Green Giants? : Environmental Policies of the United States and the European Union

by Norman J. Vig and Michael G. Faure (Eds.)

• ISBN13: 9780262720441
• ISBN10: 0262720442
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-04-01
• Publisher: Mit Pr

Summary

The United States in recent years has been abandoning its historical role as a leader in environmental regulation. At the same time, the European Union, spurred by political integration, has enacted many new environmental laws and assumed a leadership role in promoting global environmental sustainability. Green Giants?, one of the most detailed comparisons of the environmental policies of America and Europe yet undertaken, looks at current policy trends in the United States and the European Union-the two largest economic actors in the world-and the implications they have for future transatlantic and global cooperation. The contributors-leading European and American scholars and practitioners-examine similarities and differences in specific policy areas in order to assess whether United States and European Union policies are diverging, pursuing similar goals and methods, or undergoing a "hybridization" through joint learning and exchanges. They find that although European and American policies may parallel each other somewhat in domestic regulation, they are clearly diverging in the "third generation" of environmental concerns, which include such global problems as climate change, international trade, and sustainable development. In the final chapter the editors conclude that transatlantic dialogue and cooperation at the highest level are necessary if these two economic and political giants are to lead the international community toward a stable and secure ecological future.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword	vii
Preface	xi
Introduction	1	(14)
Norman J. Vig
Michael G. Faure
I Comparing Policy Trends: Divergence or Convergence?	15	(96)
The Precautionary Principle, Risk Assessment, and the Comparative Role of Science in the European Community and the US Legal Systems	17	(36)
Theofanis Christoforou
The Roots of Divergence: A European Perspective	53	(20)
Ludwig Kramer
Convergence, Divergence, and Complexity in US and European Risk Regulation	73	(38)
Jonathan B. Wiener
II Regulatory Trends: Institutional and Policy Innovations	111	(94)
Environmental Federalism in the United States and the European Union	113	(22)
R. Daniel Kelemen
Implementations of Environmental Policy and Law in the United States and the European Union	135	(24)
Christoph Demmke
Convergence or Divergence in the Use of ``Negotiated Environmental Agreements'' in European and US Environmental Policy: An Overview	159	(24)
David J. E. Grimeaud
What Future for Environmental Liability? The Use of Liability Systems for Environmental Regulation in the Courtrooms of the United States and the European Union	183	(22)
Timothy Swanson
Andreas Kontoleon
III Policy Divergence on Global Issues	205	(98)
The Climate Change Divide: The European Union, the United States, and the Future of the Kyoto Protocol	207	(24)
Miranda A. Schreurs
Trade and the Environment in the Global Economy: Contrasting European and American Perspectives	231	(22)
David Vogel
International Development Assistance and Burden Sharing	253	(24)
Paul G. Harris
Sustainable Development: Comparative Understandings and Responses	277	(26)
Susan Baker
John McCormick
IV Transnational Networks and Dialogue	303	(42)
Emerging Transnational Policy Networks: The European Environmental Advisory Councils	305	(24)
Richard Macrory
Ingeborg Niestroy
The Transatlantic Environmental Dialogue	329	(16)
Carl Lankowski
V Conclusions	345	(32)
Conclusion: The Necessary Dialogue	347	(30)
Michael G. Faure
Norman J. Vig
About the Editors and Contributors	377	(4)
Index	381