Comparative Environmental Politics: Theory, Practice, and Prospects (American and Comparative Environmental Policy) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262693682 ISBN 13: 9780262693684

Publisher: MIT Press, 2012

Synopsis

Combining the theoretical tools of comparative politics with the substantive concerns of environmental policy, experts explore responses to environmental problems across nations and political systems

How do different societies respond politically to environmental problems around the globe? Answering this question requires systematic, cross-national comparisons of political institutions, regulatory styles, and state-society relations. The field of comparative environmental politics approaches this task by bringing the theoretical tools of comparative politics to bear on the substantive concerns of environmental policy. This book outlines a comparative environmental politics framework and applies it to concrete, real-world problems of politics and environmental management.

After a comprehensive review of the literature exploring domestic environmental politics around the world, the book provides a sample of major currents within the field, showing how environmental politics intersects with such topics as the greening of the state, the rise of social movements and green parties, European Union expansion, corporate social responsibility, federalism, political instability, management of local commons, and policymaking under democratic and authoritarian regimes. It offers fresh insights into environmental problems ranging from climate change to water scarcity and the disappearance of tropical forests, and it examines actions by state and nonstate actors at levels from the local to the continental. The book will help scholars and policymakers make sense of how environmental issues and politics are connected around the globe, and is ideal for use in upper-level undergraduateand graduate courses.

About this title

About the Author:

Paul F. Steinberg is the Malcolm Lewis Professor of Sustainability and Society and Professor of Political Science and Environmental Policy at Harvey Mudd College. His work explores the political and institutional dimensions of sustainability in diverse countries around the globe, with a particular emphasis on biodiversity conservation and developing countries.

Review:

Comparative Environmental Politics is a welcome scholarly contribution to an emerging, vital field of study. Editors Steinberg and VanDeveer have produced an intelligent compilation of explorations into theory and practice...[The book] is timely and groundbreaking and combines high scholarship with the advantages of the comparative method to advance understanding of environmental politics.

―A. R. Brunello, Choice

About this edition

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0262693682
• ISBN 13: 9780262693684
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 424
• Editor: Steinberg Paul F., Vandeveer Stacy D.