George Hoberg

Sleeping with an Elephant: The American Influence on Canadian Environmental Regulation

This article analyzes the American influence on Canadian environmental regulation in order to show the international sources of domestic public policy, especially the manner in which Canadian policy development is influenced by the United States, and the specific dynamics of Canadian regulatory policy. The United States influences Canadian domestic public policy by the export of costs and the export of knowledge. An analysis of major developments in the areas of air pollution, water pollution, pesticides, toxic substance regulation, and environmental impact assessment demonstrates that American influence over Canadian environmental regulation is pervasive. The most frequent pattern is emulation, where value convergence combined with U.S. leadership leads to Canadian borrowing of U.S. policy innovations. This process can be either elite-driven or activist-driven, the latter being characterized by an enlarged scope of conflict, media exposure, and pressure campaigns on policymakers.

Privileging the sub-sector: critical sub-sectors and sectoral relationships in forest policy-making

Abstract Policy analysis has usually been organized around the concept of the policy sector, which has served as the fundamental unit for analyzing policy change. The emergence of well-defined and institutionalized issue subsectors, however, has called the utility of a purely sectoral analysis of policy dynamics into question. Utilizing evidence from a case study of forest policy development in British Columbia, Canada, in the 1990s, this article suggests that understanding policy change in complex sectors such as forestry requires a more nuanced conceptualization and analysis of sector–subsectoral relationships than exists in the present literature. The article develops the notion of critical subsectors, capable of blocking or enabling overall levels and directions of sectoral policy change, as an essential tool required to understand policy dynamics.

Globalization and policy convergence: Symposium overview

One of the great questions of our time is the capacity of nation states to maintain distinctive policies in the face of globalization. To many, the intensification of international trade, the mobility of capital, and the circulation of ideas has put immense pressure on governments to reduce taxes, relax business regulations, and generally conform policies to international standards. A growing body of scholarship, however, emphasizes the continued flexibility of nations to tailor domestic policies to suit their own needs. At the outset, it is important to differentiate policy convergence—the process of policies across countries becoming increasingly alike—from the effects of international economic integration. Banting, Hoberg, and Simeon (1997) have developed a framework that distinguishes the variety of forces at work. They emphasize four major forces behind convergence:

Risk, science, and politics : regulating toxic substances in Canada and the United States

Paying particular attention to how politicians and bureaucrats in the two countries deal with the scientific uncertainty that pervades environmental decision making, Harrison and Hoberg analyse case studies of seven controversial substances suspected of causing cancer in humans: the pesticides Alar and alachlor, urea-formaldehyde foam insulation, radon gas, dioxin, saccharin, and asbestos. They weigh the strengths and weaknesses of each countrys approach according to five criteria: stringency and timeliness of the regulatory decision, balancing of risks and benefits by decision makers, opportunities for public participation, and the interpretation of science in regulatory decision making. The Canadian approach is exemplified by closed decision making, case-by-case review that relies heavily on expert judgement, and limited public debate about the scientific basis of regulatory decisions. In contrast, regulatory science in the United States is characterized by publication of lengthy rationales for regulatory decisions, reliance on standardized procedures for risk assessment, and controversy surrounding the interpretation of scientific evidence.

Risk, Science and Politics: Alachlor Regulation in Canada and the United States

This article is a comparative case study of environmental regulation in Canada and the United States, focussing on one important area of environmental regulation, pesticides, and on the treatment of North Americas most commercially important pesticide, alachlor. Alachlor is a clear case of policy divergence: Canadians have banned the substance while the US has decided to keep it on the market with minimal restrictions. Three major explanations for the divergence are explored: science, interest group politics, and legal and institutional arrangements. The article concludes that while different interpretations of the risks posed by alachlor contributed to the different decisions, they can only be explained with reference to the economic importance of alachlor and the need to maintain the legitimacy of current institutional arrangements. The concluding section outlines a framework for explaining similarities and differences in environmental, health and safety regulations across nations.

Trade, Harmonization, and Domestic Autonomy in Environmental Policy

Abstract This article evaluates the environmental criticisms of free trade that have been such an important part of the critique of globalization. The first section briefly surveys the range of criticisms environmentalists have brought against the new economic order. The second section examines the available literature on the “race to the bottom,” one of the key concerns. The third section analyzes the World Trade Organization trade rules and how they have been interpreted by dispute resolution panels involving environmental issues. The fourth section turns to the specific rules of the North American Free Trade Agreement and examines several case studies of environmental issues in that region. The final section provides a summary evaluation of the environmental criticisms. The article argues that the environmental criticisms are exaggerated. Trade agreements leave far more room for domestic environmental measures than is frequently argued. The political globalization of the environmental movement has helped counter the threat to environmental policy created by the economic and trade aspects of globalization. Environmentalists do need to be careful about how they advance this critique of globalization, however, because their arguments risk becoming a self‐fulfilling prophecy.

The Evolution of Devolution: A Critical Analysis of the Community Forest Agreement in British Columbia

Community-based management is an important trend in natural resource governance. In North America, British Columbia has received considerable attention for its initiatives in community forestry. This article addresses the question of whether British Columbias initiatives have met the governments intention to provide “local control over forests for local benefits.” We develop an analytical framework for gauging the extent of devolution, and examine the actual distribution of authority over forest management decision making between the provincial government and the community tenure holder. On the basis of document analysis and interviews, we conclude that the degree of devolution thus far is quite modest. The new community tenure is, with a few modest exceptions, essentially a much smaller version of the provinces area-based industrial forest tenure. This approach to assessing devolution can be applied to other jurisdictions to help gauge the sincerity of government claims regarding devolving control over natural resource management to communities.

Canada and North American Integration

Since before Confederation, Canadas national identity has been defined in part by its relationship to the United States. This article examines trends in North American integration and their consequences for various aspects of Canadian life, focusing on the economic and political dimensions. It introduces the concept of integration, provides a brief survey of the history of North American integration, summarizes the findings of research recent in the area, and highlights emerging themes, policy implications, and the need for future research. The main theme is that the consequences of continental integration have not been as formidable as widely believed. Canada still retains significant room to maneuver, even in the areas of policy and most affected by growing economic integration.

The Battle Over Oil Sands Access to Tidewater: A Political Risk Analysis of Pipeline Alternatives

La possibilité d’accroître, sur les marchés, l’offre de pétrole canadien provenant de sables bitumineux est de plus en plus contestée, les projets de nouveaux pipelines suscitant beaucoup de controverse. Dans cet article, je conçois un cadre d’analyse du risque politique dans ce domaine, et je l’applique à cinq projets de pipelines. Le risque politique lié aux projets d’infrastructures majeures est ainsi fonction : du nombre de droits de veto des institutions ; du fait que les groupes d’opposition ont ou non un droit de veto ; du fait qu’un projet peut ou non être réalisé grâce à l’utilisation d’infrastructures existantes ; de l’importance des risques environnementaux ; et de la répartition des risques et des avantages entre différents gouvernements. Mes résultats montrent qu’un risque politique considérable est lié à chacun des cinq projets étudiés, mais que le type et l’ampleur de ce risque varient selon les projets.

Reaganism, pluralism, and the politics of pesticide regulation

A key priority of the ‘Reagan Revolution’ was an attack on the system of health, safety, and environmental regulation that arose in the 1970s. This article evaluates Reagans regulatory reforms through the lens of one particularly important case study, the regulation of pesticides. This case will be used to explore two issues: (1) an empirical question about the magnitude of policy change achieved by the Reagan administration in the area of environmental regulation; and (2) a conceptual and theoretical question about the dynamics of ‘subgovernments’ or ‘issue networks,’ and their relationship to policy change. The analysis reveals that while the Reagan administration has produced important changes in both policy style and substance, in comparison to the changes that occurred around 1970, they have been relatively modest. Reagans reform efforts failed largely because the President only controls a subset of the relevant components of the policy ‘regime’. Environmental interests were strongly entrenched in regime elements beyond Reagans immediate control - in particular Congress, the courts, and the ruling public philosophy - and were thus able to thwart many of Reagans initiatives.