Globalization and the Transformation of Environmental Governance

Abstract

In this introduction, the editors suggest a framework for the study of globalization and environmental governance, review important contemporary developments in supranational environmental governance, and introduce individual contributions to the special issue. Held, McGrew, Goldblatt, and Perraton's distinction between hyperglobalist, skeptical, and transformationalist perspectives on dynamics of globalization is useful in the study of the transformations in environmental governance around the world today. Three important innovations are examined: the development of supranational environmental institutions, increased use of market-based regulatory instruments, and the rise of global civil society involvement. Emergent transformations in global environmental governance are not inevitable, and neither are they sufficient for sustainability. Rather, they are constantly threatened by the interests and actions of economic actors and constrained as well by politics, geography, and global inequality. Persistent efforts by interested parties are required to retain salience, maintain momentum, and extend effectiveness of the new forms of environmental governance.

Ecological Development and Global Climate Change: A Cross-National Study of Kyoto Protocol Ratification

“…Structural change generally proceeds incrementally, but ''it is not necessarily a process of change that is evolutionary, deterministic, irreversible or smooth'' (Murphy 2001, 3, our emphasis). Research shows that countries vary considerably in the degree to which ecologically modernized institutions are present (Spaargaren and Mol 1992;Sonnenfeld and Mol 2002a). Some scholars suggest that EMT is applicable only for developed countries (Fisher and Freudenburg 2001).…”

Hybrid Arrangements as a Form of Ecological Modernization: The Case of the US Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grants

“…For example, Jänicke and Jörgens describe how environmental policy in Europe shifted away from the top-down approach of the 1960s and 70s as environmental organizations and industry groups began to interact and participate in policymaking [11]. This process of political modernization brought about a transition from a state-centered bureaucratic policy model to a more decentralized, consensus-oriented model of environmental governance [34,75].…”

“…In Bäckstrand's words, these partnerships "signify a shift to 'new' modes of governance, which build on non-hierarchical steering and are characterized by decentralized, voluntary, market-oriented interaction between public and private actors" [93] (pp. [74][75]. At the same time, scholars have explored the increasing agency of non-state actors and private authority in climate governance at multiple levels [94,95].…”

Globalization and the environment

“…The globalization of governance includes formal international agreements such as the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which curtailed the use of chemicals that deplete the Earth's protective ozone layer; supranational institutions such as the European Union, which has recently proposed regulations that will shift onto manufacturers the burden of proof for safety of industrial chemicals released into the environment; 5 and informal governance by 'global civil society' (Lipschutz and Mayer, 1996;Sonnenfeld and Mol, 2002) and by decentralized 'networks' encompassing both state and non-state actors (Haas, 2003).…”