Green Giants?: Environmental Policies of the United States and the European Union (American and Comparative Environmental Policy)

Annotation. The United States in recent years has been abandoning its historical role as a leader in environmental regulation. At the same time, the European Union, spurred by political integration, has enacted many new environmental laws and assumed a leadership role in promoting global environmental sustainability. Green Giants?, one of the most detailed comparisons of the environmental policies of America and Europe yet undertaken, looks at current policy trends in the United States and the European Union--the two largest economic actors in the world--and the implications they have for future transatlantic and global cooperation. The contributors--leading European and American scholars and practitioners--examine similarities and differences in specific policy areas in order to assess whether United States and European Union policies are diverging, pursuing similar goals and methods, or undergoing a "hybridization" through joint learning and exchanges. They find that although European and American policies may parallel each other somewhat in domestic regulation, they are clearly diverging in the "third generation" of environmental concerns, which include such global problems as climate change, international trade, and sustainable development. In the final chapter the editors conclude that transatlantic dialogue and cooperation at the highest level are necessary if these two economic and political giants are to lead the international community toward a stable and secure ecological future. The precautionary principle, risk assessment, and the comparative role of science in the European community and the US legal systems / Theofanis Christoforou The roots of divergence: a European perspective / Ludwig Krämer Convergence, divergence, and complexity in US and European risk regulation / Jonathan B. Wiener Environmental federalism in the United States and the European Union / R. Daniel Kelemen Implementation of environmental policy and the law in the United States and the European Union / Christoph Demmke Convergence or divergence in the use of "negotiated environmental agreements" in the European and US environmental policy: an overview / David J. E. Grimeaud What future for environmental liability? The use of liability systems for environmental regulation in the courtrooms of the United States and the European Union / Timothy Swanson and Andreas Kontoleon The climate change divide: the European Union, the United States, and the future of the Kyoto Protocol / Miranda A. Schreurs Trade and the environment in the global economy: contrasting European and American perspectives / David Vogel International development assistance and burden sharing / Paul G. Harris Sustainable development: comparative understandings and responses / Susan Baker and John McCormick Emerging transnational policy networks: the European environmental advisory councils / Richard Macrory and Ingeborg Niestroy The Transatlantic environmental dialogue / Carl Lankowski The necessary dialogue / Michael G. Faure and Norman J. Vig.

The United States in recent years has been abandoning its historical role as a leader in environmental regulation. At the same time, the European Union, spurred by political integration,has enacted many new environmental laws and assumed a leadership role in promoting global environmental sustainability. Green Giants?, one of the most detailed comparisons of the environmental policies of America and Europe yet undertaken, looks at current policy trends in the United States and the European Union—the two largest economic actors in the world—and the implications they have for future transatlantic and global cooperation. The contributors—leading European and American scholars and practitioners—examine similarities and differences in specific policy areas in order to assess whether United States and European Union policies are diverging,pursuing similar goals and methods, or undergoing a "hybridization" through joint learning and exchanges. They find that although European and American policies may parallel each other somewhat in domestic regulation, they are clearly diverging in the "third generation" of environmental concerns, which include such global problems as climate change, international trade, and sustainable development. In the final chapter the editors conclude that transatlantic dialogue and cooperation at the highest level are necessary if these two economic and political giants are to lead the international community toward a stable and secure ecological future.

The basic duty of governments to act cautiously or to err on the side of safety in protecting public health has been a long-standing principle in the legal systems of nearly all major jurisdictions, including those of the United States and the member states of the European Community. An examination of current environmental policy trends in the United States and the European Union and the implications for future transatlantic and global cooperation Edited By Norman J. Vig And Michael G. Faure. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.