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Abstract
This article examines the efforts of the Obama administration and many other actors-ranging from non-governmental organizations, municipalities, and state governments to some Congressional representatives-to put the United States back on track towards international climate leadership. Efforts to shift policy direction, however, still face many hurdles. Over the course of the better part of a decade or more, climate skeptics and policy change opponents were able to seed doubt about the urgency of the issue in the public's mind, establish new organizations and strategies to fight against climate action, and institutionalize serious obstacles to meaningful policy change.

Canada and the European Union are among the 10 largest emitters of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for two and 14 percent respectively of global carbon dioxide emissions. Despite these similarities, Canada and the EU in recent years have had very different experiences with climate policy implementation and have taken substantially different positions towards the establishment of post-Kyoto climate reduction goals. The EU-15 are well on track to meeting their Kyoto protocol target and could even surpass it. In contrast, Canada is far from meeting its Kyoto emissions reduction target and has set a weak goal for 2020. This article compares the opportunities and constraints that federalism places on Canada and the EU in terms of their climate policymaking. Adapted from the source document.

This article introduces this special issue that deals with subnational (and, in the case of the European Union, sub-supranational) global climate change politics. While recognizing the limitations that face local governments, the article discusses the importance of focusing more attention on climate policies and programs of state (prefectural, provincial), regional, metropolitan, and local levels of government, where implementation of national climate change policies and programs must occur. Four cases are examined in detail: California within the United States, Germany within the European Union, prefectures and some municipalities (Tokyo and Kyoto) within Japan, and provinces and prefectures within China. The reasons why local governments sometimes choose to act as agenda setters are considered, the ways local governments can influence national government policies are discussed, the role of international networks in diffusing policy ideas among local governments is introduced, and the obstacles to affecting deep change at the local level are considered.

Schreurs reviews JAPANESE POLITICS: An Introduction by Takashi Inoguchi.

The Japanese government's attitude towards global environmental stewardship has changed dramatically in the period since the late 1980s. The government has introduced a wide array of new environmental regulations aimed at addressing domestic and international pollution and promoting greater conservation of resources. Environmental decision making has also been made more open to environmental citizens' groups. What should be made of these changes? How does Japan rank as a global environmental leader? This article assesses Japan's performance in a comparative light and finds that while Japan has made considerable progress in pluralizing environmental policy making and introducing many new environmental laws there is still considerable room for improvement.

The Japanese government's attitude towards global environmental stewardship has changed dramatically in the period since the late 1980s. The government has introduced a wide array of new environmental regulations aimed at addressing domestic & international pollution & promoting greater conservation of resources. Environmental decision making has also been made more open to environmental citizens' groups. What should be made of these changes? How does Japan rank as a global environmental leader? This article assesses Japan's performance in a comparative light & finds that while Japan has made considerable progress in pluralizing environmental policy making & introducing many new environmental laws there is still considerable room for improvement. 24 References. Adapted from the source document.