Global Environmental Politics


Book Description

Essays discuss environmental issues, interest groups, security and trade considerations, and future approaches to environmental policy




The Politics of Environmental Discourse


Book Description

Dr Hajer's path-breaking study opens the way for a better understanding of the environmental conflict, showing how language can be seen to shape our view of what environmental politics is really about and how those perceptions can differ between countries. The author identifies the emergence and increasing political importance of 'ecological modernization' as a new concept in the language of environmental politics. This concept, which has come to replace the antagonistic debates of the 1970s, stresses the opportunities of environmental policy for modernizing the economy and stimulating the technological innovation. Combining abstract social theory with detailed empirical analysis, Martin Hajer illustrates the social and political dynamics of ecological modernization in a detailed analysis of the acid rain controversies in Great Britain and the Netherlands. He concludes by reflecting on the institutional challenge of the environmental politics in the years to come.




Critical Environmental Politics


Book Description

The aim of this book is to review central concepts in the study of environmental politics and to open up new questions, problems, and research agendas in the field. The volume does so by drawing on a wide range of approaches from critical theory to poststructuralism, and spanning disciplines including international relations, geography, sociology, history, philosophy, anthropology, and political science. The 28 chapters cover a range of global and local studies, illustrations and cases. These range from the Cochabamba conference in Bolivia to climate camps in the UK; UN summits in Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg to climate migrants from Pacific islands; forests in Indonesia to Dutch energy governance reform; indigenous communities in Namibia to oil extraction in the Niger Delta; survivalist militias in the USA to Maasai tribesmen in Kenya. Rather than following a regional or issue-based (e.g. water, forests, pollution, etc) structure, the volume is organised in terms of key concepts in the field, including those which have been central to the social sciences for a long time (such as citizenship, commodification, consumption, feminism, justice, movements, science, security, the state, summits, and technology); those which have been at the heart of environmental politics for many years (including biodiversity, climate change, conservation, eco-centrism, limits, localism, resources, sacrifice, and sustainability); and many which have been introduced to these literatures and debates more recently (biopolitics, governance, governmentality, hybridity, posthumanism, risk, and vulnerability). Features and benefits of the book: Explains the most important concepts and theories in environmental politics. Reviews the core ideas behind crucial debates in environmental politics. Highlights the key thinkers – both classic and contemporary – for studying environmental politics. Provides original perspectives on the critical potential of the concepts for future research agendas as well as for the practice of environmental politics. Each chapter is written by leading international authors in their field. This exciting new volume will be essential textbook reading for all students of environmental politics, as well as provocatively presenting the field in a different light for more established researchers.




A History of Environmental Politics Since 1945


Book Description

Long before public life in America was enlivened with such dramatic sound bites as acid rain, global warming, rain forests and the ozone layer, Samuel P. Hays was well launched on his career of tracking this new phenomenon of environmental affairs. His first foray, a book on the early twentieth-century conservation movement, published in 1958, helped to launch environmental history as a field and his continued writings after coming to the University of Pittsburgh in 1960 helped to bring the field to full flower. Now he has produced another volley which promises to continue to energize this growing and dynamic field of study, A History of Environmental Politics since 1945. Hays provides an overview of environmental politics during the last half century, both its formative and its maturing years, that will be useful to those who are actively engaged in environmental affairs and those who wish to watch and assess it from the sidelines. His themes are both simple and diverse. His overall focus is on the emergence of an environmental culture which has engaged millions of Americans in varied ways of thought and action, on the one hand, and the intense opposition to that drive on the other. Hays explores a wide range of issues such as the role of nature in an urban society; pollution and its causes and effects; the impact of an ever increasing population and its voracious appetite to consume. At the same time he follows these threads through science, technology, economics, management, the structure of politics and the results of policy. A History of Environmental Politics since 1945 provides an introduction to the subject for both the specialist and the lay audience, the general public and the student. It provides a high level of insight that will inform both those who are environmental experts and those who wish to take a first step at grasping the meaning of environmental affairs. It constitutes a formative guide for a subject that promises to engage the nation ever more fully in the years to come.




Environmental Politics and Policy


Book Description

Walter A. Rosenbaum’s classic Environmental Politics and Policy, Tenth Edition once again provides definitive coverage of environmental politics and policy, lively case material, and a balanced assessment of current environmental issues. The first half of the book sets needed context and describes the policy process while the second half covers specific environmental issues such as air and water; toxic and hazardous substances; energy; and a global policymaking chapter focused on climate change and transboundary politics. Covering major environmental policy initiatives and controversies during President Obama's two terms and capturing the sudden and radical changes occurring in the American energy economy, this Tenth Edition offers the needed currency and relevancy for any environmental politics course.




Environmental Politics


Book Description

Written by an expert with more than 25 years of "smoke-filled room" experience in environmental policymaking, this book gives students an insider's view of how policies are forged. By examining current environmental issues through a stakeholder lens, the book not only provides a unique perspective into how policies are adopted, but also illuminates the transformative power of global warming as a political force.




Contested Grounds


Book Description

Presents diverse views on the relationship between environmental politics and international security.




Environmental Policy and Politics


Book Description

Covering global threats such as climate change, population growth, and loss of biodiversity, as well as national, state, and local problems of environmental pollution, energy use, and natural resource use and conservation, Environmental Policy and Politics provides a comprehensive overview of U.S. policy-making processes, the legislative and administrative settings for policy decisions, the role of interest groups and public opinion in environmental politics, and the public policies that result. It helps readers understand modern environmental policy and its implications, including the need for a comprehensive and integrated approach to problem solving.




Environmental Political Theory


Book Description

Our politics is intimately linked to the environmental conditions - and crises - of our time. The challenges of sustainability and the discovery of ecological limits to growth are transforming how we understand the core concepts at the heart of political theory. In this essential new textbook, leading political theorist Steve Vanderheiden examines how the concept of sustainability challenges – and is challenged – by eight key social and political ideas, ranging from freedom and equality to democracy and sovereignty. He shows that environmental change will disrupt some of our most cherished ideals, requiring new indicators of progress, new forms of community, and new conceptions of agency and responsibility. He draws on canonical texts, contemporary approaches to environmental political theory, and vivid examples to illustrate how changes in our conceptualization of our social aspirations can inhibit or enable a transition to a just and sustainable society. Vanderheiden masterfully balances crystal clear explanation of the essentials with cutting-edge analysis to produce a book that will be core reading for students of environmental and green political theory everywhere.




The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Political Theory


Book Description

Set at the intersection of political theory and environmental politics, yet with broad engagement across the environmental social sciences and humanities, The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Political Theory, defines, illustrates, and challenges the field of environmental political theory (EPT). Featuring contributions from distinguished political scientists working in this field, this volume addresses canonical theorists and contemporary environmental problems with a diversity of theoretical approaches. The initial volume focuses on EPT as a field of inquiry, engaging both traditions of political thought and the academy. In the second section, the handbook explores conceptualizations of nature and the environment, as well as the nature of political subjects, communities, and boundaries within our environments. A third section addresses the values that motivate environmental theorists—including justice, responsibility, rights, limits, and flourishing—and the potential conflicts that can emerge within, between, and against these ideals. The final section examines the primary structures that constrain or enable the achievement of environmental ends, as well as theorizations of environmental movements, citizenship, and the potential for on-going environmental action and change.