The Power of Technocracy: A Critical Analysis of the Global Environmental Governance of the Toxic Waste Trade

2004 ◽  
pp. 105-120
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Toxic Waste ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Waste Trade

Challenging Global Environmental Governance: Social Movement Agency and Global Civil Society

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy H. Ford
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Global Civil Society ◽  
Toxic Waste ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
A Site

In line with a critical theoretical perspective, which sees global environmental governance as embedded in the wider neoliberal global political economy, this article argues that accounts of global environmental governance grounded in orthodox International Relations lack an analysis of agency and power relations. This is particularly visible in the problematic assertion that global civil society—where social movements are said to be located—presents a democratizing force for global environmental governance. Through a critical conceptualization of agency the article analyzes social movements (including NGOs) and the challenges to global environmental governance, with an illustration of movements campaigning against toxic waste. It suggests that the potentiality of radical social movement agency is best understood through a neo-Gramscian approach, which identifies global civil society as simultaneously a site for the maintenance of, as well as challenges to, hegemony. It explores the extent to which global social movements constitute a counter-hegemonic challenge.

scholarly journals From Waste to Resources? Interrogating ‘Race to the Bottom’ in the Global Environmental Governance of the Hazardous Waste Trade

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 495-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina A. Lucier ◽  
Brian J. Gareau
Keyword(s):  
Hazardous Waste ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Race To The Bottom ◽  
Toxic Wastes ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Global Environmental Policy ◽  
Waste Trade

The rise of global environmental governance regimes allegedly contradicts the process of an environmental “race to the bottom” (RTB) that results from capitalist globalization. We examine new developments in this area through a qualitative case study of the Basel Convention. Here, we find that new regulations in toxic wastes governance are in fact being co-created with industry actors and aim to accelerate the flow of toxic “resources” to less-developed countries. Further, these shifts are legitimized by a shift in discourse— from thinking of toxics materials as “wastes” to thinking of them as “resources”— that re-frames the toxic wastes trade as essential for sustainable economic development rather than as a manifestation of global environmental injustice, thereby undermining environmentalist claims. Our findings suggest that, despite an expansion of hazardous waste regulations, the RTB concept is still relevant in the context of global environmental governance. We conclude that a fruitful avenue for applying the RTB concept in this context is to go beyond a strict materialist interpretation of global politics to also consider the role of discourses and contesting ideologies in shaping global environmental policy debates.

Movements, Networks, Hierarchies: A Gender Perspective on Global Environmental Governance

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Bretherton
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Women's Movements ◽  
Participatory Process ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Transnational Mobilization ◽  
Environmentally Sound

Environmental governance may be distinguished from environmental management by the implication that, in the former, some form of participatory process is involved. Here, the focus is upon the potential for women's movements and networks to influence the principles and practices of global environmental governance (GEG). It is contended that, in principle, women are uniquely placed to oppose the dominant norms informing GEG; and that women's participation would, in consequence, be crucial to the achievement of equitable and environmentally sound forms of governance. In practice, however, a number of factors combine to create divisions between women, and hence to impede transnational mobilization by women around environmental issues. This article examines these issues.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document