the environment Flashcards
what are the three principal theoretical issues that emerge from the study of the international relations of the global environmental policy movement
(1) . The origins, strength and direction of environmental policy.
(2) . The distribution effects of climate change, particularly between high-carbon emitting developed and developing states, soil-rich and soil-poor states, and states with varying levels of vulnerability to the reduction in theoretically renewable resources.
(3) . Levels and mechanisms of cooperation between states on environmental policy.
what are the two variables having to do with the degree of environmental problem.
_(1). The degree which environmental issues can be solved, assuming successful international cooperation.
_(2). The degree to which environmental issues exacerbate resource scarcity issues.
what can realism predict
1) state behavior if the environmental concern is sufficient to reduce either the state’s power or its security
2) states are unlikely to make agreements that would reduce the use of these instruments and resources. However, realism would also predict that states would seek to increase their autonomy, by reducing their dependence on foreign sources of energy (since the intentions of another state are never reliably predictable).
3) states will seek to maximize their autonomy, which may act against the ease of states binding themselves to international agreements where there is a risk of exploitation. There is also the implication that any international agreement may simply be the interest of the world’s leading commercial and naval power, the hegemon.
what are international regimes
are sets of principles, norms, rules and decision-making procedures, around which actor expectations converge on a policy issue. It is a sub-set of liberal institutionalism, but does not automatically imply an international organization
what is the difference between endogenous and exogenous
endogenous when its processes and outcomes reflect the distribution of power of its member states, and it is exogenous when the regime has an independent influence on policy, meaning that it has its own secretariat (bureaucracy) and is able to alter the interests and methods of its members.
what does liberalism predicts
_(1). Liberalism would predict that a functional application of domestic legal and institutional practices to solve domestic environmental challenges, would also be applied to manage international environmental challenges. DOMESTIC PRACTICES WOULD BE APPLIED TO INTERNATIONAL
_(2). Environmental distributional issues are essentially a collective action problem that is well simulated by the Tragedy of the Commons game.
_(3). Liberalism explains the difficulty of maintaining environmental agreements on the technical complexity of the environmental issues. Knowledge about technical issues can be shared through epistemic communities. DIFFICULTY MAINTAINING AGREEMENTS
what Path dependency describes
the tendency of established practices to reproduce themselves, which is very common for bureaucratized institutions. This can be dysfunctional if re-adaptation is required to a changing environment, but reproducing past practices reduces institution maintenance costs. know example
what is The Tragedy of the Commons
The mechanism of the game is that there is a single commons: where farmers graze their herds: see notes for more + example of this
what are epistemic community
are networks of non-governmental issue specialists, with domestic and international reach, who can influence policy. For example, the cost distribution formula for global environmental agreements, largely depend on cost–benefit analyses developed by epistemic communities.
what does constructivism predicts
(1) . Traditional national environmental policies have been associated with post-modern quality of life policies, or health issues. These values become norms. Interest groups may influence policies with their activism. STATES INTERST
(2) . The extent of interstate environmental cooperation depends to a large extent on the recognition of a common identity and a common fate, which influences the perspective on distributional issues. COOPERATION DEPENDS ON COMMON IDENTITY+FATE INFLUENCE PERSPECTIVE
(3) . Constructivism largely defers to liberal explanations of environmental policy implementation.
what are interest groups
Interest groups will often influence policy by affecting elections, but may also influence elected officials by pressuring them, or facilitating certain policies by providing assistance in the writing of legislation. The dilemma is that interest groups often operate outside the process of democracy, and they therefore raise the issue of whether they undermine the benefits of representative government, such as legitimacy and efficiency.
