Globalization and the Environment

Globalization and the Environment critically explores the
actors, politics and processes that govern the relationship between
globalization and the environment. Taking key aspects of
globalisation in turn - trade, production and finance - the book
highlights the relations of power at work that determine whether
globalization is managed in a sustainable way and on whose behalf.

Each chapter looks in turn at the political ecology of these
central pillars of the global economy, reviewing evidence of its
impact on diverse ecologies and societies, its governance - the
political structures, institutions and policy making processes in
place to manage this relationship - and finally efforts to contest
and challenge these prevailing approaches.

The book makes sense of the relationship between globalisation and
the environment using a range of theoretical tools from different
disciplines. This helps to place the debate about the compatibility
between globalisation and sustainability in an explicitly political
and historical context in which it is possible to appreciate the
'nature' of interests and power relations that
privilege some ways of responding to environmental problems over
others in a context of globalisation.

Auteur

Peter Newell is professor of international relations at the University of Sussex and director of the Centre for Global Political Economy.

Résumé
Globalization and the Environment critically explores the actors, politics and processes that govern the relationship between globalization and the environment. Taking key aspects of globalisation in turn - trade, production and finance - the book highlights the relations of power at work that determine whether globalization is managed in a sustainable way and on whose behalf.

Each chapter looks in turn at the political ecology of these central pillars of the global economy, reviewing evidence of its impact on diverse ecologies and societies, its governance - the political structures, institutions and policy making processes in place to manage this relationship - and finally efforts to contest and challenge these prevailing approaches.

The book makes sense of the relationship between globalisation and the environment using a range of theoretical tools from different disciplines. This helps to place the debate about the compatibility between globalisation and sustainability in an explicitly political and historical context in which it is possible to appreciate the 'nature' of interests and power relations that privilege some ways of responding to environmental problems over others in a context of globalisation.

Contenu

Preface vi

Acknowledgements viii

Abbreviations x

Tables and Boxes xiii

1 Globalization and the Environment: Capitalism, Ecology and Power 1

2 The Political Ecology of Globalization 17

3 The Political Economy of Global Environmental Governance: Power(in) Globalization 34

4 Global Trade and the Environment: Whose Rules Rule? 60

5 Global Production and the Environment: Racing to the Top, Bottom or Middle? 88

6 Global Finance and the Environment: Gambling on Green 114

7 Conclusions: Ecologizing Globalization/Globalizing Ecology 145

References 160

Index 186