Global Governance: Drawing Insights from the Environmental Experience (Global Environmental Accord: Strategies for Sustainability and Institutional Innovation)

Rating:
Summary: Thought Provoking
Review: Something new is going on in the world today. The citizens of planet Earth are trying to solve -- or at least manage -- our common problems of a global nature. And, we're trying to do it without creating a centralized world government. The result is a hodge-podge of treaties, accords, regulations, and inter-governmental organizations that (almost) defy description.

This book takes a look at the international environmental regimes in this mix, and it tries to make sense of them. In the process, the reader can ponder a number of intriguing questions. Like, how is our notion of "national sovereignty" changing as the world becomes smaller? What is "governance without government?" What is the role of global civil society in the creation of international regimes? And, is it possible to measure the effectiveness of the various regimes?

In the end, the author and his contributors raise more questions than they answer, but that's to be expected. It just shows how much we have to learn about managing our world in a cooperative fashion.

As the title suggests, this books is primarily about governance and world order. Don't buy it if you're looking for a description of ecosystems and the natural environment.

But, if you want to learn about how nations, NGO's, and other actors are responding to environmental threats -- and if you don't mind wading through the academic prose -- this could be a good book to put in your shopping cart.

Rating:
Summary: Thought Provoking
Review: Something new is going on in the world today. The citizens of planet Earth are trying to solve -- or at least manage -- our common problems of a global nature. And, we're trying to do it without creating a centralized world government. The result is a hodge-podge of treaties, accords, regulations, and inter-governmental organizations that (almost) defy description.

This book takes a look at the international environmental regimes in this mix, and it tries to make sense of them. In the process, the reader can ponder a number of intriguing questions. Like, how is our notion of "national sovereignty" changing as the world becomes smaller? What is "governance without government?" What is the role of global civil society in the creation of international regimes? And, is it possible to measure the effectiveness of the various regimes?

In the end, the author and his contributors raise more questions than they answer, but that's to be expected. It just shows how much we have to learn about managing our world in a cooperative fashion.

As the title suggests, this books is primarily about governance and world order. Don't buy it if you're looking for a description of ecosystems and the natural environment.

But, if you want to learn about how nations, NGO's, and other actors are responding to environmental threats -- and if you don't mind wading through the academic prose -- this could be a good book to put in your shopping cart.