The Environment and International Relations

by Kate O'Neill

Overview

The new edition of this exciting textbook introduces students to the ways in which the theories and tools of international relations and other social science disciplines can be used to analyse and address global environmental problems. Kate O'Neill develops an innovative historical and analytical framework for understanding global environmental issues, integrating insights from different disciplines, and she identifies the main actors and their roles, thereby encouraging readers to engage with the issues and equip themselves with the knowledge they need to apply their own critical insights. Revised and updated, the new edition features new figures, examples, textboxes, and a new chapter on the emergence and politics of market mechanisms as a new mode of global environmental governance. The latest developments in the field, including the December 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, along with new perspectives and recent thinking, are incorporated throughout. This will be invaluable for students of environmental issues both from political science and environmental studies perspectives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107061675
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/16/2017
Series:	Themes in International Relations
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Kate O'Neill is Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Science Policy and Management at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of Waste Trading Among Rich Nations: Building a New Theory of Environmental Regulation (2000), has published articles in journals including The Annual Review of Environment and Resources, the International Studies Review, and Global Environmental Politics, and is co-editor of the journal Global Environmental Politics.

Table of Contents

Preface; Acknowledgements; List of commonly used abbreviations; 1. Introduction: the environment and international relations; 2. Global environmental problems; 3. Actors in global environmental politics; 4. State-led global environmental governance; 5. The impacts and effectiveness of global environmental governance; 6. Global economic governance and the environment; 7. Non-state global environmental governance; 8. The global politics of market mechanisms; 9. Conclusions: the environment and international relations in the twenty-first century; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

An extraordinarily important book presenting, in one place, a comprehensive review of the key themes and controversies governing the environment and international relations…must reading for students, scholars, practitioners, and anyone who cares about the future of our planet.”
Ben Cashore, Environmental Governance and Political Science, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University

“The Environment and International Relations provides a clear, intellectually coherent introduction to one of the key issues of our times. This will be a very useful text for undergraduate students and those who want to understand the political complexities of environmental challenges.”
Lorraine Elliott, Senior Fellow in International Relations, Australian National University

“How can we grasp the unprecedented challenges posed by environmental issues to the world as we know it? Kate O’Neill steers us with a firm hand through such questions, providing a series of robust analytical frameworks that bring clarity to a subject-matter so complex it can sometimes seem intractable. This is a precious guide for students, policy-makers, and anyone interested in either the environment or international relations.”
Charlotte Epstein, Department of Government and International Relations, The University of Sydney

“O’Neill provides a thorough and easily accessible tour d’horizon of global environmental politics. She provides theoretical, historical and critical insights into how well the international community is coping with problems of global and transboundary environmental threats, and the prospects for a broader shift to a more sustainable future. If readers don’t come away far better informed and concerned about global environmental threats they simply weren’t paying attention.”
Peter M. Haas, Department of Political Science, University of Massachusetts

“Comprehensive, authoritative and accessible, with this book Kate O'Neill deftly manages to guide the reader, whether new to the area or not, through the dense maze of literature on the environment and International Relations. It deserves to be widely read.”
Peter Newell, Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University and School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia

“An accessible and up to date introduction, designed to invite further reading and research. Readers will be indebted to Kate O'Neill for the way in which she has read and summarised such a wide range of literature. In my view there is nothing available that gives such comprehensive coverage.”
John Vogler, School of Politics, International Relations & Philosophy, Keele University

From the Publisher