Cooperative Management Regimes: Collaborative Problem-Solving to Implement Sustainable Development

Abstract

AbstractOver the past decade, there have been important changes in the way in which governments in developed countries have approached the management of environmental problems. Ideas of ``partnership,'' public-private cooperation, and negotiated solutions have increasingly come to the fore, as the persistence and complexity of certain types of environmental challenge have come to be appreciated. This essay focuses on a particular type of collaboration: where groups based in different social domains establish cooperative relationships focused around managing specific environmental burdens over time. After presenting an ideal-type description of such a practically focused and negotiation-centered approach to environmental governance, the argument moves on to consider potential advantages, but also possible difficulties, that may be associated with this innovative management strategy. It suggests that collaborative and problem-oriented approaches are likely to prove central to the effort to implement sustainable development.