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

52 Chapter 3
begin.” The consumers of ideas in this conceptual model are policy elites
and negotiators. The model is not concerned with the opinion of the general
public or with stable ideas enjoying broad public support. In comparison
with scholars who give weight to ideas and debate in domestic and
international settings, Young employs a much narrower concept of ideas
and persuasion.
Neoliberals, differing with power-based theory about coercive hegemons
and regime maintenance, expect a benevolent hegemon to support a regime
as long as the benefits to the hegemon exceed the costs, and despite the fact
that other states to some extent follow their own interests and contribute
less than their share to the provision of the collective good (“exploitation”
of the large by the small). 49 For neoliberals, it is therefore not necessarily
the case that American interests will exclusively dictate the global ocean
dumping regime’s scope (i.e., the range of issues it covers) and strength (i.e.,
the degree of compliance with its injunctions). Other states might pursue
their own interests, at least to some extent. But, similar to realists, neoliberals
would expect dumpers to fiercely resist other states’ attempts to reduce
their autonomy regarding radwaste disposal. A successful resolution of conflict
between producers (exporters) and receivers (importers) of transboundary
pollution is unlikely as long as egoistic polluters have no incentive
to halt their polluting activities. Increasing the malignity of the problem,
the potential for cooperation on radwaste disposal is further reduced
because the polluters—first and foremost the United States, Britain, France,
and Japan—possess abundant economic and political power.
Knowledge-Based Regime Analysis and the Global Ocean Dumping Regime
The reflective literature stresses that cooperation cannot be fully understood
without reference to ideology, to the knowledge available to actors,
and to the values of actors. Cooperation is affected by ideas, by the provision
of information and the capacity to process it, by perception and misperception,
and by learning. 50 Ernst Haas emphasizes the role science plays
in policy making within international organizations and in international
cooperation, but reflectivists are also concerned with the way in which
national bureaucracies make decisions and develop policies. Whereas realists
and neoliberals analyze at the level of the international system, reflective
scholars analyze at the level of the units of the international system.