National Governance and the Global Climate Change Regime

Abstract

National Governance and the Global Climate Change Regime. By Dana R. Fisher. Latham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004. 206p. $69.00 cloth, $27.95 paper.Debate continues among scholars in a variety of disciplines over the impact (positive, negative, or neutral) of transboundary environmental problems on the sovereignty of nation-states, especially in the developing world (see, for example, Karen Litfin, ed., The Greening of Sovereignty in World Politics, 1998). Expanding this debate to “economically advanced or postindustrial nations,” sociologist Dana Fisher addresses three important questions in her book. First, what is the role of the nation-state relative to other actors (civil society, market, and scientific) in negotiating international agreements when transnational environmental issues are involved? Second, how best can the disparate reactions of governments to the development of these international environmental pressures be explained? Third, how does the interaction of international and national factors affect the substance of international agreements?