Governance and Environment in Western Europe: Politics, Policy and Administration, provides an up-to-date overview of developments in this area focusing on a selection of ten countries in Western Europe and the European Union. The countries examined are: Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The range of countries covered - representing as they do different stages of development in environmental policy, different state and institutional traditions - provides an interesting comparative analysis of how different countries confronting similar problems of environmental management have responded politically and (re)organised their administrative systems for implementing these policies.
Europe remains divided between east and west, with differences caused and worsened by uneven economic and political development. Amid these divisions, the environment has become a key battleground. The condition and sustainability of environmental resources are interlinked with systems of governance and power, from local to EU levels. Key challenges in the eastern European region today include increasingly authoritarian forms of government that threaten the operations and very existence of civil society groups; the importation of locally-contested conservation and environmental programmes that were designed elsewhere; and a resurgence in cultural nationalism that prescribes and normalises exclusionary nation-building myths. This volume draws together essays by early-career academic researchers from across eastern Europe. Engaging with the critical tools of political ecology, its contributors provide a hitherto overlooked perspective on the current fate and reception of ‘environmentalism’ in the region. It asks how emergent forms of environmentalism have been received, how these movements and perspectives have redefined landscapes, and what the subtler effects of new regulatory regimes on communities and environment-dependent livelihoods have been. Arranged in three sections, with case studies from Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Serbia, this collection develops anthropological views on the processes and consequences of the politicisation of the environment. It is valuable reading for human geographers, social and cultural historians, political ecologists, social movement and government scholars, political scientists, and specialists on Europe and European Union politics.
Governance and Environment in Western Europe: Politics, Policy and Administration, provides an up-to-date overview of developments in this area focusing on a selection of ten countries in Western Europe and the European Union. The countries examined are: Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The range of countries covered - representing as they do different stages of development in environmental policy, different state and institutional traditions - provides an interesting comparative analysis of how different countries confronting similar problems of environmental management have responded politically and (re)organised their administrative systems for implementing these policies.
This book studies such governments, covering the full life-cycle of coalitions from the formation of party alliances before elections to coalition formation after elections.
Politics and Society in Western Europe is a comprehensive introduction for students of West European politics and of comparative politics. This new edition has been extensively revised and updated to meet with the new needs of undergraduate students as they come to terms with a changing social and political landscape in Europe. This textbook provides a full analysis of the political systems of 18 Western European countries, their political parties, elections, and party systems, as well as the structures of government at local, regional, national and European Union levels. Throughout the book, key theoretical ideas are accessibly introduced and examined against the very latest empirical data on civil society and the state.
The European Union has developed a wide array of external relations with its neighbouring countries. Without offering full membership, the EU nevertheless attempts to transfer its rules and policies to non-member countries. It is this extension of EU rules beyond EU borders that the analysis of external governance seeks to capture. The contributions to this volume explain the modes and effects of EU external governance in a variety of EU–non-member country relations in Western Europe, the former Soviet Union, and the Mediterranean region. They cover such diverse issues as trade, environment, security, and democracy promotion and explore the effects of EU institutions, EU power, and the domestic structures of its partner countries on the transfer of EU rules. This book was based on a special issue of Journal of European Public Policy.
Presents a diverse set of perspectives and experiences on how to support sustainable development through the integration of environmental issues into various policy sectors. Examines existing research on environmental policy integration (EPI) at three levels of policy-making: the national level, both in relation to strategic and sectoral decision-making; the regional level, where both supra-national and sub-national regional entities are discussed; and, the local level, where strategies available to municipalities or individuals for furthering environmental policy integration are presented. New and innovative approaches to the study of EPI at these levels of governance are proposed. Also demonstrates how the effectiveness of EPI depends on factors such as national, legal and administrative structures and culture, the stage of the policy cycle to which EPI measures are applied, and the level of integration among various modes of governance and instruments.
This volume presents a detailed empirical analysis based on a large cross-national data collection, covering the entire post-war period from 1945 to 1999.
`Its strength lies in combining theoretical insights with an impressive range of empirical material. The analysis is subtle and multi-layered.... This is a timely and important book′ - Political Studies `Local governance have gained massive attention among scholars and practitioners during the past several years. Peter John′s book fills a void in the literature by tracing the historical roots of local governance and by placing his findings in a comparative perspective′ - Professor Jon Pierre, University of Gothenburg, Sweden `Peter John has produced a fascinating and stimulating book in which he assesses current developments in urban politics and local government in Europe and suggests how these changes are leading to different patterns of sub-national territorial politics in the EU today. What he has to say is of important interest to all students of local government; comparative politics and of territorial politics more generally′ - Michael Goldsmith, University of Salford `this book offers a fascinating comparative analysis... themes such as New Public Management, globalisation, regionalism and privatisation will be relevant to numerous courses in government, politics, public administration and public policy′ - West European Politics This text provides a comprehensive introduction to local government and urban politics in contemporary Western Europe. It is the first book to map and explain the change in local political systems and to place these in comparative context. The book introduces students to the traditional structures and institutions of local government and shows how these have been transformed in response to increased economic and political competition, new ideas, institutional reform and the Europeanization of public policy. At the book′s core is the perceived transition from local government to local governance. The book traces this key development thematically across a wide range of West European states including: Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Having realized that its traditional mode of coordinating--essentially issuing regulation--no longer commands sufficient political support, the European Union (EU) has turned to what are increasingly referred to as 'new' modes of governance, which rely upon different actors working together in relatively non-hierarchical networks. This book provides the first extended account of how effective they are at addressing 'wicked' policy problems which simultaneously demand greater levels of horizontal and vertical coordination. Taking, as an example, the thirty year struggle to integrate environmental thinking into all areas and levels of EU policy making, it offers a stark reminder that networked governance is not and is unlikely ever to be a panacea. In doing so, it strips away some of the rhetorical claims made about the novelty and appeal of 'new' modes, to reveal a much more sober and realistic appraisal of their coordinating potential.
