International politics and the environment / Ronald B. Mitchell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mitchell, Ronald B. (Ronald Bruce)

Contributor:

Class of 1878 Fund.

Series:

SAGE series on the foundationas of international relations.

SAGE series on the foundations of international relations

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Environmental policy--International cooperation.

Environmental policy.

Physical Description:

xiii, 234 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Los Angeles : SAGE, 2010.

Summary:

This book provides a sophisticated overview of the theories, concepts and methods central to the complex and contentious field of International Environmental Politics (IEP). Ronald B Mitchellcarefully introduces students to the political processes involved in both causing and resolving international environmental problems. Each fully integrated chapter: Links environmental policy to politics, bringing in a wide range of practical real-life examples Deepens students' theoretical understanding, helping them to identify and explain international environmental problems and their solutions Goes beyond description and develops students' ability to evaluate claims about outcomes in international environmental politics through empirical testing. A rounded, in-depth examination of IEP, this book has been specifically written for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in global environmental politics and modules of broader international relations programs. SAGE Series on the Foundations of International Relations Series Editors: Walter Carlsnaes Uppsala University, Sweden Jeffrey T. Checkel Simon Fraser University, Canada International Advisory Board: Peter J. Katzenstein Cornell University, USA Emanuel Adler University of Toronto, Canada Martha Finnemore George Washington University, USA Andrew Hurrell Oxford University, UK G. John Ikenberry Princeton University, USA Beth Simmons Harvard University, USA Steve Smith University of Exeter, UK Michael Zuern Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Germany The SAGE Foundations series fills the gap between narrowly-focused research monographs and broad introductory texts, providing graduate students with state-of-the-art, critical overviews of the key sub-fields within International Relations: International Political Economy, International Security, Foreign Policy Analysis, International Organization, Normative IR Theory, International Environmental Politics, Globalization, and IR Theory. Explicitly designed to further the transatlantic dialogue fostered by publications such as the SAGE Handbook of International Relations, the series is written by renowned scholars drawn from North America, continental Europe and the UK. The books are intended as core texts on advanced courses in IR, taking students beyond the basics and into the heart of the debates within each field, encouraging an independent, critical approach and signposting further avenues of research.

Contents:

1 Explaining international environmental politics 1

Goals of the book 2

A history of the field 5

Causation 8

Causal claims: theory and its empirical application 9

Deterministic vs probabilistic causality 12

Building convincing causal claims: correlations, counterfactuals, and process tracing 13

Outline of the book 18

2 Defining and distinguishing international environmental problems 20

Defining international environmental problems 20

A brief history of international environmental problems 25

Distinguishing environmental problems 29

Overappropriation, degradation, and accidental harms 30

Tragedies of the Commons, upstream/downstream problems, and incapacity problems 33

The strength of incentives 36

Power and influence 37

Number of actors 39

Domestic political alignments 40

Knowledge and uncertainty problems 41

Transparency regarding behaviors 42

Values and social inertia 43

Distinguishing the problem structure of 'real world' problems 45

Conclusion 46

3 Sources of international environmental problems 48

The IPAT identity: impacts, population, affluence, and technology 48

Six perspectives on the sources of environmental problems 52

The role of values - an 'ecophilosophical' perspective 52

The role of knowledge - a 'scientific' perspective 54

The role of law .

Notes:

Includes bibliography and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Class of 1878 Fund.

ISBN:

9781412919753

1412919754

9781412919746

OCLC:

488979720

Publisher Number:

99936668599