Global Environmental Politics: Problems, Policy and Practice

by Hayley Stevenson

Overview

Concern about humanity's impact on the planet has never been greater, but what are the drivers of environmental change? This wide-ranging introductory textbook outlines the competing explanations of why environmental problems occur and examines the different political approaches taken to address them. Adopting a case study approach, Hayley Stevenson enables students to gain a detailed understanding of how theories and concepts are applied in practice. Diverse perspectives on a variety of contemporary environmental challenges, from climate change to hazardous waste, as well as various responses, from multilateral diplomacy to consumer-focused campaigns, provide students with an in-depth understanding of the merits and limitations of different forms of political action. Refined on the basis of classroom feedback, features include textboxes, key points, a glossary of key terms, questions, further reading suggestions and supplementary online resources. This lively book is an essential resource for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses on global environmental politics and environmental policy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107547537
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/02/2017
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	366
Product dimensions:	6.89(w) x 9.69(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Hayley Stevenson is Associate Professor in International Relations at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires, and Reader in Politics at the University of Sheffield. She is the author of Institutionalizing Unsustainability: The Paradox of Global Climate Governance (2012), Democratizing Global Climate Governance (with John S. Dryzek, Cambridge, 2014) and co-editor of Traditions and Trends in Global Environmental Politics: International Relations and the Earth (with Olaf Corry, 2017).

Table of Contents

List of acronyms; List of figures; Preface; 1. Global politics and the environment; Part I. Why Do Environmental Problems Occur?: 2. The tragedy of the commons; 3. Population and poverty; 4. Capitalism; Part II. Responding to Global Environmental Problems: 5. Conflict and securitisation - water; 6. Multilateral diplomacy - sustainable development; 7. Transnational governance experiments - climate change; 8. Aid and finance - deforestation; 9. Individualising responsibility - unsustainable consumption; 10. Problem displacement - hazardous substances; 11. Resistance and localisation - unsustainable agriculture; 12. Appraising global environmental governance; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

‘What a wonderful book! Her book is rare for textbooks in the field in insisting on starting with the question of why environmental degradation occurs, and that this is a political question. This gives admirable focus to the volume that then covers the topics that are taught in courses on Global Environmental Politics (GEP) with great clarity. Students who are blessed to have Hayley Stevenson's book as their introduction to GEP will come away enriched and with a clarity of understanding that is hard to match.' Matthew Paterson, University of Manchester

‘… all concepts are well introduced and clearly explained … [the chapters] offer a nice bridge between the original authors of ideas and the secondary literature.' Hannah Hughes, Cardiff University

‘… more accessible, more engaging; better in many ways than my existing text.' Kemi Fuentes-George, Middlebury College

‘The book has a very logical progression that nicely leads students through the necessary foundational theory, and into some of the important empirical topics and issues in the field … the author writes with a level of passion and enthusiasm that is too often missing from these types of texts … this is definitely the type of text around which I could see structuring an undergraduate environmental politics unit.' Robert MacNeil, The University of Sydney

'Engagingly written, full of detail on the key environmental threats of our time, and offering students contending explanations for both the causes of those problems and responses to them, Global Environmental Politics sets a new benchmark for textbooks in this area'. Peter Newell, University of Sussex

From the Publisher