Power and Politics in the World-System

Abstract

While various researchers and practitioners agree that it will be hard to restructure our current global and local systems to adapt to and mitigate climate change, there is unsurprisingly great disagreement in how and if this can be accomplished and on what level(s), or if this is even what needs to be accomplished. These conversations have continued with the introduction of the “Anthropocene.” The dominant interpretation of the concept poses several solutions, one being national government restructuring to support environmental efforts and encouraging behavioral change. To join conversations that critically evaluate the conceptualization and implications of the Anthropocene with the world-systems perspective, we consider how the effectiveness of national environmental governance in reducing CO2 emissions varies by a country’s position in the global hierarchy. Using two-way fixed effects regression, this article tests how one aspect of this environmental governance, environmentally related taxes as a percentage of total tax revenue impacts CO2 emissions for 75 countries from 2000 to 2011. Given inequities in the global division of labor, which reinforce the dominance of higher-income countries and the exploitation of lower-income countries, we expect the effectiveness of environmental governance to vary tremendously by global position. Our results support the idea that the impact of environmental governance on CO2 emissions varies across countries at different income levels in the world-system, and this is due to external constraints. Such external influence is unsurprisingly neglected in dominant interpretations of the Anthropocene. In line with previous critical research, we argue that these external constraints undermine climate change solutions because they fail to address mutually reinforcing global, political, economic, and environmental inequalities.

Foreign Direct Investment and the Environment: A Cross‐National Analysis of Carbon Dioxide Emissions Per Capita, 1980–20181

“…Thus, the central contribution of this analysis is addressing major methodological differences across the social sciences, where I incorporate measures of FDI used in sociological studies of FDI and analyze three unique samples of countries that have attracted much social scientific attention. The analysis results appear to suggest that inward FDI stocks as a percentage of GDP are inversely associated with CO 2 emissions per capita in all three samples of countries, which slightly differs from the findings of previous cross-national studies that investigate the FDI and CO 2 emissions per capita relationship (Hargrove et al 2021;Jorgenson et al 2007;Shandra et al 2004;Sommer and Hargrove 2020). There are also scholarly conversations regarding domestic investment, especially in investigations of the environmental impacts of foreign investment as a major point of contention is that the source of investment does matter (e.g., Grimes and Kentor 2003;Jorgenson et al 2007;Kentor and Grimes 2006;Long et al 2017;McKinney 2014).…”

“…2007; Shandra et al. 2004; Sommer and Hargrove 2020). There are also scholarly conversations regarding domestic investment, especially in investigations of the environmental impacts of foreign investment as a major point of contention is that the source of investment does matter (e.g., Grimes and Kentor 2003; Jorgenson et al.…”

“…2021; Jorgenson 2012; Shandra et al. 2004; Sommer and Hargrove 2020; Stretesky and Lynch 2009), I posit that carbon dioxide emissions per capita better capture the logic of the various theoretical arguments outlined above than, say, measures of total CO 2 emissions. CO 2 emissions per capita measure the intensity of emissions.…”

“…The data also include carbon dioxide produced during consumption of solid, liquid, and gas fuels and gas flaring. In addition to many social scientific studies focusing on carbon dioxide emissions per capita (e.g., Ergas and York 2012;Hargrove et al 2021;Jorgenson 2012;Shandra et al 2004;Sommer and Hargrove 2020;Stretesky and Lynch 2009), I posit that carbon dioxide emissions per capita better capture the logic of the various theoretical arguments outlined above than, say, measures of total CO 2 emissions. CO 2 emissions per capita measure the intensity of emissions.…”

Green innovation and environmental quality in OECD countries: the mediating role of renewable energy and carbon taxes

“…Their research showed that rises in fuel prices, which may be viewed as a stand-in for fuel taxes, have a significant impact on the volume of maritime transport, the use of bunker fuel, and carbon emissions from the global shipping industry. Using environmental taxes as a percentage of overall tax revenue, Sommer and Hargrove ( 2020 ) looked at the connection between environmental governance and CO2 emissions for 75 different countries. According to their analysis, reduced CO2 emissions are related to better environmental governance, which is reflected in higher environmental levies.…”