Debora VanNijnatten

Economic integration and cross‐border policy convergence: Social and environmental policy in Canadian provinces and American states

Abstract Focusing on social and environmental policy, this paper examines the hypothesis that policy convergence generated by continental economic integration will be greater among specific pairs of tightly‐linked American states and Canadian provinces than is evident in national‐level comparisons. First, the paper outlines a number of important reasons to expect that provincial governments in Canada are more susceptible than the federal government to pressures for cross‐border policy convergence. Second, the paper outlines a methodology for identifying tightly‐linked pairs of American states and Canadian provinces based on various measures of geographical proximity and levels of state‐province economic integration. Finally, the paper examines patterns of similarity and difference over time in matching state‐province pairs with respect to specific aspects of social policy (levels of social protection and income redistribution) and environmental policy (pollution abatement and control). In terms of these indicators, national patterns of convergence/divergence are not fundamentally challenged by sub‐national patterns of convergence and divergence. At the same time, patterns of similarity and difference over time for various subsets of matching state and province pairs generally differ in degree, if not in direction, from national‐level patterns. However, after 1995, there are some indications of a pattern that fits with the contention that convergence may be occurring at the state‐province level which is not evident in national‐level patterns.

Climate change policy in North America : designing integration in a regional system

Illustrations Tables Acronyms Chapter 1: Designing Integration: The System of Climate Change Governance in North America Debora VanNijnatten (Wilfrid Laurier University, Political Science) and Neil Craik (University of Waterloo, director of the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development) Chapter 2: Supply and Demand for a North American Climate Regime Isabel Studer (Tecnologico de Monterrey, director of the Global Institute for Sustainability) Chapter 3: Building on Sub-Federal Climate Strategies: The Challenges of Regionalism Barry G. Rabe (Gerald Ford School of Public Policy) Chapter 4: Standards Diffusion: The Quieter Side of North American Climate Policy Cooperation Debora VanNijnatten (Wilfrid Laurier University, Political Science) Chapter 5: Deploying the Smart Grid Across Borders in North America Ian H. Rowlands (University of Waterloo, Environment and Resource Studies) Chapter 6: New Approaches to Climate Mitigation: Collaborative Strategies for Developing Renewable Energy in North America Jose Etcheverry (York University, Environmental Studies) Chapter 7: Climate Financing in a North American Context Clare Demerse (Pembina Institute, Director of Federal Policy) and Sandra Guzman (Director of the Air and Energy program of the Mexican Center of Environmental Law) Chapter 8: Regional Climate Policy Facilitation: The Role of the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation Neil Craik (University of Waterloo, director of the School of Environment, Enterprise, and Development) Chapter 9: Design Issues for Linking Carbon Markets Brian C. Murray (Duke University, Nicholas School of the Environment), Peter T. Maniloff (Duke University, Nicholas School of the Environment) and Jonas Monast (Duke University, School of Law) Chapter 10: Developing Integrated Carbon Accounting Systems Steven B. Young (University of Waterloo, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development) and Clint L. Abbott (University of Victoria, Centre for Global Studies) Chapter 11: Trade Rules, Dispute Settlement, and Barriers to Regional Climate Cooperation Andrew Green (University of Toronto, Faculty of Law) Chapter 12: Conclusion Neil Craik (University of Waterloo, director of the School of Environment, Enterprise, and Development) and Debora VanNijnatten (Wilfrid Laurier University) Appendix A List of Contributors

Environmental regime effectiveness and the North American Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

Scholars and practitioners around the globe are grappling with how to improve the effectiveness of complex, transboundary, and multilevel environmental regimes. International environmental agreements (IEAs) have been around for decades yet achievements and outcomes have not met expectations. While international relations scholars have primarily focused on the effectiveness of agreements between states, public policy scholars have been interested in outcomes at a variety of scales including international, national, sub-national, and local across various environmental policy domains and at the instrument and program levels. This article presents findings from a case study of environmental regime effectiveness that uses a modified version of the Oslo-Postdam solution to assess the effectiveness of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, a long-standing, bilateral international environmental agreement between Canada and the USA. The findings indicate that there is a need to more broadly define international environmental agreements in complex transboundary systems to include both formal and informal regime features and multilevel governance efforts and to focus on specific policy goals and ecological outcomes associated with IEAs. This case also illustrates the potential to modify the Oslo-Postdam approach by combining expert assessment and data collection methods with traditional policy analysis and program evaluation methods in assessments of environmental regime effectiveness.