Summary: International Environmental Regimes And The Success Of Global Ozone Policy

Read the summary and the most important questions on international environmental regimes and the success of global ozone policy

• 1 Introduction

• How do you define an international regime?

  A system of norms, rules, principles, operating procedures and institutions that actors create or accept to regulate or coordinate action in a particular issue area of international relations.

• 3 Obstacles to effective global environmental policy

• Which factors make it difficult for governements to create and implement effective international environmental policy?

  -Systemic obstacles
  -Procedural obstacles
  -Lack of necessary and sufficient conditions
  -Obstacles that stem from certain characteristics of international environmental issues.

• In which categories can systemic obstacles be divided?

  -The international political system
  -Global political and environmental systems
  -Global legal systems and the requirements for effective global environmental policy.

• In which categories can procedural obstacles be divided?

  -Lowest-common-denominator problem
  -Slow development and implementation

• Which intrinsic characteristics of international environmental policymaking proof to be obstacles?

  -Scientific complexity, uncertainty, and nonlinearity
  -Linked economic and political interests
  -Unequal adjustment costs
  -Extended time horizons and time horizons conflict
  -Large-number problems
  -Different core beliefs

• 3.1.1 The international political system

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• What is meant with anarchy in the context of the international political system?

  The absence of a hierarchy on a global level. Souvereign states have only themselves to answer to. Because there is no global government to create and enforce common rules and to establish order.

• What are the consequences of the anarchic nature of the international political system?

  -States tend to strive for independence rather than interdependance
  -States tend to seek a balance of power
  -Difficult to achieve effective cooperation between states

• Why does the absence of a global government provide an obstacle for cooperation between states in the creation of international environmental policy?

  -States are afraid that others will not follow internationally established rules and in doing so gain an advantage over the states that do follow those rules.
  -States are afraid that another state will get a bigger advantage which would influence their relative relation to the country in terms of military power, economic state etc.
  -There is a temptation to free-ride but also a fear that others will free-ride.
  -States have a strong incentive to overuse common-pool resources.
  -The anarchy makes misinterpretations of motives, intentions or actions of other countries easier.

• 3.1.2 Global political and ecological systems

• Why does the fact that ecological systems exist independently from political systems provide an obstacle for effective international environmental policy?

  Because the system of souvereign states is not realy suited to adress complex, interdependent, international issues of which the causes, impacts and solutions transcend political boundaries.

• 3.1.3 Global legal systems and the requirements for effective international environmental policy

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• What does principle 21 of the 1972 Stockholm conference say?

  "States have the souvereign right to exploit their own resources, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not harm the environment of other states or areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction."