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

Conclusion 179
nalized by other societies throughout the world. 4 Thus, environmental
ideas and norms float from the powerful states to the less powerful states,
but only rarely in the reverse direction.
Limitations of This Case Study
It is always necessary to be careful when drawing generalizations from a
single-case study. First, the global ocean dumping regime was built in a
period of heightened concern for the environment. In the late 1960s and
the early 1970s, the United States was in the midst of an “environmental
revolution.” For the first time, a number of environmental initiatives were
launched in the United States and other industrialized countries. Institution
building for environmental protection at the international level had previously
been modest. In such circumstances, it should be expected that environmental
ideas could have a larger-than-normal impact upon societies and
governments, and that some of the impact of the “dying oceans” idea is
explained by the environmental revolution then taking place.
Although this seems intuitively correct, an upsurge in broader concerns
for the environment does not explain why the particular issue of ocean
dumping became a high-priority environmental policy issue. Moreover,
every accident and mishap does not result in calls for government intervention
or in legislative action. Conversely, it could be argued that the concern
for the health of the oceans was a prominent environmental issue in
this period. It nonetheless seems likely, because of the novelty of the environment
and ecology at the time, that a feeling of urgency and crisis meant
that the “dying oceans” idea made a greater imprint than would otherwise
have been the case, and that this accelerated and facilitated the establishment
of a regime.
As I have described, the United States took steps to deal with ocean
dumping sooner than most other countries. Instead of interpreting this in
terms of leadership, it could be seen as an indicator of the greater susceptibility
of the American political system to environmental ideas as well as its
ability to quickly enact environmental policy. Comparative studies have
documented that the United States has reacted sooner, but not necessarily
more effectively, than other countries against perceived environmental
threats. 5 Unilateral U.S. leadership could therefore be understood as a
reflection of the greater susceptibility of the American political system to