Comparative Environmental Politics ─ Theory, Practice, and Prospects

How do different societies respond politically to environmental problems around theglobe? Answering this question requires systematic, cross-national comparisons of politicalinstitutions, regulatory styles, and state-society relations. The field of comparative environmentalpolitics approaches this task by bringing the theoretical tools of comparative politics to bear onthe substantive concerns of environmental policy. This book outlines a comparative environmentalpolitics framework and applies it to concrete, real-world problems of politics and environmentalmanagement. After a comprehensive review of the literature exploring domestic environmental politicsaround the world, the book provides a sample of major currents within the field, showing howenvironmental politics intersects with such topics as the greening of the state, the rise of socialmovements and green parties, European Union expansion, corporate social responsibility, federalism,political instability, management of local commons, and policymaking under democratic andauthoritarian regimes. It offers fresh insights into environmental problems ranging from climatechange to water scarcity and the disappearance of tropical forests, and it examines actions by stateand nonstate actors at levels from the local to the continental. The book will help scholars andpolicymakers make sense of how environmental issues and politics are connected around the globe, andis ideal for use in upper-level undergraduateand graduate courses.

Paul F. Steinberg is Associate Professor of Political Science and Environmental Policy at Harvey Mudd College and the author of Environmental Leadership in Developing Countries: Transnational Relations and Biodiversity Policy in Costa Rica and Bolivia (MIT Press, 2001). Stacy D. VanDeveer is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of New Hampshire and the coeditor of Changing Climates in North American Politics: Institutions, Policymaking, and Multilevel Governance (MIT Press, 2009).