Suchergebnisse

The Sept 1992 Geneva Disarmament Conference resulted in a global & comprehensive Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which banned not only the development but also the possession of chemical weapons, & was aimed at setting controls for disarmament & preventing further proliferation. This article analyzes the regime-building process required for such a complex international implementation & oversight system by examining the historical development of chemical weapon control & disarmament. Mutual vulnerability, changes in the cost-benefit perception of chemical weapons use & disarmament, innovative oversight mechanisms, the impact of the Gulf wars, as well as the willingness of some Western nations to play a leading role were factors that led to such a broad & comprehensive agreement. While the signs point to success, signifying a broad step forward & offering a potential model for the ban of other weapons of mass destruction, implementation of the agreement & participation of the relevant nations remain a challenge. 14 References. L. Kehl

Analysts of international politics can measure and explain the effect of international environmental institutions on the behavior of states and other actors and on the natural environment in three steps. First, we measure the outcome to be explained in terms of goal attainment, defined as the difference, over time or across cases, between actor behavior or the state of the natural environment on dimensions identified by institutional goals and certain end points determined by institutional goals. Second, we assess the effect of an institution in terms of the extent to which the existence or operation of the institution contributes, ceteris paribus, to variation in goal attainment. We transform these two variables into a score of institutional effectiveness to indicate the degree to which institutions contribute to the resolution of the environmental problems that motivate their establishment. Third, we analyze the relationship between institutional effectiveness and specific dimensions of institutional design—such as decision-making rules, membership and access conditions, and the compliance system.

Die Verregelung gesellschaftlicher Beziehungen auf innerstaatlicher und internationaler Ebene hat in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten stark zugenommen. Internationale Regimes wie auch innerstaatliche Normen und Regeln entstehen vielfach in unkoordinierter Weise, was bisweilen zu Inkompatibilitäten und Konflikten zwischen den beteiligten Akteuren führt. Bei steigender Regulierungsdichte stellt sich die bislang in der Disziplin der Internationalen Beziehungen kaum untersuchte Frage, wie regulatorische Eingriffe in verschiedenen Politikbereichen und auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen miteinander koordiniert und harmonisiert werden können. Die Autoren dieses Buches entwickeln einen theoretischen und methodischen Rahmen zur Analyse der Frage nach der Kompatibilität internationaler Regimes und ihren Folgen und evaluieren diesen anhand von Fallstudien zur Beziehung zwischen Handelsliberalisierung und Umweltschutz

Societal efforts towards greening the economy are typically accompanied by controversy over whether voluntary initiatives by firms or government regulation are more effective to that end. Recent research argues that public opinion plays an important role in this regard because citizens' preferences are crucial when democratic policy-makers decide. We investigate whether and how citizens' general attitudes regarding the relationship between the private sector and government can help explain their policy preferences. We argue that whether citizens perceive the state-private sector relationship as synergistic or antagonistic has an effect on their support for private sector self-regulation or government regulation respectively. We assess this argument based on information from a representative survey (N = 1677) in Switzerland. We find that citizens who regard the state-private sector relationship in environmental policy-making as synergistic favor private sector self-regulation. In contrast, citizens who regard the state-private sector relationship as antagonistic prefer either self-regulation or government intervention. We also observe that views on whether firms engage in self-regulation to gain a competitive economic advantage shape the perception of a synergistic state-private sector relationship. Our findings are relevant to current green economy debates as policy-makers in Europe and elsewhere are trying to move beyond the 'either firms or the state' paradigm in regulatory environmental politics. ; ISSN:1462-9011 ; ISSN:1873-6416