Environmental Governance In Europe

ÔThis path-breaking book, written by three well known experts, makes an extremely valuable contribution to the study of ÒnewÓ environmental policy instruments as well as to much wider theoretical debates about governance, policy innovation, learning and transfer. Drawing on an unrivalled comparative empirical study of five different jurisdictions, it manages to make many new points about issues that many of us thought had already been settled.Õ Ð Martin JŠnicke, Free University of Berlin, and former deputy chair, German Advisory Council on the Environment, Germany ÔMuch more than a study of environmental policy instruments, this book ranges widely and authoritatively over the Ògovernment to governanceÓ debate, theories of policy change, regulation, policy transfer, and policy learning. Its lessons and conclusions are relevant and timely well beyond the European context of its case studies and it will be essential reading for public policy scholars everywhere for some time to come.Õ Ð Jeremy Rayner, University of Saskatchewan, Canada ÔThis book represents a very rare achievement in that it combines detailed and up-to-the-minute empirical analysis of environmental policy over the past four decades, with a sophisticated discussion and critique of current theoretical issues in comparative and policy studies generally. It unfolds with a keen eye towards understanding the temporal dimensions of policy dynamics both in the specific policy field examined but also in terms of testing key analytical concepts. Taken as a whole it provides the most detailed empirical assessment to date of the general Ògovernment to governanceÓ hypothesis, with significant implications for policy and governance studies in general.Õ Ð Michael Howlett, Simon Fraser University, Canada and National University of Singapore ÔThis book fills an important gap in the environmental governance literature, addressing governance at a lower level of abstraction than other texts and examining how it plays out in relation to specific modes and instruments of governing. It also contributes towards governance theory-building efforts through the development of an empirically relevant analytical framework. In so doing it provides a firm underpinning for assessing whether, to what extent and in what ways there has been a transition from government towards governance in environmental policy.Õ Ð Neil Gunningham, Australian National University ÔTheoretically sophisticated and empirically rich, this book provides an overview of the introduction, development, and use of new policy instruments and new modes of environmental governance in the European context, taking into account both national and European Union experiences. This is a welcome addition to the field!Õ Ð Miranda Schreurs, Environmental Policy Research Centre and Free University of Berlin, Germany European governance has witnessed dramatic changes in recent decades. By assessing the use of ÔnewÕ environmental policy instruments in European Union countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, this timely book analyses whether traditional forms of top-down government have given way to less hierarchical governance instruments, which rely strongly on societal self-steering and/or market forces. The authors provide important new theoretical insights as well as fresh empirical detail on why, and in what form, these instruments are being adopted within and across different levels of governance, along with analysis of the often-overlooked interactions between the instrument types. Providing important new theoretical insights into the governance debate by combining institutionalist and policy learning/transfer approaches, this book will be invaluable for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. The analytical insights as well as a thorough empirical assessment of the use of environmental policy instruments in practice will prove essential for environmental policy specialists/practitioners.

This book presents an overview of the field of environmental law and policies within the European Union, from theoretical foundations to major issues and applied governance solutions. Drawing on expertise from renowned academics and practitioners from different disciplines, EU Environmental Governance: Current and Future Challenges helps readers to understand the main legal, political and economic issues of environmental protection since the adoption of the Paris Agreement by the European Union in 2015, until the 2020 Brexit, European Green Deal and coronavirus outbreak. The authors examine a broad range of sensitive and topical environmental issues including climate change, air pollution, waste management and circular economy, nuclear waste, biodiversity, agriculture, chemicals, nanotechnology, the environmental impacts of trade and environmental conflicts, presenting both current insights and future challenges. Overall, this volume exposes the reader to a vast array of empirical case studies, which will bolster their training and help tackle the environmental challenges faced by Europe today. This book is a valuable resource for students, researchers and policymakers across a broad range of fields, including environmental law and policies, environmental economics, climate science and environmental sociology.

Over the past five decades, the European Union (EU) has developed into the most legally and politically authoritative regional organization in the world, wielding significant influence across a wide range of issue areas. European Union and Environmental Governance focuses on the growing global role of EU environmental and sustainable development policies. Written in a concise and accessible manner, this book introduces and examines the major European and global environmental issues, debates, and policies and provides a critical, evidence-based evaluation of the achievements and shortcomings to date in EU environmental and sustainability governance. Providing both an historical overview and a discussion of the major future legal, political and economic challenges to the realization of EU goals related to better environmental governance, the authors offer a comprehensive introduction to this key issue. This book will be useful reading for students of global environmental politics, comparative environmental politics and policy, international organizations, European politics, and environmental studies.

Europe remains divided between east and west, with differences caused and worsened by uneven economic and political development. Amid these divisions, the environment has become a key battleground. The condition and sustainability of environmental resources are interlinked with systems of governance and power, from local to EU levels. Key challenges in the eastern European region today include increasingly authoritarian forms of government that threaten the operations and very existence of civil society groups; the importation of locally-contested conservation and environmental programmes that were designed elsewhere; and a resurgence in cultural nationalism that prescribes and normalises exclusionary nation-building myths. This volume draws together essays by early-career academic researchers from across eastern Europe. Engaging with the critical tools of political ecology, its contributors provide a hitherto overlooked perspective on the current fate and reception of ‘environmentalism’ in the region. It asks how emergent forms of environmentalism have been received, how these movements and perspectives have redefined landscapes, and what the subtler effects of new regulatory regimes on communities and environment-dependent livelihoods have been. Arranged in three sections, with case studies from Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Serbia, this collection develops anthropological views on the processes and consequences of the politicisation of the environment. It is valuable reading for human geographers, social and cultural historians, political ecologists, social movement and government scholars, political scientists, and specialists on Europe and European Union politics.

This book considers the environmental policies that the EU employs outside its borders. Using a systematic and coherent approach to cover a range of EU activities, environmental issues, and geographical areas, it charts the EU’s attempts to shape environmental governance beyond its borders. Key questions addressed include: What environmental norms, rules and policies does the EU seek to promote outside its territory? What types of activities does the EU engage in to pursue these objectives? How successful is the EU in achieving its external environmental policy objectives? What factors explain the degree to which the EU attains its goals? The book will be of interest to students and academics as well as practitioners in governments (both inside and outside of the EU), the EU institutions, think tanks, and research institutes.

This second and fully revised edition brings together some of the most influential work on the theory and practice of contemporary EU environmental policy. Comprising five comprehensive parts, it includes in-depth case studies of contemporary policy issues such as climate change, genetically modified organisms and trans-Atlantic relations, as well as an assessment of how well the EU is responding to new challenges such as enlargement, environmental policy integration and sustainability. The book's aim is to look forward and ask whether the EU is prepared or even able to respond to the 'new' governance challenges posed by the perceived need to use 'new' policy instruments and processes to 'mainstream' environmental thinking in all EU policy sectors.

Since the 1970s, the European Union has created a system of environmental governance in Europe. This work seeks to understand this system both at the European level and at the level of member states.