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"This book provides novel and thought-provoking insights into the fundamental policy issues involved in agricultural biotechnology. Thomas Bernauer explains global regulatory polarization and trade conflict in this area. He then evaluates cooperative and unilateral policy tools for coping with trade tensions. Arguing that the tools used thus far have been and will continue to be ineffective he concludes that the risk of a full-blown trade conflict is high and may lead to reduced investment and the stagnation or even the decline of the technology. Bernauer concludes with suggestions for policy reforms to halt this trajectory - recommendations that strike a sensible balance between public-safety concerns and private economic freedom - so that food biotechnology is given a fair chance to prove its environmental, health humanitarian, and economic benefits." "This book will equip companies, farmers, regulators, NGOs academics, students, and the interested public - including both advocates and critics of green biotechnology - with a deeper understanding of the political, economic, and societal factors shaping the future of one of the most revolutionary technologies of our times."--Jacket

Within the past 25 years, climate change has evolved from an issue of interest primarily to some natural scientists into one of the top priorities on the global policy agenda. Research in political science and related fields offers systematic and empirically well-supported explanations for why solving the climate problem has turned out to be more difficult than originally anticipated. After reviewing this research, I focus on four areas in which we know less: (a) institutional design features that may help in mitigating or overcoming fundamental problems in the global cooperative effort; (b) factors that are driving variation in climate policies at national and subnational levels; (c) driving forces of climate policy beyond the state, in particular civil society, the science–policy interface, and public opinion; and (d) sociopolitical consequences of failing to avoid major climatic changes. The article concludes by identifying key questions at the micro, meso, and macro levels that should be addressed by political scientists in the coming years. In view of the fact that governance efforts at the global level are progressing very slowly, greater attention to bottom-up dynamics appears useful, both for analytical reasons (there is lots of variation to be explained) and for normative reasons.

Within the past 25 years, climate change has evolved from an issue of interest primarily to some natural scientists into one of the top priorities on the global policy agenda. Research in political science and related fields offers systematic and empirically well-supported explanations for why solving the climate problem has turned out to be more difficult than originally anticipated. After reviewing this research, I focus on four areas in which we know less: (a) institutional design features that may help in mitigating or overcoming fundamental problems in the global cooperative effort; (b) factors that are driving variation in climate policies at national and subnational levels; (c) driving forces of climate policy beyond the state, in particular civil society, the science-policy interface, and public opinion; and (d) sociopolitical consequences of failing to avoid major climatic changes. The article concludes by identifying key questions at the micro, meso, and macro levels that should be addressed by political scientists in the coming years. In view of the fact that governance efforts at the global level are progressing very slowly, greater attention to bottom-up dynamics appears useful, both for analytical reasons (there is lots of variation to be explained) and for normative reasons. Adapted from the source document.

Der Autor beschreibt die kontroversen Standpunkte in der Debatte der WTO-Mitgliedsstaaten über eine Ausweitung der weltweiten Handelsliberalisierung in den nationalen Bereich hinein. Die Kontroverse richtet sich vor allem darauf, dass eine Anpassung an die nationalen Regulierungssysteme grundlegende gesellschaftliche Werte in Frage stellt, z.B. im Hinblick auf den Verbraucherschutz. Gleichzeitig können die Regulierungsanpassungen jedoch auch wesentliche ökonomische Wirkungen haben, welche in direkter Weise die Umsätze und Gewinne von Unternehmen tangieren. In der ersten Runde der Debatte wurde die Frage diskutiert, ob die Handelsliberalisierung zu einer Senkung der Standards im Verbraucherschutz führt oder ob sie eher strengere Standards bewirkt. Die Vertreter der zweiten Runde werfen aus Wettbewerbssicht die Frage auf, ob und in welcher Weise bestehende Einigungsprozesse in der Lage sind, mit nationalen Unterschieden in den Verbraucherregelungen umzugehen und welche Reformen notwendig sind. (ICI)