Global Politics

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Global Politics The Environment
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Takes Place In A Context Of National Sovereignty

• Nation states can do as they wish within their
  own boundaries
• This means that addressing international
  environmental problems requires negotiations
  among sovereign states
• International law
• Institution building (agreements, treaties
  conventions, regimes)

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Emergence

• Early developments
• Regional
• Great Lakes (Boundary Waters Treaty the
  International Joint Commission IJC)
• Early 1900s
• Global
• Post-WWII
• Whaling (International Whaling Commission - IWC)
• Important recent milestones
• Stockholm Conference
• Rio Conference (UNCED)

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Stockholm Conference (1972)

• First major UN meeting on the global environment
• Declaration of Principles
• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
• Follow-up conferences on many topics (population,
  food, desertification)
• North - South debate

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Rio Conference (1992)

• Brundtland Commissions report Our Common
  Future, which addresses developing nations
  concerns was influential
• Sustainable development
• Treaties on climate change biodiversity
• Agenda 21 - principles action plan

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Why The Recent Interest?

• International global environmental problems
• Post-Cold War international politics
• Shift away from security focus
• North-South issues
• Quality of life issues
• Paradigm shift

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Paradigm Shift

• Paradigm a fundamental set of attitudes,
  beliefs, assumptions that colors a societys way
  of thinking
• Some observers argue that a change is occurring

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Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP)

• Sees nature as existing to be exploited by humans
• Risk-seeking (or at least not risk-averse)
• Sees no limits to growth
• Rooted in western empiricism technology
• Rooted in Christianity

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Alternative or New Social Paradigm (ASP)

• Sees nature as valuable in its own right
• Humans to live in balance with nature
• Risk-averse
• Sees limits to growth, seeks sustainable
  development
• Rooted in nonwestern, non-Christian attitudes

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Paradigm Shift, Another View

• Is there evidence to support claims that it is
  really occurring?
• Cross-national surveys
• Reports by international commissions

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How Global Environmental Policy Making Works
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Regimes, Not Alliances

• Multilateral (i.e. several nations) agreements
• Establishing sets of rules (or of behavioral
  norms)
• Regulating the participating nations behavior
• On specific (sets of) issues
• In environment, most are based upon formal
  agreements (conventions, protocols, etc.)

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How Why Do They Work?

• There are several traditional models (Porter
  Brown, p. 16-19), but they do not seem to work
  well (with the partial exception of the epistemic
  community model) in explaining international
  environmental regimes
• Nonetheless, regimes are very significant in the
  development implementation of international
  environmental policy

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Some Examples

• Convention on International Trade in Endangered
  Species (CITES)
• Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air
  Pollution
• Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone
  Layer The Montreal Protocol
• See Porter, Brown, Chasek, pgs. 14 16 for
  many more

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Conventions

• What?
• Multiparty treaties
• Aimed at establishing cooperation in responding
  to a specific issue or set of issues
• May be joined by additional nations after having
  been adopted

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Conventions, cont.

• Terms
• Signatories - The nations which have signed the
  treaty
• Parties - The nations which have signed
  ratified the agreement (i.e. are full
  participants in the agreement)
• Secretariat -- The administrative body which is
  responsible for implementing the agreement (may
  be UN body, e.g. UNEP, or free standing, e.g. IJC)

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Conventions, cont.

• Types
• Simple conventions (self contained)
• Framework conventions
• Establish basic procedures, or rules of the
  game for dealing with a problem
• Frequently provide for a regular Conference of
  Parties (COP)
• Protocols Follow up agreements which deal with
  substance
• e.g. Vienna Convention on Ozone (1985) Montreal
  Protocol (1987 1990)

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Soft Law

• Nonbinding agreements
• Intended to influence nations behavior
• No formal enforcement
• e.g. Agenda 21 (from Rio Conference)

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Environmental Treaties

• Environmental treaties are negotiated on an ad
  hoc basis
• Participants are self-selected
• One nation, one vote
• NGOs do not vote, but
• They often spur their governments into
  participating
• They may have key implementation roles
• Direct
• Monitoring, resource gathering, nagging, whistle
  blowing

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So...

• Treaties with global implications may be
  negotiated by a minority of nations
• Treaty negotiations may not include key nations
• Who is bound by the treaty?

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