Transboundary Risk Governance

Description

Governing environmental risk, particularly large-scale transboundary risks associated with climate change and pollution, is one of the most pressing problems facing society . This book focuses on a set of key questions relating to environmental regulation: How are activities regulated in a fragmented world - a world of nation states, regulators, domestic and international law and political contests - and one in which a range of actors, such as governments, corporations and NGOs act in order to influence regulations in specific policy areas? How are complex and trans-boundary environmental issues managed? What role does expert knowledge play in regulating this kind of issues? What give rules authority? In short, how do actors try to render an issue governable? Drawing on regulation theory, discourse theory and science and technology studies, and employing original research, the authors analyse the regulation of four kinds of complex and trans-boundary environmental issues: oil protection in the Baltic Sea, mobile phones and radiation protection, climate change adaptation and genetically modified crops. The outcomes include insights for policymakers, regulators and researchers into how dominant frames are constructed, legitimate actors are configured and authority is established. This in turn exposes the conditions for, and possibility of, developing regulation, making authoritative rules and shaping relevant knowledge in order to govern complex environmental risks.

Rolf Lidskog is Professor in Sociology at the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, i? rebro University. Linda Soneryd is associate professor in sociology and researcher at the Stockholm Centre for Organizational Research (Score.) Ylva Uggla is associate professor in sociology at the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, i? rebro University.

'This is a thought provoking, well written, and important book that will be an essential read for anyone who cares about transboundary risk governance.' Ragnar E. Li? fstedt, Professor of Risk Management and the Director of King's Centre for Risk Management, King's College London, UK 'Regulation is contested, most notably for these authors because of who is allowed to participate and the norms it sends. The authors combine a variety of approaches from social theory, sociology and the social studies of science to a study of four recent European technical regulatory topics. Their work yields a nuanced view of the various social factors s and actors that shape the contemporary European regulatory agenda, including the sensible conclusion that the state remains an important, although not the only, actor in governing globalization. This book is highly recommended for those who seek to better understand the effects of globalization on national and international regulation.' Peter M. Haas, Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst 'Transboundary Risk Governance deals with the most pressing issue of our age - how to create integrated regulatory practices adequate to problems which do not respect national boundaries. Drawing on case material across four different fields of regulatory attention - pollution, climate change, mobile phone radiation and GM food safety - the authors ably demonstrate how complex uncertainties are framed by different bodies and experts to make them governable as risks. This book spans the fields of political science, public administration, international relations, and risk and regulation studies, and is essential reading for scholars and practitioners alike.' Michael Power, Professor of Accounting, Centre for the Analysis of Risk and Regulation (CARR), London School of Economics and Political Science 'Transboundary Risk Governance is an important addition to our understanding of environmental risks and the way in which such risks become governable issues. This book has several strengths: it is not afraid to interrogate our most taken for granted processes ('Why make rules?'); its four case studies are built around original and important research carried out by the authors; but above all, by bringing together the salient questions in regulation theory, discourse theory, and Science and Technology Studies the book has been able to explore issues of environmental risk and regulation as subtle, ongoing, and provisional social processes. We will need this understanding to create better environment-society relationships in the future.' Claire Waterton, Senior Lecturer in Environment and Society, Director of the Centre for the Study of Environmental Change, Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK. 'Insights from this book will increase the effectiveness of all actors as they engage in efforts to regulate transboundary environmental risks.' Environmental Health Perspectives.