The continuing development of the European Union (EU) is transforming policy and politics in its member countries, and possibly in an even larger number of potential members. This book offers a detailed investigation of the Europeanization of national environmental policy in ten western European countries since 1970. By blending state-of-the-art theories with fresh empirical material on the many manifestations of Europeanization, it sheds new light on the dynamics that are decisively reshaping national environmental policy. It also offers an original assessment of how far Europeanization has produced greater policy convergence in western Europe. Throughout, the approach taken is genuinely comparative, drawing on the insights provided by leading country specialists.

This text brings together work on EU environmental policy. Incorporating a range of case studies, it explores the links between levels of governance and the environment in a number of policy areas.

This book examines the development of a European environmental conscience through successive steps of European integration in energy policy. In the 1960s-70s, the world was slowly beginning to realise that environment degradation was not sustainable. With phenomena such as acid rain, it became clear that pollution did not stop at national boundaries and the European environmental conscience developed in parallel to such growing environmental concerns. The oil crisis in 1973 was a turning point in the integration process for both energy policy and environment policy, and while further integration towards the European energy policy failed; the environmental policies took shape in measures such as energy saving. The Commission incorporated both energy and environmental policies into the EU policy canon and built an institutional framework, responding to the insufficiency of national policy answers and the developing environmental conscience of the European people. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of European Integration, European Union politics and history and environmental politics and policy.

Explores the effectiveness of British organisations and groups in the environmental field in responding to the challenge of European integration.

This second and fully revised edition brings together some of the most influential work on the theory and practice of contemporary EU environmental policy. Comprising five comprehensive parts, it includes in-depth case studies of contemporary policy issues such as climate change, genetically modified organisms and trans-Atlantic relations, as well as an assessment of how well the EU is responding to new challenges such as enlargement, environmental policy integration and sustainability. The book's aim is to look forward and ask whether the EU is prepared or even able to respond to the 'new' governance challenges posed by the perceived need to use 'new' policy instruments and processes to 'mainstream' environmental thinking in all EU policy sectors.

At a time when Europeans across the continent are focused on the EU's future direction, this book provides an important contribution to the current debate. Created for reasons quite unconnected with the environment, the EU has been given a compelling new justification by the success of its environmental policy. A number of factors – including a number of threats that came to prominence in the 1980s, and the new concept of 'sustainable development' – are responsible for pushing environmental policy to the forefront of its agenda. Nigel Haigh, a leading authority on the development and implementation of EU environmental policy, traces its evolution from obscurity to centrality. Drawing on a range of articles and lectures, he demonstrates how the EU has not only adapted itself to take on entirely new subject matter, but also has contributed to solving problems which individual Member States could not have dealt with on their own. The book goes on to contextualise the issues throughout its history and offers insight into the future role of the EU in environmental matters. This book is a valuable resource for academics and scholars as well as professionals and policy makers in the areas of environment and sustainability, politics, international relations and European affairs.

This book considers the environmental policies that the EU employs outside its borders. Using a systematic and coherent approach to cover a range of EU activities, environmental issues, and geographical areas, it charts the EU’s attempts to shape environmental governance beyond its borders. Key questions addressed include: What environmental norms, rules and policies does the EU seek to promote outside its territory? What types of activities does the EU engage in to pursue these objectives? How successful is the EU in achieving its external environmental policy objectives? What factors explain the degree to which the EU attains its goals? The book will be of interest to students and academics as well as practitioners in governments (both inside and outside of the EU), the EU institutions, think tanks, and research institutes.

This brand new textbook provides a concise and informative overview of environmental policy and politics in the European Union. It includes a thorough analysis of the traditional areas of environmental concern such as pollution and natural resources, as well as newer environmental issues, including GMOs and climate change. Throughout this clear and readable introduction, the authors emphasize the interdependence between EU environmental policy and changes at the global level, focusing in particular on the EU's role in global environmental governance. The authors' didactic approach means this text will be invaluable to undergraduate and postgraduate students of environmental politics, policies and governance in the EU as well as MA programmes with a global focus, including international relations and EU studies.

The publication of this handbook will be interested for everyone who will learn what the EU has done to protect the environment and to improve the quality of life in Europe, and what can be achieved in future. Well structured, concise and forward-looking, the handbook describes the history and current status of EU environmental law, but also looks to the future by analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the actions taken so far.

ÔThis path-breaking book, written by three well known experts, makes an extremely valuable contribution to the study of ÒnewÓ environmental policy instruments as well as to much wider theoretical debates about governance, policy innovation, learning and transfer. Drawing on an unrivalled comparative empirical study of five different jurisdictions, it manages to make many new points about issues that many of us thought had already been settled.Õ Ð Martin JŠnicke, Free University of Berlin, and former deputy chair, German Advisory Council on the Environment, Germany ÔMuch more than a study of environmental policy instruments, this book ranges widely and authoritatively over the Ògovernment to governanceÓ debate, theories of policy change, regulation, policy transfer, and policy learning. Its lessons and conclusions are relevant and timely well beyond the European context of its case studies and it will be essential reading for public policy scholars everywhere for some time to come.Õ Ð Jeremy Rayner, University of Saskatchewan, Canada ÔThis book represents a very rare achievement in that it combines detailed and up-to-the-minute empirical analysis of environmental policy over the past four decades, with a sophisticated discussion and critique of current theoretical issues in comparative and policy studies generally. It unfolds with a keen eye towards understanding the temporal dimensions of policy dynamics both in the specific policy field examined but also in terms of testing key analytical concepts. Taken as a whole it provides the most detailed empirical assessment to date of the general Ògovernment to governanceÓ hypothesis, with significant implications for policy and governance studies in general.Õ Ð Michael Howlett, Simon Fraser University, Canada and National University of Singapore ÔThis book fills an important gap in the environmental governance literature, addressing governance at a lower level of abstraction than other texts and examining how it plays out in relation to specific modes and instruments of governing. It also contributes towards governance theory-building efforts through the development of an empirically relevant analytical framework. In so doing it provides a firm underpinning for assessing whether, to what extent and in what ways there has been a transition from government towards governance in environmental policy.Õ Ð Neil Gunningham, Australian National University ÔTheoretically sophisticated and empirically rich, this book provides an overview of the introduction, development, and use of new policy instruments and new modes of environmental governance in the European context, taking into account both national and European Union experiences. This is a welcome addition to the field!Õ Ð Miranda Schreurs, Environmental Policy Research Centre and Free University of Berlin, Germany European governance has witnessed dramatic changes in recent decades. By assessing the use of ÔnewÕ environmental policy instruments in European Union countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, this timely book analyses whether traditional forms of top-down government have given way to less hierarchical governance instruments, which rely strongly on societal self-steering and/or market forces. The authors provide important new theoretical insights as well as fresh empirical detail on why, and in what form, these instruments are being adopted within and across different levels of governance, along with analysis of the often-overlooked interactions between the instrument types. Providing important new theoretical insights into the governance debate by combining institutionalist and policy learning/transfer approaches, this book will be invaluable for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. The analytical insights as well as a thorough empirical assessment of the use of environmental policy instruments in practice will prove essential for environmental policy specialists/practitioners.