New seminal environmental works. Nine review articles. - WZB

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8 New Seminal Environmental Works Green Giants? Environmental Policies of the United States and the European Union By Norman J. Vig and Michael G. Faure (Eds.) Cambridge, Mass. and London: The MIT Press, 2004, XIII + 398 pp. ISBN 0-262-72044-2. Environmental Politics in Japan, Germany, and the United States By Miranda A. Schreurs Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002, XIII + 291 pp. ISBN 0-521-52537-3. Giants, they may be, the US and the EU, the US, Japan, and Germany, especially in economic terms. But truly green they are certainly not yet, de- spite what is reported in these two books on environmental policies and politics. They are, no doubt, major players influencing the global environ- ment and the direction environmental protection has taken and will take in the future. Their ecological footprints are still large and their ecological rucksacks heavy. Actually, the volume edited by Vig and Faure is not about the greening of either the US or the EU, but compares major policy trends in these two parts of the world. The book by Schreurs could be seen that way too, but perhaps better as to how different the green colour shines when exposed to a thorough comparative study on internal environmental politics.
Udo E. Simonis 9 Vig and Faure obviously were motivated by the fact that the relations between the US and Europe (again) are at a low level, and that growing differences by the two sides over environmental policy may not only make transatlantic cooperation increasingly difficult but could seriously weaken the capacity of the international community to deal with a host of global environmental problems, the necessary priorities, and the methods of ad- dressing them. They believe there to be an urgent need for a new and stra- tegic dialogue between the US and the EU to discuss and strengthen common interests in protecting the planet. The sixteen authors with different backgrounds from both continents were asked to test that hypothesis, clarify policy differences, and to specify the evidence for divergence across a range of environmental policy issues. Overall, the contributors present a mixed picture, and the editors worked hard to reconcile the problems and differences in their long concluding chapter. Although there is clearly a growing divergence over a number of international issues (especially climate change) and the principles and measures to address them, there appear to be numerous common trends in domestic regulatory practices, convergence even. One author, Jonathan B. Wiener, goes so far as to suggest that the widely held perception that the US and the EU have undergone a role reversal in environmental leadership is simply false: “Claims that US and European environmental policies are converging or diverging miss the more complex … reality” (p. 100). Instead, he sees a continuous process of balancing some risks against other risks, an interac- tion and mutual learning, the gradual evolution of standards and procedures on both sides – “hybridization”, as he calls it.
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Page 3 and 4: Udo E. Simonis 3 Red Sky at Morning
Page 5 and 6: Udo E. Simonis 5 It is interesting,
Page 7: Udo E. Simonis 7 There is an intere
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Page 19 and 20: Udo E. Simonis 19 Mensch - Natur -
Page 21 and 22: Udo E. Simonis 21 In den Kapiteln 8
Page 23 and 24: Udo E. Simonis 23 Our Common Journe
Page 25 and 26: Udo E. Simonis 25 A good part of th
Page 27 and 28: Udo E. Simonis 27 Institutionelle R
Page 29 and 30: Udo E. Simonis 29 free conditions,
Page 31 and 32: Udo E. Simonis 31 Also he says, the
Page 33 and 34: Udo E. Simonis 33 Limits to Growth
Page 35 and 36: Udo E. Simonis 35 (www.chelseagreen
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New seminal environmental works. Nine review articles. - WZB

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