Environmental Policy Convergence Research Articles

How far are developing countries from the call of ecological tax reform? A review of environmental fiscal policy for Kenya

The main objective of this paper is to determine whether the ecological tax reform paradigm that hitherto is employed by a section of industrialised countries as an instrument of environmental management has potential applications in developing countries. The paper focuses on a case study of environmental management policy in Kenya and reveals that there is strong evidence of global environmental policy convergence. However, ecological tax reform does not have free way into the Kenyan policy environment. The hurdles include an over-reliance on standards and enforcement, north-south politics, the industrialisation myth and the double-dividend flaw. The overall conclusion is that ecological tax reform is possible and perhaps desirable for a developing country situation, but with requisite contextualisation.

Globale Ausbreitungsmuster Umweltpolitischer Innovationen (The International Spread of Environmental Policy Innovations)

Studies in comparative political science and international relations found that nations increasingly tend to adopt similar environmental policy innovations and thereby contribute to the innovations' international proliferation. In their sum, these individual policy adoptions add up to a remarkable degree of cross-national environmental policy convergence. This empirical phenomenon begs the question why and how environmental institutions, laws, policies and instruments spread across nations. Based on a unique empirical database, this study searches for answers to these questions. It explores the international spread of 22 environmental policy innovations across 43 industrialized and Central and Eastern European countries. In eight cases, even the global spread of environmental policy innovations is analyzed. The analysis starts from the assumption that the causes for national policy changes and the international spread of environmental policy innovations cannot be exclusively reduced to independent and autonomous domestic policy responses to identical environmental problem pressures. Therefore, the study puts the emphasis on the international sources of domestic policy change and cross-national policy convergence. Namely, the report identifies three distinct international mechanisms which may drive the international spread of environmental policy innovations: non-obligatory diffusion, legal harmonization and coercive imposition. For each environmental policy innovation the study demonstrates how and to what extent these mechanisms matter as sources of environmental policy convergence. The study concludes that non-obligatory policy diffusion constitutes an important source of international policy convergence which complements the mechanisms of legal harmonization and coercive imposition. Without a consideration of its impacts on the international proliferation of environmental policy innovations explanations for cross-national policy convergence remain fragmented.

Diffusion and convergence of environmental policies in Europe

European EnvironmentVolume 15, Issue 2 p. 61-62 Editorial Diffusion and convergence of environmental policies in Europe Helge Jörgens, Corresponding Author Helge Jörgens helge.joergens@uba.de German Advisory Council on the Environment, Berlin, GermanyResearch Fellow, German Advisory Council on the Environment, Reichpietschufer 60, 10785 Berlin, Germany.Search for more papers by this author Helge Jörgens, Corresponding Author Helge Jörgens helge.joergens@uba.de German Advisory Council on the Environment, Berlin, GermanyResearch Fellow, German Advisory Council on the Environment, Reichpietschufer 60, 10785 Berlin, Germany.Search for more papers by this author First published: 17 March 2005 https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.379Citations: 8AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume15, Issue2March/April 2005Pages 61-62 RelatedInformation

International patterns of environmental policy change and convergence

AbstractThe article gives an empirical overview of the international spread of 22 environmental policy innovations. The policy innovations examined in the article include administrative institutions (e.g. environmental ministries, scientific advisory bodies), laws (e.g. soil protection laws, packaging waste laws), instruments of environmental policy integration (e.g. national environmental policy plans, environmental impact assessment), energy taxes and eco‐labels. On this empirical basis, recurring patterns in the global spread of environmental policy innovations are identified and linked to specific causal mechanisms through which this change occurs. In particular, the paper demonstrates how and to what extent non‐obligatory diffusion, legal harmonization and coercive imposition matter as mechanisms of global environmental policy convergence. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Trend‐setters in environmental policy: the character and role of pioneer countries

AbstractThere is reason to believe that environmental policy convergence resulting from policy diffusion is influenced not only by functional imperatives of the world market, but also by a collective behaviour of national governments, where pioneer countries function as (intellectual) leaders under conditions of uncertainty. Their solutions for general environmental problems are adopted by other countries. As a rule, there is one single solution that is preferred by a large group or the majority of countries. This regulatory ‘conformism’ makes pioneer roles of countries highly relevant. The article analyses the character and role of such ‘trend‐setters’ in environmental policy. A necessary condition for becoming a pioneer country in environmental policy is a high domestic capacity for environmental policy‐making. This encompasses institutional, economic and informational framework conditions as well as the relative strength of the green advocacy coalition of a country. While these factors refer to relatively stable factors of policy‐making, this does not explain why sometimes countries give up their roles as pioneers. To explain this, an analytical framework is proposed that encompasses situative factors, strategic factors and actor constellations, especially the coalition between organized proponents of environmental objectives and economic modernizers. This coalition of ecological modernizers may break down, for example in times of economic crisis. The political and economic framework conditions of globalization may sometimes bear impediments for pioneers, but at the same time they also provide incentives for highly advanced countries to take over national pioneer roles – at least in the field of environmental protection, which has become an important issue in the competition for innovation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Europeanisation and Environmental Policy Change

Environmental policy is one of the most regulated and one of the most Europeanised policy areas. This article analyses the concept of Europeanisation, discusses its mechanisms, the mediating factors that lead to change and its possible outcomes. It explores the relationship of specific mechanisms and mediating factors to policy convergence, inertia and divergence. The particularities of environmental policy are presented and a distinction between substantive and procedural policies is made. It is argued that a tendency to convergence of national environmental policies that goes beyond the borders of the EU and further than the “hard” mechanisms of Europeanisation can be observed.

Comparative public policy. Health, transport and the environment. Does European and UK policy support effective joint action?

Background: There is growing recognition of the importance of links between health, transport and the environment. Complex interrelationships demand effective intersectoral collaboration and community participation and policy should therefore support this. The UK has a number of key policy documents representing public health, environmental health and transport perspectives. The purpose of this review is to assess how well these policies are integrated and the extent to which joint action and participation are supported. Review: Reviewing global and European influences on UK policy identifies two main themes: the new public health agenda arising from the Health for All (HFA) Strategy and a more traditional environmental health approach. However, there are fundamental aspects in common, in particular the underlying theme of sustainable development. To date, public health and environmental health ‘traditions’ have been inadequately integrated. This is demonstrated in a number of ways, including approaches to implementation, the choice of indicators and targets and a general failure to define the roles that different sectors can best play in tackling transport, environment and health issues. The revised national health strategy, ‘Our Healthier Nation’, places emphasis on local planning through interagency partnership and joint responsibilities, but it remains to be seen how well this will work in practice. Conclusions: Recent years have seen convergence of environmental and public health policies, but further integration is required. National policy could do more to facilitate explicitly local joint action and community participation. Because of the influence that environment and transport issues have on health, national health strategy has a particularly important part to play in achieving this.