Greening Environmental Policy This page intentionally left blank Greening Environmental Policy: THE POLITICS OF A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE edited by Frank Fischer and Michael Black ~ P·C·P Paul Chapman Publishing Ltd Selection and editorial material copyright © , 1995 Frank Fischer and Michael Black. All other material © as credited. All rights reserved Paul Chapma'l Publishing Ltd 144 Liverpool Road London N1 1LA Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.lnquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers at the abovementioned address. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Greening Environmental Policy: Politics of a Sustainable Future I. Fischer, Frank II. Black, Michael 333.72 ISBN 978-1-85396-310-0 ISBN 978-1-85396-259-2 ISBN 978-0-312-12792-3 ISBN 978-1-137-08357-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-08357-9 A B C D E F G H 9 8 7 6 5 Contents Contributors Vll Introduction XI Part I Between economics and ecology: sustainability in political 1 perspective 1 The uncertain quest for sustainability: public discourse 3 and the politics of environmentalism Douglas Torgerson 2 Sustainable development as a power/knowledge system: 21 the problem of 'governmentality' Timothy W. Luke 3 Towards a sustainable future: the organizing role of 33 ecologism in the north-south relationship Hector R. Leis and Eduardo]. Viola Part II Environmental policy-making: beyond industrial ideology and 51 technocratic strategy 4 The unnatural policies of natural resource agencies: 53 fishery policy on the Sacramento River Michael Black 5 Environmental technology and the green car: towards a 66 sustainable transportation policy Lamont C. Hempel 6 The North American Free Trade Agreement and the 87 environment: economic growth versus democratic politics Derek Churchill and Richard Worthington 7 Environmental policy in Chile: the politics of the 104 comprehensive law Eduardo Silva VI Contents Part Ill Towards a sustainable future: environmental values, 127 institutions and participatory practices 8 Environmental values for a sustainable society: the 129 democratic challenge Robert Paehlke 9 Acid rain in Great Britain: environmental discourse and 145 the hidden politics of institutional practice Maarten A. Hajer 10 Hazardous waste policy, community movements and the 165 politics of Nimby: participatory risk assessment in the USA and Canada Frank Fischer 11 Industrial and environmental crises: rethinking corporate 183 social responsibility Paul Shrivastava 12 Strategic management and business policy-making: 199 bringing in environmental values Jo McCloskey and Denis Smith Appendix Global warming and the greenhouse effect: implications 210 for international environmental policy Rodney White Index 217 Contributors Michael Black is a visiting professor of political science at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. He is a San Francisco-based environmental policy analyst who writes about issues confronting the arid western regions of the USA, the social-ecological impact of science and technology and economic development. He is currently writing California's Last Salmon: the Unnatural Policies of Natural Resource Agencies, a book exploring policy responses to endangered Pacific salmon. Derek Churchill is currently conducting an environmental education and out­ door leadership training programme for the non-profit organization, Outward Bound. A graduate of Pomona College, his recent research interests have centred on environmental sustainability and the North American Free Trade Agreement. Frank Fischer is professor of political science at Rutgers University. His most recent books include Technocracy and the Politics of Expertise and Evaluat­ ing Public Policy. Frequently a guest scholar at the Free University and the Science Centre of Berlin, he is currently engaged in a comparative study of environmental policy in Germany and the USA. Among other journals, he serves on the editorial board of Industrial and Environmental Crisis Quarterly. Maarten A. Hajer teaches at the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich in Germany, where he specializes in environmental politics and technology pol­ icy. The author of City Politics: Hegemonic Projects and Discourse and The Politics of Environmental Discourse: Ecological Modernization and the Policy Process, he also serves as a book review editor for Industrial and Environmen­ tal Crisis Quarterly. He is currently engaged in research on the automobile and its environmental problems. Lamont C. Hempel is an associate professor of Public Policy in the Center for Politics and Economics at the Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, Cali­ fornia. He is the author of Environmental Governance: The Global Challenge. Vlll Contributors Hector R. Leis is a professor of environmental politics and policy in the Department of Social Science at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil. He has served as the coordinator of the Forum of Brazilian Non­ governmental organizations at the UN Conference on Environment and Development. Timothy W. Luke is professor of political science at Virginia Polytechnic In­ stitute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. The author of Screens of Power and Ideology and Soviet Industrialization, he has written extensively on social theory, comparative politics and international political economy. Jo McCloskey is a senior lecturer in corporate responsibility and marketing within the Centre for Risk and Crisis Management at the Business School of Liverpool John Moores University. She has previously lectured at Leicester Business School and in colleges in Ireland and Africa. Robert Paehlke is a professor of political science and environmental studies and resource studies at Trent University, Ontario, Canada. Included among his publications are Environmentalism and the Future of Progressive Politics and Managing Leviathan: Environmental Politics and the Administrative State, coedited with Douglas Torgerson. He has also served as an editor of the journal Alternatives: Perspectives on Society, Technology and Environment. Paul Shrivastava is the Howard Scott Professor of Management at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. An expert on industrial and environmental acci­ dents and crisis management, he is the author of Bhopal: Anatomy of a Crisis and Greening Business: Towards Sustainable Corporations. He serves as the editor-in-chief of Industrial and Environmental Crisis Quarterly. Eduardo Silva teaches political science at the University of Missouri in St Louis and is a member of the University's Center for International Studies. In addi­ tion to his work on Chilean politics, he writes about environmental issues in Latin America generally. Currently he is at work on a book entitled The Politics of Conservation and Sustainable Development: Natural Forest Policy in Latin America. Denis Smith is professor of management at the University of Durham. His publications include Business and the Environment: Implications for the New Environmentalism and Waste Location: Social Aspects of Waste Management, Hazards and Disposal, coedited with M. Clark and A. Blowers. His main research interests are in the areas of environmental risk assessment, corporate responsibility and crisis management. Douglas Torgerson teaches political studies and administrative studies at Trent University in Ontario, Canada, and currently serves as editor of the journal Policy Sciences. Included among his many publications are Industrialization Contributors IX and Assessment: Social Impact Assessment as Social Phenomena and Manag­ ing Leviathan: Environmental Politics and the Administrative State, coedited with Robert Paehlke. He has also taught environmental studies at York Uni­ versity and the University of Toronto. Eduardo J. Viola is a professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Universidade de Brasilia, Brazil, where he specializes in environmental politics and policy. He is co-author of the Brazilian Report on Environment and Development for the UN Conference on Environmental Development. Rodney White is professor of geography and director of the Institute for En­ vironmental Studies at the University of Toronto in Canada. He is author of North, South, and the Environmental Crisis and of Urban Environmental Management. Richard Worthington directs the Program in Public Policy Analysis at Pomona College in Claremont, California. He has written extensively about science, technology and environmental policy. Currently he is working on The Human Dimensions of Global Production, a book exploring the shift from an interna­ tional society of sovereign nation-states to that of a global political economy. This page intentionally left blank Introduction The conquest of the earth is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. (Joseph Conrad: The Heart of Darkness) During the two past decades, green politics and environmental policy have emerged as major issues on the political agendas of all industrialized nations. As a consequence of countless environmental threats, at times real disasters - for example, the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe that frightened the entire world,