and provides several extensions of the Oslo-Potsdam solution. Our response may be summarized in three points. First, we recognize that difficult problems remain unsolved. Second, we argue that for some of the most profound problems there is no escape; we need to engage in counterfactual reasoning, and we need some notion of the "best" solution achievable (such as the "collective optimum"). Finally, we would welcome efforts to further develop and refine the Oslo-Potsdam formula as well as alternative approaches.
119 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that, beyond marginal environmental improvement to sustainability, beyond cooperation and efficiency to sufficiency, analysts of political and ecological economy take seriously critical trends in environmental degradation and accept social responsibility for contributing to the reversal of such trends, they must go beyond the descriptive and predictive to the prescriptive.
Abstract: If analysts of political and ecological economy take seriously critical trends in environmental degradation and accept social responsibility for contributing to the reversal of such trends, they must go beyond the descriptive and predictive to the prescriptive, beyond marginal environmental improvement to sustainability, beyond cooperation and efficiency to sufficiency. Cooperation and efficiency principles are useful when biophysical underpinnings remain intact. Otherwise, sufficiency principles—restraint, precaution, polluter pays, zero, reverse onus—address the defining characteristics of current trends, namely environmental criticality, risk export, and responsibility evasion. They engage overconsumption. They compel decision-makers to ask when too much resource use or too little regeneration risks important values such as ecological integrity and social cohesion, when material gains now preclude material gains in the future, when consumer gratification or investor reward threatens economic security, ...
117 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that institutional linkages are potential causal pathways by which policy making and implementation are influenced, and propose a typology of governance and actor linkages that can be operationalized in empirical research.
Abstract: The growing literature about linkages between international institutions remains littered with proposed taxonomies. Most of these taxonomies are conceptual, rather than empirically driven, remaining too vague to offer guidance for empirical research regarding linkages as possible avenues of influence across international institutions. This article argues that institutional linkages are potential causal pathways by which policy making and implementation are influenced. It supplements concepts of structural governance linkages, which are common in the existing literature, with attention to agent-oriented actor linkages. The article offers a typology of governance and actor linkages that can be operationalized in empirical research. It discusses governance and actor linkages between policy making within the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution and the European Union. The paper argues that research on international environmental cooperation would benefit from greater empirical attention to lin...
93 citations
TL;DR: The United States, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is not going to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in the foreseeable future, yet, a number of countries have decided to stay on the Kyoto track as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The United States, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is not going to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in the foreseeable future. Yet, a number of countries have decided to stay on the Kyoto track. Four main explanations for this apparent puzzle are considered. The first is that remaining Annex I countries still expect the Kyoto Protocol to reduce global warming sufficiently to outweigh the economic costs of implementation. The second is that the parties, by implementing the treaty, hope to induce non-parties to follow suit at some later stage. A third hypothesis is that EU climate institutions have generated a momentum that has made a change of course difficult. Finally, Kyoto's persistence may be linked to the European Union's desire to stand forth as an international leader in the field of climate politics. We conclude that the first two explanations have little explanatory power, but find the latter two more promising.
79 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the disjuncture between the regulatory problems generated by the rapid development of, and subsequent trade in crop "genetically modified organisms" (GMOs), and the ability of existing international governance mechanisms to manage the associated human and ecological risks.
Abstract: This article focuses on the disjuncture between the regulatory problems generated by the rapid development of, and subsequent trade in crop “genetically modified organisms” (GMOs), and the ability of existing international governance mechanisms to manage the associated human and ecological risks The article assesses how the globalization of economic activity is reconfiguring patterns of production, investment, regulation and political authority as they relate to the governance of biotechnology
It is argued that our collective ability to provide social and environmental protection from GMO-related risks must be understood in relation to the global economic processes which create the technology and influence the policy processes set up to manage it This requires an enhanced understanding of the reciprocal relationships between intra- and inter-firm decision-making and global decision-making
66 citations
TL;DR: The Oslo-Potsdam approach to regime effectiveness has much to recommend it, especially in conceptual terms as discussed by the authors, and it yields effectiveness scores for individual regimes that range from 0 to 1 and facilitate comparative analysis.
Abstract: The Oslo-Potsdam approach to regime effectiveness has much to recommend it, especially in conceptual terms. It yields effectiveness scores for individual regimes that range from 0 to 1 and that facilitate comparative analysis. Yet the revised version of the approach set forth in Hovi et al. (2003, this volume) fails to solve the fundamental problems evident in earlier versions regarding the no-regime outcome (NR) and the collective optimum (CO). Nor does this version address the relative merits of the Oslo-Potsdam solution and other approaches to regime consequences that do not rely on direct measurements of regime effectiveness as the dependent variable. As a result, the argument that some measure of effectiveness—however faulty—is better than none is not persuasive. Even so, the debate over the Oslo-Potsdam solution has proven fruitful. Our understanding of the issues involved in evaluating regime consequences has surely grown as a product of this debate.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the benefits of regime analysis can only be realized if it avoids becoming an arena for inter-governmental rational choice theorizing and takes institutions seriously.
Abstract: This article starts with the observation that in the study and practice of global environmental governance (GEG) institutions and organizations are often conflated. For regime theorists they are not the same thing and the argument is advanced that, despite its failings, the regime/institutional approach continues to have significant analytical advantages. However, the benefits of regime analysis can only be realized if it avoids becoming an arena for inter-governmental rational choice theorizing and takes institutions seriously. One way of doing this is to utilize John Searle's “general theory of institutional facts.” Searle's work provides the inspiration for a re-consideration of the bases, components, domain and explanation of global environmental regimes. It is argued that it could yield a new institutional approach which overcomes some of the problems of existing regime analyses in ways appropriate to the study of multilevel environmental governance.
TL;DR: This article provided a first-hand account of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and an analysis of how to advance environmentalist concerns in the post-Jo'burg era.
Abstract: This article provides a first-hand account of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and an analysis of how to advance environmentalist concerns in the post-Jo'burg era. It reviews some...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the process through which one international environmental management standard (ISO 14001) was created and analyzed its perceived legitimacy and efficacy among developing country stakeholders relative to those from developed countries.
Abstract: What is the impact on perceptions of legitimacy and efficacy when key stake-holders are absent during the creation of international standards? Can these international standards setting bodies adequately address the needs of all countries when often working in the absence of developing countries? This study examines the process through which one international environmental management standard (ISO 14001) was created and analyzes its perceived legitimacy and efficacy among developing country stakeholders relative to those from developed countries. Data for this project come from interviews with 42 delegates to the ISO 14000 standards-drafting sessions in Malaysia and 133 surveys of ISO 14001 certified firms in 16 countries. The article concludes that stakeholder absence impacts both legitimacy and efficacy of ISO 14001 in interesting and unexpected ways.
TL;DR: The role of nonstate actors in international environmental politics has been given increased scholarly attention during the last decade as mentioned in this paper, with a particular focus on the competition for influence characterizing the relationship between the scientific community and the environmental and animal rights movement.
Abstract: The role of nonstate actors in international environmental politics has been given increased scholarly attention during the last decade. While most analyses are focused on direct nonstate influence at the international level, one main objective of this article is to develop a multi-level approach that allows analysis of nonstate influence channeled via the domestic decision making level. The point of departure for the analysis is the International Whaling Commission (IWC) during the period from 1970 to 1990, with a particular focus on the competition for influence characterizing the relationship between the scientific community and the environmental and animal rights movement. The analysis shows that domestic channels of influence may be equally, or even more important than channels of influence linked to the international decision making level. In the case of the IWC, for instance, the environmental and animal rights movement succeeded in mobilizing domestic public support, particularly in the United Sta...
TL;DR: McMurtry and Korten as mentioned in this paper applied this analysis to forests at two levels: the global forests regime (that is, public international law that seeks to govern forest use); and the broader structures and processes of global governance that affect forest use.
Abstract: John McMurtry and David Korten argue that by systemically depleting its social and environmental hosts, global capitalism has reached a carcinogenic stage. While there are life-protective forces in global governance, many are rendered ineffective by the routine functioning of global capitalism. The article applies this analysis to forests at two levels: the global forests regime (that is, public international law that seeks to govern forest use); and the broader structures and processes of global governance that affect forest use. The set of interactions between the two constitutes global forest governance. It is argued that in global forest governance carcinogenic life degrading forces prevail over healthy life conservation forces. The result is worldwide forest degradation. In this respect global forest governance represents a pathogenic invasion of the world's forests.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a theoretical framework to explain the domestic responses of developing countries to global environmental concerns, drawing on research in Costa Rica and Bolivia, they situate the impact of global environmentalism in the context of complex, decades-long domestic struggles to create effective institutions.
Abstract: National policy reform is a prerequisite for improved stewardship of the global environment and figures prominently among the goals of international environmental diplomacy and transnational advocacy campaigns. Yet research on global environmental politics has proceeded absent models of policy change in developing countries, where most of the planet's people, land, and biological diversity are found. In this article I present a theoretical framework to explain the domestic responses of developing countries to global environmental concerns. Drawing on research in Costa Rica and Bolivia, I situate the impact of global environmentalism in the context of complex, decades-long domestic struggles to create effective institutions. When international outcomes depend on protracted reforms in nations that are sovereign yet poor, policy change is driven by actors who successfully pair international resources (technical, financial, and ideational) with the domestic political resources needed to see through major poli...
TL;DR: In this paper, the potential for women's movements and networks to influence the principles and practices of global environmental governance (GEG) was examined, and it was argued that women are uniquely placed to oppose the dominant norms informing GEG; and that women's participation would, in consequence, be crucial to the achievement of equitable and environmentally sound forms of governance.
Abstract: Environmental governance may be distinguished from environmental management by the implication that, in the former, some form of participatory process is involved. Here, the focus is upon the potential for women's movements and networks to influence the principles and practices of global environmental governance (GEG). It is contended that, in principle, women are uniquely placed to oppose the dominant norms informing GEG; and that women's participation would, in consequence, be crucial to the achievement of equitable and environmentally sound forms of governance. In practice, however, a number of factors combine to create divisions between women, and hence to impede transnational mobilization by women around environmental issues. This article examines these issues.
TL;DR: The authors traces the history of global nuclear commerce, as well as recent attempts to revive the industry and suggest that efforts to relegitimize the state-industry-power complex by way of nuclear commerce and associated discourse may have some success, but this will be tempered by sustained opposition to the centralizing tendencies of nuclear power and continued safety concerns.
Abstract: With calls for the renewal of the nuclear energy industry in the United States and elsewhere, the international political economy of this troubled industry assumes increased importance. Though technical difficulties have plagued the industry for many decades, it is the equally problematic task of establishing public trust on which the article focuses. Arguably, with the advent of widespread concern over global warming, nuclear power offers a low-emission alternative. Yet safety, security, and political concerns color this highly centralized energy source, as well as its export-based political economy. The article traces the history of global nuclear commerce, as well as recent attempts to revive the industry. I suggest that efforts to re-legitimize the state-industry-power complex by way of nuclear commerce and associated discourse may have some success, but this will be tempered by sustained opposition to the centralizing tendencies of nuclear power and continued safety concerns.
TL;DR: Localization as discussed by the authors is a process that reverses the trend of globalization by discriminating in favor of the local by increasing control of the economy by communities and nation states, and the result should be an increase in community cohesion, a reduction in poverty and inequality, and an improvement in livelihoods, social infrastructure and environmental protection.
Abstract: Globalization is occurring increasingly at the expense of social, environmental and labor improvements, and is causing rising inequality for most of the world. Localization, by contrast, is a process that reverses the trend of globalization by discriminating in favor of the local. The policies bringing about localization are those which increase control of the economy by communities and nation states. The result should be an increase in community cohesion, a reduction in poverty and inequality, and an improvement in livelihoods, social infrastructure and environmental protection, and hence an increase in the all-important sense of security.
TL;DR: The Oslo-Potsdam solution as discussed by the authors offers a con-ceptual framework producing a single effectiveness score bounded between 0 and 1 which permits comparisons across regimes, and Young is correct in pointing out that there are multiple alternativeprocedures for evaluating regime effectiveness.
Abstract: Fromourpoint of view, the exchange has been very rewarding. In this rejoinder, we brie‘ ysummarize our own position and identify some remaining issues where ourviews seem to differ from Oran Young’ s.First, we are encouraged by Young’ s evaluation that there are some attrac-tive features about the Oslo-Potsdam solution— in particular that it offers a con-ceptual framework producing a single effectiveness score bounded between 0and 1 which permits comparisons across regimes.Second, Young is correct in pointing out that there are multiple alternativeprocedures for evaluating regime
TL;DR: A number of international regimes have emerged in the last thirty years contributing to the global regulation of pesticides, and these developments bear testimony to the work of pressure groups and epistemic communities in highlighting the environmentally polluting effects of hazardous pesticides, to which the regimes have contributed as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: A number of international regimes have emerged in the last thirty years contributing to the global regulation of pesticides. These developments bear testimony to the work of pressure groups and epistemic communities in highlighting the environmentally polluting effects of hazardous pesticides, to which the regimes have contributed. However these regimes were only achievable because they also satisfied other values, given greater priority at the global level. Human health and global trade values were also at stake, rather than just the conservation of the non-human environment. This global picture is in contrast to the situation at the domestic level, where environmental values are prominent in the regulation of pesticides. It is more difficult for environmental values to be prioritized at the global level but the development of a global civil society has put environmental values on the international agenda and has led to them becoming more influential in the future development of international regimes. Th...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluate the effectiveness of international institutions and their efforts to target state capacity as the mechanism to improve compliance and effectiveness are often misguided unless their efforts are also directed towards enhancing societal capacity.
Abstract: A large literature exists regarding explanations for the emergence of cooperation in the Mediterranean basin, but there is less information regarding the effectiveness of Mediterranean cooperation and its programs. Through a case study of Israel's implementation and compliance with the Barcelona Convention and the Mediterranean Action Plan, we evaluate the effectiveness of these international institutions. We find that international institutions and their efforts to target state capacity as the mechanism to improve compliance and effectiveness are often misguided unless their efforts are also directed towards enhancing societal capacity. We then explicate the way in which societal actors such as environmental NGOs can improve domestic compliance and effectiveness. These findings are illuminated through an assessment of the activities of several environmental NGOs in Israel to target Mediterranean pollution and coastal management policies. Where NGOs have taken action, they have often proved successful in ...
TL;DR: With less politics and more money, Italy's scientific community could take its rightful place among the world's élite.
Abstract: With less politics and more money, Italy's scientific community could take its rightful place among the world's élite.
TL;DR: In this paper, two common themes in the contemporary discussion of global environmental politics are the need to deal with the causes of anthropogenic climate change and the environmental effects of globalization, and many analysts argue that the best way to do this is to increase their cost.
Abstract: �� Two common themes in the contemporary discussion of global environmental politics are the need to deal with the causes of anthropogenic climate change and the environmental effects of globalization. Dealing with the causes of climate change will require decreasing the use of fossil fuels, and many analysts argue that the best way to do this is to increase their cost. This would in turn have the effect of increasing the cost of transportation, and therefore the costs of trade. With respect to the environmental effects of globalization, there is a school of thought within the study of the political economy of ecology that argues that globalization is a signiacant contributing factor to environmental degradation. The solution proposed by many who subscribe to this school is localization, a rearranging of patterns of economic interaction that promotes economic interaction regionally rather than globally. At arst glance, these two themes seem mutually compatible. Increasing the costs of transportation should increase the cost of long-distance transportation, making local and regional exchange economically relatively more efacient. But this mutual compatibility breaks down upon closer examination. Increasing fuel prices raises the cost of transportation, but does not do so equally across different modes of transportation, because some modes are much more fuelintensive than others. Transportation by sea has historically been, and continues to be, more fuel-efacient than transportation by land. Increasing fuel costs therefore favor sea transport over land transport. In order to understand what a future of higher transportation costs might look like, therefore, the model to look at is not the future proposed by the localists, it is the past, when transportation costs were higher than they are now. In the past, patterns of trade favored global seaborne trade routes over trade within land-based regions. Globalization and the Environment
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the significance of virtual communities whose formation has been facilitated by advances in communications technologies, and discuss the evolving role and autonomy of national governments in relation to processes of globalization, set within the context of the challenges faced by governments to coordinate global responses to environmental degradation.
Abstract: This article examines the significance of virtual communities whose formation has been facilitated by advances in communications technologies. This involves discussing the evolving role and autonomy of national governments in relation to processes of globalization, set within the context of the challenges faced by governments to coordinate global responses to environmental degradation. The Principality of Sealand, the Global State of Waveland and the Dominion of Melchizedek are discussed. It is argued that it is less their claims to state-hood that is significant but rather the ability to act autonomously that they represent. Governance is considered as a process that extends beyond national policy decision-making. This more inclusive approach pays more attention to both civil society and, in relation to advances in telecommunications, the methods various actors utilize to further their agendas.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the implementation of Russia's international obligations in fisheries management, nuclear safety and air pollution control, and the main theoretical question is to what extent the observed level of compliance with international agreements can be explained by the nature of the problem and agreements at hand.
Abstract: The article discusses implementation of Russia's international obligations in fisheries management, nuclear safety and air pollution control. Empirical evidence is taken from the country's northwestern region. A main theoretical question is to what extent the observed level of compliance with international agreements can be explained by the nature of the problem and agreements at hand, and by the implementation activities of public authorities and target groups. The implementation performance in the case of fisheries management can be explained mainly by both positive and negative elements in public authorities' implementation efforts. In air pollution control, the nature of the commitments, i.e. the very limited need for behavioral changes, is the main explanation for implementation performance. The picture is a bit more complex in the case of nuclear safety where all the factors reviewed have had a moderate or considerable effect on implementation performance. Notably, institutional conflict at the fede...
TL;DR: The main thrust of this article is to make the argument that West Africa is too poor to suffer the same environmental consequences as other regions heavily engaged in cotton production and that any way out of poverty is intrinsically linked to increased environmental degradation.
Abstract: �� • This article is concerned with the increasing dependence on cotton in West African political economies. It brings out linkages between local agricultural problems and global institutional frameworks in the face of the dramatic environmental impact of cotton farming elsewhere and the potential future degradation in store for West African environments. This is a very acute problem as production of cotton is increasing sharply in West Africa while world cotton prices have fallen dramatically. This fall is a result of substantial cotton subsidies in the US and EU. The main thrust of this article is to make the argument that West Africa is too poor to suffer the same environmental consequences as other regions heavily engaged in cotton production. Further, this poverty is largely perpetuated by trends from outside the region and any way out of poverty is intrinsically linked to increased environmental degradation. Thus an ironic situation exists in which poverty is actually “good” for the environment and the way out of poverty is paved with environmental problems. This article highlights cotton production in West Africa as an example of an international environmental problem that cannot easily be captured with the traditional focus of international environmental politics, namely the importance of institutional frameworks. It shows the interdependencies between trade, economic, agricultural and environmental policies and the need for cross-fertilization between environmental and other policy issues. Rather than making a quantitative or empiricist argument for economic or environmental trends, this article is mainly concerned with showing the linkages and complexities between environment and development in the case of cotton as one of the biggest challenges to 21 st century global environmental politics. The individual segments of the argument made here are well known on their own. However, they are rarely brought together for a holistic view. West African countries, with the exception of Ghana, can be found towards the bottom of the UNDP Human Development Index. They are largely primary commodity producers and are predominantly agricultural economies. West Africa in general, but particularly Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso and also Chad,
TL;DR: The Earthscan Reader as mentioned in this paper provides an overview of the state of the literature on this issue rather than to probe a particular aspect of it or put forward a particular argument, but the volume succeeds well.
Abstract: The relationship among the international trade regime, environmental regulation, and the concept of sustainable development is one that is the focus of considerable attention among both academics and negotiators. There has been considerable evolution in the discussion of this issue in the past decade or so, from the trade-is-good vs. trade-is-bad debate of that era to a considerably more nuanced discussion today. Three recent volumes that participate in this discussion do so in different ways, and provide both a variety of perspectives on the issue and a good overview of the state of the debate. None of the volumes focus exclusively on the general relationship among trade, sustainable development, and the environment, but nonetheless taken together they generate three common themes that come out of the current state of the literature. The Earthscan Reader, edited by Kevin Gallagher and Jacob Werksman, would seem on the face of it to be the volume most focused on the interrelationship in question here. This volume is a reader, intended to provide an overview of the state of the literature on this issue rather than to probe a particular aspect of it or put forward a particular argument. In this aim, the volume succeeds well. It is in fact broader than the title indicates; it might be more accurately titled Globalization, the International Economy, and Sustainable Development. On speciacally trade-related issues, it has chapters that cover investment rules, intellectual property rules, and health and safety rules as well as discussions of WTO dispute resolution and the relationship between the WTO and Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). With respect to globalization more broadly, it has chapters on the environmental policy race to the bottom, the