Summary Politics of the
Earth Literature Mid-term
test
Summary Lecture 1 Literature
Environmental Governance
by J.P. Evans (2011)
Chapter 1 – Introduction
Voltaire’s snowflake
This chapter outlines how governance can help address environmental problems by securing
collective action between diverse groups that make society up, such as businesses, non-
governmental organizations (NGOs), government organizations and the public.
The environment as a crisis of governance
If we continue along economic development form nowadays, a major environmental crisis will occur.
The reason why we are unable to act effectively to prevent the crisis from happening: Lack of
necessary technology and the technologies we have are too expensive and governments subsidize
polluting industries. Climate change is a political, social and economic challenge (not a technological
or a scientific one).
Defining governance
Governance provide a third way between the poles of market and state, incorporating both into a
broader process of steering in order to achieve common goals. Governance operates by setting
common goals or targets, which allow different actors to devise the most suitable ways to reach
them. The three core principles of governance:
- Commitment to collective action to enhance legitimacy and effectiveness
- Recognition of the importance of rules to guide interaction
- Acknowledgement that new ways of doing things are required that go beyond the state
The challenge of collective action
5 key challenges to collective action:
- Scientific uncertainty: policy-makers hesitate to take action
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, - Subjective nature of environmental problems means that solutions are never right
- Many environmental problems are transboundary: international cooperation needed
- Nation states tend to compete instead of cooperate
- Environmental issues are caused by many different human activities: hard to coordinate
action
In the absence of scientific certainties, the definition of environmental problems and their solutions
will vary according to whose perspective it is seen from. Political inaction is therefore mainly driven
bi the fear of making the wrong decision. The United Nations Security Council keeps world peace and
only include the most powerful countries, but environmental problems afford no such simplicity as
peace. Many aspects of human activity are interrelated with environmental issues that is
exceptionally hard to know where, and at what level, to target actions to address them.
Key debate 1.1
The timeframe for averting climate change and the 2*C guardrail. The 2*C guardrail is the limit of
global temperature rise relative to pre-industrial levels. The ‘timeframe’ refers to the short time we
have to achieve this goal.
Key debate 1.2
The tragedy of the commons. Idea of environmental problems having no technical solution because
they are common resource problems. Tragedy of the commons refers to doing something to gain on
short-term period, but lose a lot/everything on the long-term period. Almost every environmental
problem that we face today can be seen as a tragedy of the commons and every failure of nations to
cooperate as a playing out of the prisoner’s dilemma.
Opportunities for change
Climate change conjures up fears and dangers, but it also opens up the possibility of creating a fairer,
happier world.
Scope of the book
The book focusses on the key elements of governance rather than on the environmental issues.
Governance concerns institutions, as containers that group different actors together, and rules,
which set the parameters within which they interact and act.
Chapter 2 - Governing the environment
Governing by government
Politics shifted towards ‘low politics’ which is administering the needs and everyday affairs of its
resident population. National environmental protection emerged in the nineteenth century in
response to the problems created by the industrialization and urbanization. The emergence of global
threats from the 1980s onwards, like climate change, acid rain, desertification and biodiversity loss,
highlighted the shortcomings of the command-and-control model, a model of governing which
protected common resources by banning or tightly constraining their use.
Analytics of governance 2.1 Governmentality
Power is not confined to laws and state, but is exercised through people and institutions more
broadly. Governmentality adds depth to understanding of environmental governance by showing
how subjects internalize the priorities of environmental experts intro their own behavior.
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, The emergence of the environment as a global problem
Environmental issues began as an idea that had to be nurtured over time. Many people, like the Club
of Rome, made clear that environmental issues were caused by humans and had to be countered.
Because the command-and-control politics would not work against the environmental issues,
sustainable development emerged: promising a way to achieve economic development in the
developing world while addressing global environmental problems.
Key debate 2.1 Malthus and the limits to growth
Idea of humans exceeding the natural limits (too many people in relation to food (not entirely
correct)).
Globalization and the hollowing out of the state
National governments have been hollowed out since World War II, as political duties have been
subsumed by international organizations and devolved down to regions and localities: state functions
devolved to the market.
Analytics of governance 2.2 Political economy
State continues to play an instrumental role in supporting the capitalist system by providing new
ways for it to exploit nature papering over the cracks of environmental pollution.
The shift from government to governance
Governance provided a way to bring the public, NGOs and business into the process of governing.
The New Public Management (NPM) rejected the bureaucratic paradigm and was driven by thinking
from economics and private management. New Public Management transmitted the broader
changes associated with globalization and neoliberalism to the public sector. In the environmental
sector, command-and-control approaches were replaced with New Environmental Policy Instrument
(NEPIs), like environmental taxes, voluntary agreements, eco-labels and tradable permits, which
required the participation of many actors beyond governments.
Modes of governance
Three different modes:
- Hierarchy: pyramid of control, clear route to outcome and regulation, but also lack of
innovation and flexibility.
- Network: stakeholders work together to achieve common goals, more flexible, but there are
a few constraints preventing them leaving the network which makes it less flexible.
- Market: stakeholders bound together as suppliers and consumers according to supply and
demand.
Still, people’s behavior (E.g.: buying a petrol or electric car) is determined by price, authority and
trust. There are also to other modes based on the network and market modes of governance:
- Transition management: seeks to steer technological change in a sustainable direction.
- Adaptive governance: brings actors together to change behavior, very flexible
Orders of governance
First-order governance covers the way that problems are dealt with directly through action and
implementation. Second-order governance is concerned with the context of the order, focusing on
institutional design and the creation of policy instruments and programs. Meta-governance is
concerned with the governance of governance (the organization of the conditions for governance, or
how the contextual factors shape the way in which institutions are built and problems are
presented). E.g.: it is provably futile to try to roll out feed-in tariffs (first order governance) for
renewable energy in countries without institutions in place that are capable of coordinating energy
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