Theorizing and Teaching Global Environmental Politics

As scholars, how do we theorize and write about global environmental governance? As teachers, how do we effectively transfer concepts and arguments from research into the classroom as we engage students who want to learn about global environmental politics and policy making? These are two fundamental questions that many readers of this journal and members of the gep-ed listserv debate and (sometimes) struggle with.¹ The two books addressed in this review broadly analyze global environmental issues and politics, and may also be used for teaching purposes. They are reviewed here based on their analytical approaches to the study of global environmental politics and governance, with an eye toward how they may be used in classrooms.

The study of environmental cooperation and policy-making is a major area of international relations analysis, partially as a result of the extensive work done by this journal's contributors. Institutional analysis is a central theoretical approach to the study of international politics. The study of international environmental policy making has greatly advanced institutional theory, not least with respect to interest-based and knowledge-based explanations. The authors and editors of Global Environmental Politics and Reforming International Environmental Governance: From Institutional Limits to Innovative Reforms do not set out to advance theory, but instead use institutional perspectives to examine areas of global environmental politics and policy making past, present, and future.

The different editions of Global Environmental Politics have been required readings in many courses over the years, and the fourth edition is likely to continue to be used in classrooms. The book outlines the basics of global environmental politics, and as such is probably most appropriately used in introductory classes at the undergraduate level. At times, the book is a bit factually dense in its presentation of issues and data, but its straightforward approach and language means that it can be read by undergraduates across multiple disciplines and university programs. One of the strengths of the book is that it not only provides an overview of global environmental policy making, but also encourages students to think about the future of global environmental cooperation and governance as a critical challenge.

Pamela S. Chasek, David L. Downie and Janet Welsh Brown, as authors of the fourth edition, continue the general approach of earlier editions, with sections and case descriptions appropriately revised and updated. The three authors ground their book in the classic theoretical literature on institutions, actors and interests, and largely portray global environmental politics as the process of creating and implementing issue-specific regimes based on actors' diverging interests and preferences. The authors begin by providing a brief historical background to the emergence of environmental issues on the global agenda. They continue with a general discussion of the different roles that main actors of global environmental politics (e.g. states, IGOs, NGOs, and private corporations) may play in policy making.

The book introduces the reader to specific issues of global environmental politics through eleven case studies of regime formation. These case studies cover many of the major environmental regimes that have been created to date, addressing, for example, ozone depletion, climate change, biodiversity, deserti­fica­tion, and hazardous chemicals and wastes. With so many case studies, however, the book invariably provides only short descriptions of each issue. The authors identify obstacles to the effective creation and implementation of regimes, and discuss options for improving compliance and implementation. They conclude the volume examining issues critical to the future of global environmental politics, including the North-South divide, trade and the environment, and the sustainable development challenge more broadly.

W. Bradnee Chambers and Jessica F. Green, in their edited volume Reforming International Environmental Governance, explore institutional dimensions of improving environmental protection and governance. That is, the volume focuses on institutional reform as a means to improve global environmental governance and better facilitate a transition to sustainable development. Delineating "an agenda for reform," the editors in the first chapter outline three themes of coherence in governance, centralization of governance, and compliance with legal obligations and international agreements. In the subsequent chapters, eight scholars and practitioners weigh in on issues central to...