Waste Trading among Rich Nations: Building a New Theory of Environmental Regulation (American and Comparative Environmental Policy)

318 Pages·2000·0.99 MB·English

by  Kate O'Neill

Waste Trading among Rich Nations
American and Comparative Environmental Policy
Sheldon Kamieniecki and Michael E. Kraft, editors
Critical Masses: Citizens, Nuclear Weapons Production, and
Environmental Destruction in the United States and Russia
Russell J. Dalton, Paula Garb, Nicholas P. Lovrich, John C. Pierce,
and John M. Whiteley
Toward Sustainable Communities: Transition and Transformations in
Environmental Policy
Daniel A. Mazmanian and Michael E. Kraft, editors
Domestic Sources of International Environmental Policy: Industry,
Environmentalists, and U.S. Power
Elizabeth R. DeSombre
Waste Trading among Rich Nations: Building a New Theory of
Environmental Regulation
Kate O’Neill
Waste Trading among Rich Nations
Building a New Theory of Environmental
Regulation
Kate O’Neill
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
( 2000 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or
by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording,
or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the
publisher.
This book was set in Sabon by Asco Typesetters, Hong Kong, and was printed
and bound in the United States of America.
Printed on recycled paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
O’Neill, Kate, 1968–
Waste trading among rich nations : building a new theory of
environmental regulation / Kate O’Neill.
p. cm. — (American and comparative environmental policy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-262-15050-6 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-262-65052-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Hazardous wastes—Management. 2. Hazardous wastes—Transportation.
3. Environmental policy. I. Title. II. Series.
TD1030.O72 2000
363.7208756—dc21 99-088564
This book is dedicated to my parents, Bob and Sally O’Neill,
and to the memory of my grandfather, Donald Frank Burnard
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Contents
Series Foreword ix
Acknowledgments xiii
List of Tables xv
List of Abbreviations xvii
1 Hazardous Waste Trading among OECD Countries: A Comparative
Approach 1
2 Out of the Backyard: Hazardous Waste Management as an
International Issue 25
3 An Institutional Explanation of the Waste Trade 51
4 Great Britain: Risk Acceptance and the Politics of Flexibility,
Diffusion, and Closure 75
5 Germany: Technocracy, Federalism, and Risk Aversion 113
6 The Waste Trade and Environmental Regulation in France,
Australia, and Japan 147
7 Conclusion 185
Notes 219
References 261
Index 289
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Series Foreword
As we begin the twenty-first century, it is becoming increasingly ap-
parent that many complex relationships exist between domestic and
international environmental politics and regulations. Free trade, the
formation of economic trading blocs, the globalization of capitalism,
rapid advancements in transportation and communications technol-
ogies, and other factors are placing mounting pressure on local and
global ecosystems. This is forcing nations to address national and in-
ternational environmental problems and issues simultaneously. Policy-
makers now face serious obstacles and challenges in the areas of natural
resource management and pollution control, within and between na-
tional borders. Just as the twentieth century witnessed a sharp rise in
economic interdependency between nations, the new century is ushering
in greater environmental interdependency between countries. No doubt,
these two trends are closely interconnected.
Because threats to environmental quality are more daunting than
before, there is a greater need for cooperation between nations than in
the past. While the growing body of literature on international envi-
ronmental politics focuses on the formulation and implementation of
international environmental regimes, very little attention is being paid
to domestic factors (except when they shed light on a country’s position
in international negotiations). The emerging literature on comparative
environmental policies is also guilty of this omission. As a consequence,
and despite present realities and trends, we lack a comprehensive theo-
retical framework of how domestic factors determine national responses
to questions of global environmental degradation and management as