“Governing the Environment”
Description: Recent environmental studies scholarship has produced much insight into rules governing human behavior and its impact on the environment. We know quite a bit about international negotiations, regimes, and organizations setting boundaries for the behavior of states. Similarly, comparative scholarship has produced a wealth of knowledge on domestic environmental regulations. In addition to such IR and comparative inquiries, a more recent branch of research studies rule-making by non-state entities such as firms and NGOs. Given this proliferation of thinking in analytically distinct dimensions of environmental rule-making it seems necessary to compare notes across these bodies of scholarship and explore what we have learned about rules regarding the environment. How may they differ depending on the rule-maker? How may they interact with (or contradict) each other?
Group Coordinator: Marcus Schaper, mschaper@gvpt.umd.edu
Marcus
Schaper received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and is a
Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at Reed College. He
has been a member of the Environmental Studies Section since 1999 and
has been in charge of the section’s website since 2003. His research
deals with regulatory policy issues from a comparative institutionalist
perspective with an emphasis on trade and environmental topics.
Activities and Schedule: The Environmental Studies Working Group will center on a workshop to be held on Saturday, February 14, the day before the start of the 2009 ISA Annual Convention as well as two follow-up themed meetings during the conference itself. The workshop and subsequent meetings will combine working in small groups (coordinated by scholarly interest) with working as a large group in order to ensure the optimal combination of community and intensity. Additionally, workshop participants will attend three regular ISA panels of their choice sponsored by the Environmental Studies Section.
Saturday, February 14, 12noon – 6:30pm
Pre-Conference Workshop: Governing the Environment
12noon - 2:00 Roundtable Discussion/Lunch Meeting
Introduction to the workshop and initial discussion of environmental
governance and questions to be pursued in subsequent group discussions
2:15 - 4:15 Small Group Discussions
We will break into three groups to address international, national, and non-state rules and governance. How do we govern the environment in each of these dimensions? Where/how do rules overlap with those in other realms?
4:30 - 6:30 Integrating Environmental Governance Scholarship across Levels
In this session we will synthesize the group discussions and try to figure out where we are in terms of conceptualizing environmental governance beyond the analytically distinct treatment of international relations, domestic governments, and non-state actors. Who governs the environment? How do rules interact with each other?
Monday, February 16, 4:15 - 6:00pm (Panel slot E)
Environmental Governance and ISA 2009
Our Saturday discussions will have sensitized us to look at environmental governance broadly beyond analytical divisions in the field. This meeting will be an opportunity for participants to share what they have learned from the panels they have attended, with a focus on conceptualizing environmental governance. Are we making progress as field in understanding environmental governance?
Tuesday, February 17, 4:15 - 6:00pm (Panel slot E)
Exploring the Past, Anticipating the Future: Charting a (New?) Research Agenda
The convention theme provides the topic for our last meeting. What do we know about environmental governance broadly speaking? What do we need to know? Where do we go now? This is the time to reflect on the working group meetings as well as the conference in general and to strategize about follow-up activities. The post-conference survey will also be discussed.
