Institutional Interactions at the Crossroads of Trade and Environment: the Dominance of Liberal Environmentalism?

Summary, in English

This article argues that institutional interactions that cut across the domains of trade and environment are embedded in overarching norms that shape their evolution and impact. In making this argument, it analyzes three cases of such interactions within the climate change and biosafety regime complexes: those relating to trade-related climate policies and measures, forest carbon sinks, and trade in genetically modified organisms. The analysis highlights the dominance of liberal environmentalism (a set of global norms promoting economic efficiency and environmental improvements through market-based mechanisms) in shaping institutional interactions within these regime complexes, even as liberal environmentalism is contested by key actors. This, in turn, has implications for effective management of institutional interlinkages within regime complexes in global environmental governance.

• Author: Fariborz Zelli; Aarti Gupta; Harro van Asselt
• Department/s: Department of Political Science; BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
• Publishing year: 2013
• Language: English
• Pages: 105-118
• Publication/Series: Global Governance
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 1
• Full text: - 398 kB; Download statistics
• Links: http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/glogo19&div=12&g_sent=1&casa_token=WvO2EVfo2BUAAAAA:oIc4F6DU7pvFY8ainDOQA3vmegbMBRq8JgaPwZzktwkBiPFJ7zVf0gno8nWf_6n5jfJr0vyevQ&collection=journals
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
• Topic: Political Science
• Keywords: Institutional theory; International organisations; Biodiversity; Trade and environment; Environmental institutions; climate change; complexity; UNFCCC; Kyoto Protocol; CBD; WTO; WTO law; Frame analysis; Discourse analysis; political ecology
• Status: Published
• Research group: Miljöpolitik
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1075-2846