The Untold Story of the World's Leading Environmental Institution


Book Description

The past, present, and possible future of the agency designed to act as "the world's environmental conscience." The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) was founded in 1972 as a nimble, fast, and flexible entity at the core of the UN system--a subsidiary body rather than a specialized agency. It was intended to be the world's environmental conscience, an anchor institution that established norms and researched policy, leaving it to other organizations to carry out its recommendations. In this book, Maria Ivanova offers a detailed account of UNEP's origin and history. Ivanova counters the common criticism that UNEP was deficient by design, arguing that UNEP has in fact delivered on much (though not all) of its mandate.




The Untold Story of the World's Leading Environmental Institution


Book Description

The past, present, and possible future of the agency designed to act as "the world's environmental conscience." The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) was founded in 1972 as a nimble, fast, and flexible entity at the core of the UN system--a subsidiary body rather than a specialized agency. It was intended to be the world's environmental conscience, an anchor institution that established norms and researched policy, leaving it to other organizations to carry out its recommendations. In this book, Maria Ivanova offers a detailed account of UNEP's origin and history. Ivanova counters the common criticism that UNEP was deficient by design, arguing that UNEP has in fact delivered on much (though not all) of its mandate.




Global Environmental Institutions


Book Description

Global Environmental Institutions provides the most accessible and succinct overview of the major global institutions attempting to protect the natural environment, describing their creation and operation, decision-making processes, interactions with other institutions, and impact. Fully updated throughout, this third edition maintains the clear structure of previous editions, examining the underlying causes of global environmental problems creation of global environmental institutions effectiveness of action undertaken by these institutions Providing an overview of the United Nations Environment Programme alongside other entities that play important roles in global environmental governance, this book examines institutions by issue area and introduces organizations with a specific focus on protecting endangered species and biodiversity, the atmosphere, the ocean environment, and regulating the transboundary movement of hazardous substances. Drawing on the latest scholarship, and written by an acknowledged expert in the field, this study is essential reading for students of environmental politics and international organizations.




The United Nations in the 21st Century


Book Description

The United Nations in the 21st Century, Sixth Edition, provides a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the UN. It explores the historical, institutional, and theoretical foundations of the UN as well as major global trends and challenges facing the organization today, including changing major power dynamics, new threats to peace and security, the migration and refugee crises, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the existential challenges of climate change and sustainability. Thoroughly revised and expanded, it contains two new chapters on the UN and the environment and on human security, including issues of health, food security, global migration, and human trafficking. There is enhanced analysis of theoretical perspectives on post-colonialism, feminist theory, constructivism, and non-Western views. New content has also been added on the UN’s budget crisis, public–private partnerships, and the role of women in the organization. By examining the UN as an intergovernmental organization facing the broader need for global cooperation to address economic, social, and environmental interdependencies alongside the threats posed by rising nationalism and populism, this popular text is the perfect reference for all students and practitioners of international organizations, global governance, and international relations.




Keeping the World’s Environment under Review


Book Description

How do we take stock of the state and direction of the world’s environment, and what can we learn from the experience? Among the myriad detailed narratives about the condition of the planet, the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) reports—issued by the United Nations Environment Programme—stand out as the most ambitious. For nearly three decades the GEO project has not only delivered iconic global assessment reports, but through its multitude of contributors has inspired hundreds of similar processes worldwide from the regional to the local level. This book provides an inside account of the evolution of the GEO project from its earliest days. Building on meticulous research, including interviews with former heads of the United Nations Environment Programme, diplomats, leading contributing scientists, and senior leaders of collaborating organizations, the story is told from the perspective of five GEO veterans who all played a pivotal role in shaping the periodic assessments. The GEO’s history provides striking insights and will save valuable time to those who commission, design and conduct, as well as critique and improve, assessments of environmental development in the next decade.




International Organization and Global Governance


Book Description

Completely revised and updated, this textbook continues to offer the most comprehensive resource available. Concise chapters from a diverse mix of established and emerging global scholars offer accessible, in-depth coverage of the history and theories of international organization and global governance and discussions of the full range of state, intergovernmental, and non-state actors. All chapters have been revised and rewritten to reflect the rapid development of world events, with new chapters added on: Chinese approaches to international organization and global governance The UN System The Global South Sustaining the Peace Queering International Organization and Global Governance Post-colonial Global Governance The Sustainable Development Goals The English School Inequality Migration Divided into seven parts woven together by a comprehensive introduction, along with separate introductions to each part and helpful pointers to further reading, International Organization and Global Governance provides a balanced, critical perspective that enables readers to comprehend more fully the role of myriad actors in the governance of global life.




Change in Global Environmental Politics


Book Description

As wildfires rage, pollution thickens, and species disappear, the world confronts environmental crisis with a set of global institutions in urgent need of reform. Yet, these institutions have proved frustratingly resistant to change. Introducing the concept of Temporal Focal Points, Manulak shows how change occurs in world politics. By re-envisioning the role of timing and temporality in social relations, his analysis presents a new approach to understanding transformative phases in international cooperation. We may now be entering such a phase, he argues, and global actors must be ready to realize the opportunities presented. Charting the often colorful and intensely political history of change in global environmental politics, this book sheds new light on the actors and institutions that shape humanity's response to planetary decline. It will be of interest to scholars and advanced students of international relations, international organization and environmental politics and history.




International Organizations


Book Description

· -What role do humanitarian organizations play in crises such as those in Ukraine and the Middle East? · - How does policing work at an international level? · - Why has the US only ratified three of the seven major human rights treaties? · -Who guides the international response to climate change, and is it working? This new textbook introduces readers to the nature, structure and purpose of international organizations (IOs). Taking a broad, issues-based approach, the book goes beyond a conventional focus on topics like security and finance to cover global health, migration, food security, and technology. In addition to providing cases of the best-known intergovernmental organizations such as the UN and the World Trade Organization, this text gives space to a wide variety of other bodies, including international non-governmental organizations, non-state actors and multinational enterprises. It looks at the motivations behind regional cooperation with case studies of the European Union and the African Union, and at human rights with reference to bodies as diverse as the International Criminal Court and Amnesty International. Assuming no prior knowledge of the subject, International Organizations uses a range of pedagogical tools and visual features to guide understanding. These include: graphs to illustrate key trends; regional and world maps to illustrate wealth, democracy and development; tables of major international treaties and organizations; chapter previews; and lists of key terms and organizations. The text also makes use of IOs in Theory, IOs in Action and Spotlight boxes to answer focused questions and provide more detail on how IOs operate in different parts of the world. This contemporary survey is an essential text for those studying global governance and international organizations.




International Organization


Book Description

This comprehensively revised and updated edition offers an introduction to international organizations (IO) theory in the field of IR. It looks at the different ways in which IOs are studied and then applies these different modes to a variety of specific case studies. The book is written as a primer for students studying global governance and IR theory. It highlights analytic tools available to understand what IOs are designed to do, how they work, what effects they have, and how to design them better. It goes beyond simple questions of whether IOs matter, and looks at the ways in which the different analytical tools developed within the rubric of IO theory are useful for answering different questions about the role of IOs in international politics.




The Art and Craft of International Environmental Law


Book Description

The second edition of The Art and Craft of International Environmental Law is a sophisticated yet highly readable introduction to how international environmental law works (and sometimes doesn't work). It provides critical updates on developments in the field that have occurred in the 13 years since the first edition was published.