The aim of this book is to review central concepts in the study of environmental politics and to open up new questions, problems, and research agendas in the field. The volume does so by drawing on a wide range of approaches from critical theory to poststructuralism, and spanning disciplines including international relations, geography, sociology, history, philosophy, anthropology, and political science. The 28 chapters cover a range of global and local studies, illustrations and cases. These range from the Cochabamba conference in Bolivia to climate camps in the UK; UN summits in Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg to climate migrants from Pacific islands; forests in Indonesia to Dutch energy governance reform; indigenous communities in Namibia to oil extraction in the Niger Delta; survivalist militias in the USA to Maasai tribesmen in Kenya. Rather than following a regional or issue-based (e.g. water, forests, pollution, etc) structure, the volume is organised in terms of key concepts in the field, including those which have been central to the social sciences for a long time (such as citizenship, commodification, consumption, feminism, justice, movements, science, security, the state, summits, and technology); those which have been at the heart of environmental politics for many years (including biodiversity, climate change, conservation, eco-centrism, limits, localism, resources, sacrifice, and sustainability); and many which have been introduced to these literatures and debates more recently (biopolitics, governance, governmentality, hybridity, posthumanism, risk, and vulnerability). Features and benefits of the book: Explains the most important concepts and theories in environmental politics. Reviews the core ideas behind crucial debates in environmental politics. Highlights the key thinkers – both classic and contemporary – for studying environmental politics. Provides original perspectives on the critical potential of the concepts for future research agendas as well as for the practice of environmental politics. Each chapter is written by leading international authors in their field. This exciting new volume will be essential textbook reading for all students of environmental politics, as well as provocatively presenting the field in a different light for more established researchers.

This timely Handbook offers a comprehensive outlook on global environmental politics, providing readers with an up-to-date view of a field of ever increasing academic and public significance. Its critical perspective interrogates what is taken for granted in current institutions and social and power relations, highlighting the issues preventing meaningful change in the relationship between human societies and their biophysical underpinnings. This title contains one or more Open Access chapters.

This timely Handbook offers a comprehensive outlook on global environmental politics, providing readers with an up-to-date view of a field of ever increasing academic and public significance. Its critical perspective interrogates what is taken for granted in current institutions and social and power relations, highlighting the issues preventing meaningful change in the relationship between human societies and their biophysical underpinnings. Featuring contributions from over 60 established and emerging international scholars, the Handbook is organised into six thematic sections. It addresses theoretical approaches, contested notions, key issues, governance processes, mobilizations, and emergent directions of inquiry, presenting a vital contemporary analysis of the major social science and political ecology debates over environmental questions. Scholars and students in the social sciences, in particular those studying politics and public policy, with an interest in the environment and climate change will find this Handbook to be essential reading. It will also be useful to academics in other disciplines related to ecology and environmental politics, as well as politicians and practitioners involved in green transition policies.

This collection draws students into conversation about global environmental threats, the tenuous links between knowledge and power, and ways of acting powerfully in service of sustainability. Visit our website for sample chapters!

Reveals how boosters, bureaucrats, and engineers--not grassroots protesters--were truly the ones responsible for spearheading the passage of the Clean Water Act of 1972. How these unlikely protagonists helped to pass the era's most far-reaching regulatory law gives us rare insight into how Congress was able to take the lead in addressing those concerns, namely in the form of water quality issues.

Is democracy hazardous to the health of the environment?

Solutions to environmental problems must be the products of concession, negotiation, and inevitable compromise. This work argues that much light can be shed on global environmental problems from their very "roots". Throughout, it use cases to illustrate the effects of globalization and capitalism.

Organizations such as the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth are familiar to anyone with an interest in environmental protection. As activist groups, they played by the same rules for years. But in 1994, the rules changed. With the Republican takeover of Congress, environmental groups faced sweeping changes in federal policies that threatened the enforcement of environmental laws. As these organizations intensified their efforts to meet these challenges, they also altered their electoral strategies and political spending patterns. This book traces those actions and shows what they mean for the future of environmentalism in the political arena. While environmental advocacy groups have become bigger and better funded in recent years, so have the corporate interests that compete with them for the attention of public and politicians. The Green Agenda in American Politics offers a new look at environmental advocacy that focuses on contemporary lobbying, electioneering, and agenda setting in this new context. Drawing on interviews with activists from a wide range of organizations, Robert Duffy describes what environmental groups actually do when lobbying officials or the public. He examines activity at both national and state levels to emphasize their growing use of websites, email, and action alert networks to conduct more sophisticated grassroots campaigns, and he shows how they are devoting more funds to unregulated forms of spending such as independent expenditure, issue advocacy advertising, and public education campaigns. Duffy also tracks emerging trends in interest group politics and provides an overview of activism through the early 1990s. He then documents the emergence of more aggressive action after 1994, such as providing campaign services to candidates and mounting voter registration drives. He also shows how state and local groups have begun to play more important roles in the wake of the rollback of federal environmental regulations. Brimming with new insights into interest group lobbies in general and contemporary environmental groups in particular, Duffy's book opens a new window on the influence of Big Money in the supposedly democratic electoral process.