Aynsley Kellow

Norms, interests and environment NGOs: The limits of cosmopolitanism

Environmental non‐governmental organisations (ENGOs) play important roles in international politics, appearing to be motivated by a cosmopolitanism which transcends the nation state and presents challenges to international organisations. The role of ENGOs and the norms they advance in the development of international institutions of the environment is subjected to critical scrutiny. Rather than transforming such institutions, ENGOs operate within arenas which are structured by those institutions. Moreover, ENGOs cannot escape the web of national and regional interests. The ENGO with the greatest claim to cosmopolitanism (Greenpeace) on the most global issue (climate change) frequently supports some interests while weakening the claims of others. ENGOs and the norms they stand for can reconstruct interests, but a complete understanding still requires consideration of interests.

Steering through Complexity: EU Environmental Regulation in the International Context

The nature of governance in the European Union (EU) and its member states is continuing to evolve as the EU develops. This paper focuses on the challenges to this governance process in the sector of environmental policy, and particularly the role of external organizations and states in providing alternate policy fora. The policy impact of these institutions and organizations leads to more actor participation in a way that EU players may not be able to anticipate or control since the EU is only one of several arenas involved. Both states and non-governmental actors actively seek to shift issues to arenas that provide them advantages. Consequently, developments in other arenas shape and are shaped by EU issues as actors pursue forum shopping. The paper presents two cases, the amendment of the Basel Convention to ban hazardous wastes export and the EU regulation of chemical risk, which demonstrate how external players can shape EU regulation.

A new process for negotiating multilateral environmental agreements? The Asia–Pacific climate partnership beyond Kyoto

The Kyoto Protocol is widely regarded as representing a failed approach to the problem of climate change, especially since the US and Australia have declined to ratify, and developing countries such as India and China—sources of much future emissions growth—have signalled an unwillingness to take on obligations for binding reductions within the framework of an extended Kyoto-like instrument. A new Asia–Pacific Partnership to deal with the problems has emerged and held its first meeting in Sydney in January 2006. Involving Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and the US, this new partnership provides not only an approach better suited to the interests and resource endowments of the region, but a new model for negotiating multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). In the past, MEAs have been beset by a dilemma, in that the slow pace of their negotiation was overcome by devices (such as lowest common denominator measures, creative ambiguity, iterative functionalism, and double standards provisions) that limited their effectiveness. This article argues that by involving only six parties which account for half of existing emissions, the new Partnership provides the opportunity for better policy to be developed among a smaller number of parties, with the potential to overcome the pitfalls of past MEAs.

The Development of Environmental Administration in Queensland and Western Australia: Why are they Different?

Western Australia and Queensland are often seen as the most developmentalist states in the Australian federation, largely because they remained less developed for longer and have seen much mineral and agricultural development in the latter part of the twentieth century. Developmentalism is usually seen as anathema to a commitment to environmental policy, which most states have taken on in response to environmentalism in the same period, yet these two developmentalist states exhibit markedly different trajectories in response to this environmentalist stimulus. This paper explores the reasons for these differences, finding a variety of causal factors including both socioeconomic influences (such as affluence and demographics), political structures, and personalities and the force of ideas. It suggests that we should be wary of monocausal explanations of such differences.

International Environmental Policy

The Kyoto Protocol has singularly failed to shape international environmental policy-making in the way that the earlier Montreal protocol did. Whereas Montreal placed reliance on the force of science and moralistic injunctions to save the planet, and successfully determined the international response to climate change, Kyoto has proved significantly more problematic. International Environmental Policy considers why this is the case. The authors contend that such arguments on this occasion proved inadequate to the task, not just because the core issues of the Kyoto process were subject to more powerful and conflicting interests than previously, and the science too uncertain, but because the science and moral arguments themselves remained too weak. They argue that ‘global warming’ is a failing policy construct because it has served to benefit limited but undeclared interests that were sustained by green beliefs rather than robust scientific knowledge.

Multi-level and multi-arena governance: the limits of integration and the possibilities of forum shopping

Global governance occurs through a large number of issue-area regimes that constitute multiple arenas of governance at multiple levels. This paper draws upon established literature from public administration to show that such fragmentation is unavoidable, because it occurs even in governance at the national level. Moreover, while such fragmentation undoubtedly carries with it problems, it also brings advantages, such as redundancy which makes it less likely that blame avoidance will result in issues being overlooked. The existence of multiple arenas also makes possible the phenomenon of ‘forum shopping’, which allows entrepreneurial actors to advance (or block) the development of international agreements. Using primarily examples from environmental governance, but with some comparative examples from other issue areas, this paper reflects upon both the threats and opportunities this reality presents, suggesting that the prevailing fragmentation of governance at once presents not just an obstacle to global governance, but opportunities for improving global governance—opportunities that would not occur if a single regime enjoyed a monopoly on governing capacity.

Salmon and fruit salad: Australia's response to world trade organisation quarantine disputes

The introduction of new quarantine disciplines under World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements has given rise to tensions within the Australian federation over quarantine measures. This paper examines WTO disciplines and rules as they affect trade in agriculture and food products. It highlights the significance of risk assessment in the policy process relating to quarantine, identifies key issues arising from the WTO Australia—Salmon case and outlines the cases currently tabled at the WTO for settlement with Australia named as respondent. The paper concludes by identifying the lessons from the salmon case in terms of intergovernmental interaction and policy learning within the Australian federation.

Exploring the Impact of International Civil Servants: The Case of the OECD

International civil servants, while long neglected, have recently received renewed attention, focusing especially on the their capacity to influence outcomes in international organizations. Xu and Weller, writing in the context of the WTO, suggested that the capacity of the international civil service to achieve designated objectives is affected by both the formal institutional conditions of the organization and the informal opportunities they develop. The Xu and Weller findings raise the question as to whether their model holds in other international organizations, and in this article we explore these issues in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. We find that, while the significance of the factors they discuss is confirmed, the expertise of the Secretariat in the OECD is an important factor at the base of its influence, confirming a similar account of the World Bank.

Australia's Antarctic agenda

Australia has had a long connection with, and significant national interests in, the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. The Australian Antarctic Territory comprises 42 per cent of Antarcticas landmass. Australia is not only a claimant state and original signatory to the Antarctic Treaty but has played a significant role in the development of what is termed the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS). This article aims to provide an overview of Australias key policy interests and government policy goals towards Antarctica, including its commitment to the ATS. In examining key policy objectives we note that despite continuity and development of these objectives, significant changes and challenges have arisen in the period 1984–2006. It is these challenges that will help frame Australias Antarctic agenda over the next 20 years and beyond.

The policy roles of bureaucrats and politicians in New Zealand

Abstract This paper presents four case studies of policy‐making in New Zealand in an attempt, firstly, to examine the relative roles of bureaucratic and political policy actors and, secondly, to suggest some factors which might account for the variation found in both these and other observed cases. This is done on the basis of distinguishing between types of policy (as suggested by Theodore J. Lowi) according to their likelihood to engender conflict The findings are discussed in relation to the workings of other Westminster political systems (Britain, Canada, Australia). The conclusion is drawn that while politicians are sometimes involved in policy‐making to only a minimal extent, they should still be held responsible for what emerges from that process.