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Phoebe Stephens | Equity Norms in Global Environmental Governance
economic context informed the adoption of certain equity norms and the
constant struggle between state sovereignty and GEG. Through this
historical analysis it is evident that norms that more closely align with
dominant conceptions of sovereignty have prevailed despite our increasingly
globalized world. Thus, I argue that despite pronouncements that state
sovereignty is receding in the face of planetary wide threats, concerns over
sovereign authority still maintain a stronghold in international environmental
negotiations and dictate the institutionalization of equity norms in GEG.
Paradoxically, the assurance of unbound sovereignty entices states to comply
with international environmental regimes but also limits their collective
ability to successfully address global environmental issues.
After presenting a brief overview of the role international regimes
play in GEG, the discussion opens by examining the historical processes that
led to the creation and, ultimately, demise of the CHM principle. The
historical events that encouraged a move toward common concern and CDR
principles are then examined. By tracing the formation of international
environmental regimes throughout the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s, I exhibit the
progression of equity norms and the coinciding discursive shift in GEG.
Finally, I rely on the ‘social fitness’ and ‘moral temper’ arguments of
international norm theory to explain why the principles of common concern
and CDR triumphed over the CHM.
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