Some states are greener than others: Can we explain why?

Abstract

Recent developments in environmental politics have been shaped by the truisms that environmental problems do not respect national boundaries and require effective international co-operation amongst states. For some commentators, the resulting proliferation of non-governmental organizations, social movements, epistemic communities and multilateral agreements represents yet another chink in the armour of the state. Yet, despite its oft-heralded demise, the state remains the most important player in environmental politics. Indeed, the internationalization of environmental politics brings into sharp relief the ways in which states differ in their cognisance of, and political economic responses to, ecological threats. While these differences have been explored in a growing corpus of work on comparative environmental politics, our understanding of factors influencing the varying responses of different states is by no means as developed as it could be. Dryzek et al.’s Green States and Social Movements: Environmentalism in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, & Norway and Schreurs’ Environmental Politics in Japan, Germany, and the United States are two important contributions that take our understanding further, particularly when read together.