Radioactive Waste Disposal at Sea: Public Ideas ... - IMO

130 Chapter 7
described the need to act internationally against ocean dumping were
intended to influence international public opinion and to change the interests
and values of states. The United States, which was first and most concerned
about the global marine environmental aspects of ocean dumping,
projected its view onto the international arena. Leadership primarily hinged
on vivid descriptions of the dangers of this problem and demonstration of
willingness to do something about it. The American perception of the ocean
dumping problem, which can be traced back to a transnational coalition
of policy entrepreneurs, informed the negotiations on the global ocean
dumping regime. Few developed countries had individually taken steps to
regulate ocean dumping, and most other countries (developing countries
included) were far less if at all concerned about controlling marine pollution
when the global ocean dumping regime was created. The hegemon, the
United States, strongly influenced international norm formation in the
ocean dumping issue area.
Although the three prominent regime approaches pay attention to a number
of aspects, steps, and stages of regime formation, they ignore the importance
of widely shared ideas, values, and policy entrepreneurship. This
study shows that detailed examination must include all levels at which
regime building takes place. Prominent regime approaches artificially separate
domestic and international levels; equally artificially, interests and
power are seen as antithetical to ideas and knowledge. A better approach
would fit together, not separate, all aspects and actors that contribute to
the establishment of a regime.