This text traces the efforts of developing countries to influence evolving environmental regimes. Negotiations regarding hazardous waste trade, biodiversity, technology transfer and atmosphere and climate serve as case studies.

The State and Social Power in Global Environmental Politics examines how the difficult issues of social, political, and economic relations will complicate the efforts initiated at the June 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The contributors argue that national governments must begin to acknowledge the role of new actors in their environmental policies. The authors of these original essays-including Jesse C. Ribot, James N. Rosenau, Barbara Jancar, and Ann Hawkins-envision a world in which governments, driven by various pressures, find themselves increasingly bound to common efforts and joint solutions.

Essays discuss environmental issues, interest groups, security and trade considerations, and future approaches to environmental policy

"An impressive tour de force in its analytical and theoretical foci. It speaks with unique insight to the future of our world, forging a powerful link between ideology, politics, and the environment."--Daniel G. Zirker, University of Idaho "Enriches our understanding of global environmental beliefs and their place among the world's political elite. . . . Among the most theoretically based discussions of environmentalism founded on real data to date."--Steven R. Brechin, University of Michigan Focusing on seven developing countries--India, Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Romania, and Iran (where such data are rare), Patrick Peritore presents a detailed look at the environmental attitudes and policies of leaders in government, business, and environmental groups. The position that emerges, one considerably more optimistic than ever previously presented, rests outside old political poles of left and right thinking. Leaders in all three sectors studied hold the balance of power between the more utopian Greens and the economically inclined promoters of sustainable development. The author maintains that Third World decision makers hold international postmodern attitudes toward the environment that correspond closely to Western thought. They seek consensus and scientific information as the basis for making decisions and are risk-averse and highly concerned about the environment. In addition, he says, their awareness of these issues is far in advance of their own public, political parties, and mass media. The author creates a model of a new international environmental politics that flies in the face of much conventional wisdom and will be of keen interest to a range of scholars and policy makers. N. Patrick Peritore, professor of political science at the University of Missouri, Columbia, is the author of Socialism, Communism and Liberation Theology in Brazil: An Opinion Survey Using Q-Methodology and coeditor of Biotechnology in Latin America: Politics, Impacts, and Risks.

Understanding Global Environmental Politics develops a new, critical approach to global environmental politics. It argues that the major power structures of world politics are deeply problematic in ecological terms, and that they cannot be easily used to resolve major environmental challenges such as global warming. Instead of simply advocating the construction of new international institutions to respond to such challenges, therefore, the book argues that the construction of alternative social and political structures in necessary.

By drawing on examples from throughout the Third World, Bryant and Bailey explain the development and characteristics of environmental problems that plague parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America and their political and economic bases.

Broadhead (political science, University College of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia) writes from a "deepening concern that the very way environmental issues are thought about and the negotiations that result from their common framing are themselves leading to the further deterioration of the natural environment." The author owes her brand of critique to the Frankfurt School, especially in terms of its analysis of the Enlightenment notion of nature: scientifically knowable and technologically domitable. Showing how Enlightenment thought informs international relations, Broadhead targets "green diplomacy," the way that national and international financial bodies counter environmental critique; how globalization is sold as inevitable, irresistible, and beneficial; and how international agreements on ozone depletion and climate change fail their stated aims. So as not to end in dialectic negation, Broadhead offers positive alternatives to green diplomacy. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Rev. ed of: Global environmental politics / Gareth Porter, Janet Welsh Brown, and Pamela S. Chasek. 3rd ed. 2000.

Global Environmental Politics is the perfect introduction to this increasingly significant area. The text combines an accessible introduction to the most important environmental theories and concepts with a series of detailed case studies of the most pressing environmental problems. Features and benefits of the book: Explains the most important concepts and theories in environmental politics. Introduces environmental politics within the context of political science and international relations theories. Demonstrates how the concepts and theories apply in a wide variety of real world contexts. Case studies include the most important environmental issues from climate change and biodiversity to forests and marine pollution. Each chapter is written by an established international authority in the field. ? This exciting new textbook is essential reading all students of environmental politics and will be of great interest to students of International Relations and Political Economy.