Business and Environmental Politics in Canada

2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 243-244
Author(s):  
Peter Andree
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Corporate Greening

Business and Environmental Politics in Canada, Douglas MacDonald, Peterborough ON: Broadview Press, 2007, pp. xi, 224.Whether because of Al Gore, increasingly stern warnings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or the strange weather of late, this past year has seen political actors of all stripes—business leaders prominent among them—restate their commitment to the environment. MacDonald's new book is thus a timely contribution, offering a historical perspective that may lead readers to treat the latest round of corporate “greening” with caution. This study of shifting business interests, strategies and power in relation to environmental policy making demonstrates how firms have worked over the last fifty years, notwithstanding public statements and even some sincere efforts to the contrary, to minimize the threats posed by new environmental regulations.

A Comparative Look at NGO Influence in International Environmental Negotiations: Desertification and Climate Change

2001 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 86-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Corell ◽  
Michele M. Betsill
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Environmental Negotiations ◽  
Explanatory Factors ◽  
Global Environmental Politics ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Global Environmental Policy ◽  
International Environmental Negotiations

There is a need to better understand the significance of NGOs in global environmental politics. Addressing a number of weaknesses in the current literature on NGOs, we have developed an analytical framework for analysis of NGO influence in international environmental negotiations. This paper demonstrates the utility of our framework by applying it to two cases: the negotiations of the Desertification Convention and of the Kyoto Protocol to the Climate Change Convention. We argue that the use of our research framework enables researchers to compare with confidence NGO influence across cases and that such comparison allows for a much needed examination of factors that explain variation in NGO influence in international environmental negotiations. Analysis of explanatory factors contributes to an improved understanding of the degree to which NGOs matter in global environmental policy-making.

The Ultimate Horizontal Issue: The Environmental Policy Experiences of Alberta and Ontario, 1971–1993

1994 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Winfield
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
The State ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Provincial Level ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Canadian Provinces

AbstractThis article summarizes the conclusions of a comparative study of the environmental policy experiences of two Canadian provinces, Alberta and Ontario, in the period 1971–1993. The examination led to the conclusion that there is a pattern of environmental politics and policy-making common to both provinces, although it emerges at a different pace. This divergence is a function of well-known societal differences between the two provinces. Furthermore, in the Ontario and Alberta experiences, the policy-making capacity of the state can be seen to be severely challenged by the cross-sectoral nature of environmental policy issues. A number of observations regarding the effects of federal-provincial relations and of American influences on environmental policy-making at the provincial level in Canada are also possible.

3. Movements, parties, policies

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Dobson
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Environmental Movement ◽  
Intentional Communities ◽  
Policy Tools ◽  
Pressure Groups

‘Movements, parties, policies’ explains the ‘machinery’ of environmental politics—the movement that nurtures and expresses the politics, the parties that are the electoral vehicles for getting the politics into the system, and the array of policy instruments that are available for putting society on a more sustainable footing. The organizations that make up the environmental movement can be categorized into different groups: public interest lobbies, professional protest organizations, participatory pressure groups, participatory protest organizations, and intentional communities. Green political parties are considered along with environmental policy-making. What are the challenges and what are the policy tools that politicians have at their disposal to meet them?

Rational Irrationality and Simulation in Environmental Politics: The Example of Climate Change

2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathew Humphrey
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Political Behaviour ◽  
Rational Actor ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Game Theoretic ◽  
Societal Level ◽  
Rational Ignorance ◽  
Rational Actor Models

AbstractDo western publics make ‘demands’ for environmental policy that they have no desire to see enacted? The thesis that they do has been put forward recently by advocates of the ‘post-ecologist’ paradigm such as Ingolfur Blühdorn. Taking the example of climate change, this article assesses survey results that provide indicative evidence that such ‘simulative’ demands may exist. I suggest that such demands are, however, best explained through conceptual tools available from game-theoretic and rational-actor models of political behaviour, in particular rational ignorance and rational irrationality, rather than with the societal-level accounts preferred by Blühdorn and others.

A flood of models: Mekong ecologies of comparison

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casper Bruun Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Mekong River Basin

In recent decades, scientists have developed a wide array of hydrological, hydrodynamic, and other models to understand the dynamics of the Mekong River Basin. Indeed, the area has been described as ‘flooded’ with models. Drawing on STS and the philosophy of modeling – which has described models as mediating instruments – the first half of this article discusses how and why this proliferation has occurred, focusing on the Cambodian context. Highlighting that models are developed comparatively, with reference to one another, the analysis shows how they have generated a partially connected ecology of comparisons. As each model makes its own image of the Mekong, the ecology as a whole creates a kaleidoscopic effect. In principle, this ecology is important for that of environmental policy-making. In practice, however, it is tremendously difficult for scientists to bridge the ecologies. Examining two cases of NGO-based modeling aiming to influence policy, the second half of the paper offers a comparative analysis of the challenges modeling knowledge faces in Mekong environmental politics.

Reg(u)arding Indigenous Environmental Discourses in Philippine (F)laws

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-44
Author(s):  
Shekinah Dorelle Queri
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Forestry Management ◽  
Environmental Discourses ◽  
Shared Stories ◽  
Indigenous Voice

The main proposition of this research is to establish the inherent overlap of environment and culture in the Agta-Dumagat consciousness, and how this influences environmental policy-making. To answer this, this research sought to locate the cultural angle in overarching laws on environmental protection and establish the influence of these laws on how the Agta-Dumagats frame their material-symbolic discourses. RA 7942 and PD 705, focused on mining and forestry management, contain conflicting views both on state and indigenous ownership and utilization of natural resources—two of the major causes of environmental degradation identified by the Agta-Dumagats. Interviews with SAGIBIN-LN council of leaders and surveys on human-nature relations showed that their narratives are characterized by a sense of desperation as they shared stories replete with oppressive themes. If they are regarded as minorities in situ, the Local Government Units would be hard-pressed to consider their legitimizing indigenous voice on climate change.

Environmental Policy

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Jones ◽  
Elizabeth A. Shanahan ◽  
Lisa J. Hammer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
The State ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
State And Local

In this chapter the authors examine state and local environmental policy. They provide a brief historical but policy-centered background, which pays special attention to the role of federalism in environmental policy. Next they summarize the state of academic and scientific research on state and local environmental policy. The next two sections give the reader an aggregate sense of what substantive environmental policy areas are being studied by reporting the aggregated peer-reviewed publications reported in three databases between 1980 and 2011. In addition, the authors focus on two areas highlighted in the literature: public participation in environmental policy making and climate change policy. Finally, the authors provide a summary of the state of existing literature and offer directions for future research.

Scientific Policy Advice in Switzerland: A Case Study on Climate Change and General Insights

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-40
Author(s):  
Roger Pfister
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Science Policy ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
National Level ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Scientific Policy ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Science And Policy

The Swiss Academies have the experience of three decades of facilitating a dialogue between science and society. This includes the provision of scientific knowledge to policy decision-makers. Climate change is a topic that has been important in this context from the beginning. A recent example of science policy work in this domain has been the analysis of the findings of the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),1 and the formulation of recommendations for policy-making at a national level in order to tackle the challenges posed by climate change on the population and the environment of Switzerland. Taking this specific example, the current paper showcases how academies can provide scientific knowledge at the science–policy interface to help tackle real-world challenges. With reference to this case study, and based on their longer-term science-policy engagement, this contribution concludes by describing the elements considered as essential for a successful dialogue between the actors in science and policy-making.

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