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The US, Switzerland and Canada are wealthy democracies that should be conducive to effective decentralized or cooperative environmental policy-making. However, a closer examination of their environmental policy over many decades finds no evidence that these approaches have worked. So does it matter which level of government makes policy? Can cooperation between sub-national governments protect the environment? Building on comparative case studies on air and water pollution and making use of extensive historical material, Inger Weibust questions how governance structure affects environmental policy performance in the US, Switzerland, Canada and the European Union. The research breaks new ground by studying formal and informal environmental cooperation. It analyzes whether federal systems with more centralized policy-making produce stricter environmental policies and debates whether devolution and the establishment of subsidiaries will lead to less environmental protection. An essential insight into the complexities of policy-making and governance structures, this book is an important contribution to the growing debates surrounding comparative federalism and multi-level governance.
The literature on Multi-level governance (MLG), an approach that explicitly looks at the system of the many interacting authority structures at work in the global political economy, has grown significantly over the last decade. The authors in this volu
Since the end of the Second World War, a set of democratic European countries have established a decentralized system of government based on federal or regional patterns. Some of these systems initially displayed an asymmetrical trend, however, some democracies have implemented a subsequent process of re-symmetrization that changes the structure and the legitimization of the previous political agreements. Charting the evolution of decentralization processes and asymmetries implemented in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, leading international scholars illustrate which countries have evolved more symmetrically, why this is so an...
Typically, the legal investigation of nonhuman life, and of animal life in particular, is conducted through the discourse of animal rights. Within this discourse, legal rights are extended to certain nonhuman animals through the same liberal framework that has afforded human rights before it. Animals, Biopolitics, Law envisions the possibility of lively legalities that move beyond the humanist perspective. Drawing on an array of expertise—from law, geography, and anthropology, through animal studies and posthumanism, to science and technology studies—this interdisciplinary collection asks what, in legal terms, it means to be human and nonhuman, what it means to govern and to be governed, and what are the ethical and political concerns that emerge in the project of governing not only human but also more-than-human life.
Based on case studies of five Third World countries - Sri Lanka, the Philippines, China, Indonesia, and Suriname - Gillies explores the extent to which policy principles were applied in practice, showing that consistent, coordinated, and principled action is elusive even for countries with a reputation for internationalism. He highlights the growing rift between North Atlantic democracies and emerging Asian economic powers, the effectiveness of using aid sanctions to defend human rights, and the vicissitudes of human rights programming in emerging democracies. On a theoretical level, Gillies examines the explanatory power of political realism and the scope for ethical conduct in a world of states. Linking policy assertiveness with perceived costs to other national interests, he constructs a framework for analysing policy actions and applies it to his various case studies, concluding that when it comes to human rights the gap between principle and practice is still far too wide.
This comprehensive research companion examines the theory, practice and historical development of the principle of federalism from the ancient period to the contemporary world. It provides a range of interpretations and integrates theoretical and practical aspects of federalism studies more fully than is usually the case. The volume identifies and examines nascent conceptions of the federal idea in ancient and medieval history and political thought before considering the roots of modern federalism in the ideas of a number of important European political theorists of the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. The contributors focus on the development and institutionalization of the principle...
The memory of past atrocity lingers like a ghost at the table of democracy. Injustices carried out in the past - from massacres and murder to repression and detention - embitter societies and distort their structures so that the process of establishing and running a democracy carries an extra burden. This volume examines societies at various stages of dealing with the memory of the past, from China, Mongolia, Indonesia and the Baltic States, where bitter memories of death and persecution still intrude, to Finland, where the civil war of 1918 has finally been accepted as a distant national tragedy.
This is the tenth edition of How Ottawa Spends. Like previous editions, it focuses on particular departments and policy initiatives of the federal government. Beyond evaluating past actions, the book is intended to offer informed comment on prospects for the future in the areas it explores. This is the first edition since the re-election of a Conservative majority government in November 1988. As such, it provides a specific opportunity to identify some of the issues and challenges facing the second Mulroney government. Accordingly, this particular volume moves beyond How Ottawa Spends' customary treatment of the annual budget and Estimates to examine a broader question: Are we entering a new era of Canadian federalism wherein the federal government has a new and possibly reduced role? Put somewhat differently: Are we seeing new limits to the discretion of the federal government to act? If so, what are those limits and what are their implications for the style and substance of federal policy making? The broad treatment of these questions in the book's first chapter is intended to set the stage for the more specific discussions of discretion and the federal government which follow.
The Case for Centralized Federalism and its sister volume The Case for Decentralized Federalism are the outcome of the Federalism Redux Project, created to stimulate a serious and useful conversation on federalism in Canada. They provide the vocabulary and arguments needed to articulate the case for a centralized or a decentralized Canadian federalism. In The Case for Centralized Federalism, an array of experts condemns the federal government’s submissiveness in its dealings with the provinces and calls for a renewed federal assertiveness. They argue that the federal government is best placed to create effective policy, support democracy and respond to issues of national importance.
An incisive critique of Canada's drinking water gatekeepers. Canada is celebrated for its abundance of fresh water, and few Canadians question the safety of the water that comes from our taps. But is this trust justified? One study estimates that contamination of drinking water causes 90,000 cases of illness and ninety deaths every year. In this authoritative review of decades of legislation, research, and independent regulatory critiques, accompanied by riveting stories of the many failures of our water supply, award-winning journalist Chris Wood and Canadian water policy expert Ralph Pentland expose how governments at every level have failed to protect our drinking water. The authors review the history of water management in Canada and approaches to the problem in Europe and the United States, then analyze our own approach in recent times, and finally propose a strategy to protect our water--including a new charter that will hold our government to account.