ESS Newsletter – Winter 2011-2012
Environmental Studies Section of the International Studies Association, Newsletter, February 2012
***********************************************************************
Editors: Richard Matthew and Pamela Donohoo, University of California, Irvine
***********************************************************************
The ESS Newsletter can also be found HERE. The next edition will be June 2012. We follow a Fall, Winter, Spring schedule.
The ESS newsletter is based at the Center for Unconventional Security Affairs at the University of California, Irvine (www.cusa.uci.edu) and co-edited by Richard Matthew and Pamela Donohoo. Please send publication information, announcements, calls for papers, job announcements, job and address changes, email information, queries, etc. for inclusion in the next newsletter to cusa @ uci.edu.
Please paste email addresses and websites listed in this newsletter into your email client or browser as not all links have been formatted as hyperlinks.
***********************************************************************
CONTENTS
***********************************************************************
1. UPCOMING CONFERENCES
***********************************************************************
2012 Annual Convention News
The 53rd ISA Annual Convention will be held in San Diego from April 1-4, 2012 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. The convention theme is Power, Principles and Participation in the Global Information Age. The full call for proposals has been posted to our website here. You may login to MyISA and check your participation in the My Program area. The convention website will be updated continuously as additional information becomes available. http://www.isanet.org/annual_convention/
Lund Conference on Earth System Governance:
Towards Just and Legitimate Earth System Governance – Addressing Inequalities.
18-20 April 2012, Lund, Sweden.
Hosted by Lund University and jointly organized by the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS) and the Department of Political Science at Lund University on behalf of the Earth System Governance Project.
Registration is open at www.lund2012.earthsystemgovernance.org
***********************************************************************
2. NEW PUBLICATIONS
***********************************************************************
***********************************************************************
2.1. BOOKS
***********************************************************************
Two new volumes have been published this summer and fall in the peer-reviewed Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace published by Springer in New York, Heidelberg, Dordrecht and London. Both books are also available as E-books and as individual chapters on SpringerLink. For those libraries that subscribe to SpringerLink all texts may be downloaded for free by faculty-members and students.
Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper (Eds.): Transnational Migration and Human Security: The Migration–Development–Security Nexus. Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace, vol. 6 ( Berlin – Heidelberg – New York: Springer-Verlag, 2011).
ISBN: 978-3-642-12756-4 (Print)
ISBN: 978-3-642-12757-1 (Online)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-12757-1
This volume addresses key aspects of human security in transnational migration. The 22 essays cover all levels of migration systems, from families, farms and firms through to global organizations and negotiating forums. They show how institutional frameworks for cross-border movements of people, finance, and goods have co-evolved with changes in the workings of nation-states. They thereby reveal aspects of power and privilege within ‘international migration’ as a discursive area and at its intersections with the fields of ‘development’, governance and ‘security’. Revisiting presuppositions that have been taken as givens, and exploring their role in shaping rules and institutions that control the movements of people across and within borders, the essays reveal also the mentalities and rationalities that have made up and continue to make up the reality of transnational migration today. A human security perspective can encourage exploratory thinking and provide conceptual space for deeper understandings of ‘human’, ‘movement’ and ‘borders’, to help overcome the limits of conventional analytical and policy dualisms and dichotomies.
Úrsula Oswald Spring (Ed.): Water Resources in Mexico. Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace, vol. 7 (Heidelberg – New York – Dordrecht – London: Springer, 2012) due: 30 September 2011.
ISBN: 978-3-642-05431-0 (Print)
ISBN: 978-3-642-05432-7 (Online)
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-05432-7
Water resources in Mexico are threatened by scarcity, pollution, and climate change. In two decades water consumption has doubled, leading to water stress in dry seasons and in semi-arid and arid regions. Water stress is rising due to physical and economic pressure. In five sections, a multidisciplinary team analyses hydrological processes in basins and their interactions with climate, soil, and biota. Competing water use in agriculture, industry, and for domestic consumption requires savings, decontamination processes, and desalination to satisfy growing demands. Water quality affects health and ecosystems. This creates both conflicts and cooperation that may be enhanced by policy, institution building, and social organization.
Paul F. Steinberg and Stacy D. VanDeveer (eds.) Comparative Environmental Politics Theory, Practice, and Prospects. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2012)
ISBN: 978-0-262-69368-4
http://mitpress.mit.edu/comparative_env_politics
How do different societies respond politically to environmental problems around the globe? Answering this question requires systematic, cross-national comparisons of political institutions, regulatory styles, and state-society relations. The field of comparative environmental politics approaches this task by bringing the theoretical tools of comparative politics to bear on the substantive concerns of environmental policy. This book outlines a comparative environmental politics framework and applies it to concrete, real-world problems of politics and environmental management.
After a comprehensive review of the literature exploring domestic environmental politics around the world, the book provides a sample of major currents within the field, showing how environmental politics intersects with such topics as the greening of the state, the rise of social movements and green parties, European Union expansion, corporate social responsibility, federalism, political instability, management of local commons, and policymaking under democratic and authoritarian regimes. It offers fresh insights into environmental problems ranging from climate change to water scarcity and the disappearance of tropical forests, and it examines actions by state and nonstate actors at levels from the local to the continental. The book will help scholars and policymakers make sense of how environmental issues and politics are connected around the globe, and is ideal for use in upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses.
Diana Davis and Edmund Burke III (Ed.). Environmental Imaginaries of the Middle East. (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2011)
The landscapes of the Middle East have captured our imaginations throughout history. Images of endless golden dunes, camel caravans, isolated desert oases, and rivers lined with palm trees have often framed written and visual representations of the region. Embedded in these portrayals is the common belief that the environment, in most places, has been deforested and desertified by centuries of misuse. It is precisely such orientalist environmental imaginaries, increasingly undermined by contemporary ecological data, that the eleven authors in this volume question. This is the first volume to critically examine culturally constructed views of the environmental history of the Middle East and suggest that they have often benefitted elites at the expense of the ecologies and the peoples of the region. The contributors expose many of the questionable policies and practices born of these environmental imaginaries and related histories that have been utilized in the region since the colonial period. They further reveal how power, in the form of development programs, notions of nationalism, and hydrological maps, for instance, relates to environmental knowledge production.
Raymond De Young and Thomas Princen (eds.) The Localization Reader. Adapting to the Coming Downshift. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2012)
ISBN: 978-0-262-51687-7
http://mitpress.mit.edu/localization_reader
Energy supplies are tightening. Persistent pollutants are accumulating. Food security is declining. There is no going back to the days of reckless consumption, but there is a possibility–already being realized in communities across North America and around the world–of localizing, of living well as we learn to live well within immutable constraints. This book maps the transition to a more localized world.
Society is shifting from the centrifugal forces of globalization (cheap and abundant raw materials and energy, intensive commercialization, concentrated economic and political power) to the centripetal forces of localization: distributed authority and leadership, sustainable use of nearby natural resources, community self-reliance and cohesion (with crucial regional, national, and international dimensions).
This collection, offering classic texts by such writers as Wendell Berry, M. King Hubbert, and Ernst F. Schumacher, as well as new work by authors including Karen Litfin and David Hess, shows how localization–a process of affirmative social change–can enable psychologically meaningful and fulfilling lives while promoting ecological and social sustainability. Topics range from energy dynamics to philosophies of limits, from the governance of place-based communities to the discovery of positive personal engagement. Together they point the way to a transition that can be peaceful, democratic, just, and environmentally resilient.
Morata, Francesc and Israel Solorio Sandoval (ed.) European Energy Policy, An Environmental Approach. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)
This path-breaking book explores the new European energy policy, highlighting the significance of environmental policy concerns, instruments, and objectives vis-Ã -vis competing security and market dimensions in order to achieve an all-embracing EU energy policy perspective for the future.
While the past years have witnessed unprecedented development of EU energy policy, the understanding of this process has lagged behind. Alongside the scarce literature on this emergent policy, there is also a gap regarding the attention paid to its different components. The study stems from the perception of a mismatch between the valuable debate that certain dimensions of energy policy – namely, energy security and the market and competition framework – have triggered and the neglect of its environmental and climate change dimensions.
European Energy Policy will prove to be insightful for academics and postgraduate students interested in European integration, political science, international relations, public policy and environmental science. Energy stakeholders and governmental policymakers will also find plenty of invaluable information in this enriching resource.
Peter Stoett. Global Ecopolitics: Crisis, Governance, and Justice. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012)
Despite sporadic news coverage of extreme weather, international conventions on climate change, or special UN days, rarely do we participate in a sustained analysis of environmental policy making. To remedy this shortcoming and to propel the discussion forward, Peter J. Stoett provides a concise introduction to environmental governance.
Through case studies on biodiversity, deforestation, pollution, and war, among others, Stoett analyzes the ability of international policy to provide environmental protection and discusses the ever-present factors of equality, sovereignty, and human rights integral to these issues. While providing a panoramic view of the actors and structures producing these policies, Stoett reminds readers that the topic is personal and that effective governance is not solely the responsibility of governments but of individuals and communities as well. Environmental diplomacy may not always meet its intended goals, but positive steps are being achieved, and change can only happen when angst is replaced with an educated determination to work toward environmental justice.
Philipp Pattberg, Frank Biermann, Sander Chan and Aysem Mert (eds.) Public Private Partnerships For Sustainable Development, Emergence, Influence and Legitimacy. (London: Edward Elgar, 2012)
The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg is remembered mainly for the promotion of a novel form of global governance: the so-called ‘partnerships for sustainable development’. This book provides a first authoritative assessment of partnerships for sustainable development, ten years after the Johannesburg Summit.
The extensive research builds on a unique Global Sustainability Partnerships Database and a series of in-depth qualitative case studies. Key questions studied in this book include the overall effectiveness and influence of partnerships, their geographical, functional and organizational scope, and their legitimacy.
This unique book systematically investigates the questions of emergence, influence and legitimacy, which will prove invaluable for scholars and students interested in global environmental governance and sustainability, public-private partnerships, sustainability at the UN level and environmental governance beyond international agreements and policies.
Please visit: http://earthsystemgovernance.org/publications for more information on publications.
***********************************************************************
2.2. ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS
***********************************************************************
Bechtel, M., Bernauer, T., Meyer, R. 2012. Green Determinants of Protectionism: How Environmental Attitudes Shape Different Facets of Trade Policy Preferences. Review of International Political Economy DOI:10.1080/09692290.2011.611054.
Beck, L., Bernauer, T. (2011): How Will Combined Changes in Water Demand and Climate Affect Water Availability in the Zambezi River Basin? Global Environmental Change 21: 1061-1072.
Bernauer, T., Boehmelt, T., Koubi, V. Environmental Changes and Violent Conflict. Environmental Research Letters 7 (2012) 015601 (8pp) DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/7/1/015601.
Bernauer, T., Tribaldos, T., Luginbühl, C., Winzeler, M. (2011): Government Regulation and Public Opposition Create High Additional Costs for Field Trials With GM Crops in Switzerland. Transgenic Research, DOI: 10.1007/s11248-011-9486-x.
Biermann, Frank, Kenneth Abbott, Steinar Andresen, Karin Bäckstrand, Steven Bernstein, Michele M. Betsill, Harriet Bulkeley, Benjamin Cashore, Jennifer Clapp, Carl Folke, Aarti Gupta, Joyeeta Gupta, Peter M. Haas, Andrew Jordan, Norichika Kanie, Tatiana Kluvánková-Oravská, Louis Lebel, Diana Liverman, James Meadowcroft, Ronald B. Mitchell, Peter Newell, Sebastian Oberthür, Lennart Olsson, Philipp Pattberg, Roberto Sánchez-RodrÃguez, Heike Schroeder, Arild Underdal, Susana Camargo Vieira, Coleen Vogel, Oran R. Young, Andrea Brock, and Ruben Zondervan, 2011. Transforming Governance and Institutions for Global Sustainability: Key Insights from the Earth System Governance Project. Earth System Governance Working Paper No. 17. Lund and Amsterdam: Earth System Governance Project.
Biermann, Frank. 2011. Planetary Boundaries and Earth System Governance: Exploring the Links. Earth System Governance Working Paper No. 18. Lund and Amsterdam: Earth System Governance Project.
Breggin, Linda, Robert Falkner, Read Porter, John Pendergrass and Nico Jaspers (2011), “Addressing the Risks of Nanomaterials under United States and European Union Regulatory Frameworks for Chemicals”, in: Assessing Nanoparticle Risks to Human Health, edited by Gurumurthy Ramachandran (Waltham, MA: Elsevier Science), pp. 195-272.
Falkner, Robert and Nico Jaspers (2012) ‘Regulating Nanotechnologies: Risk, Uncertainty and the Global Governance Gap’, in Global Environmental Politics 12(1): 30-55.
Mitchell, Ronald B. 2011. Transparency for governance: The mechanisms and effectiveness of disclosure-based and education-based transparency policies. Ecological Economics, 70 (11): 1882-1890.
Porter, Read D., Linda Breggin, Robert Falkner, John Pendergrass and Nico Jaspers (2012) ‘Regulatory Responses to Scientific Uncertainty and Nanotechnology’, in: The Nanotechnology Challenge: Creating Law and Legal Institutions for Uncertain Risks, edited by D. Dana (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 379-415.
Schroeder, Heike, Heather Lovell. 2011. The role of non-nation-state actors and side events in the international climate negotiations. Climate Policy, 12 (1): 23-37.
Siegfried, T., Bernauer, T., Guiennet, R., Sellars, S., Robertson, A. W., Mankin, J., Bauer-Gottwein, P. (2011) Will Climate Change Exacerbate Water Stress in Central Asia? Climatic Change, DOI 10.1007/s10584-011-0253-z
Sumer, Vakur and Muluk, Cagri, “Challenges for Turkey to Implement the EU Water Framework Directive, in Kibaroglu, Aysegul, Scheumann, Waltina, and Kramer, Annika (eds.), Turkey’s Water Policy: National Frameworks and International Cooperation, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2011, pp. 43-67.
Szulecki, Kacper., Philipp Pattberg, and Frank Biermann. 2011. Explaining Variation in the Effectiveness of Transnational Energy Partnerships. Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions, 24 (4): 713-736.
Theisen, O.M., H. Holtermann, and H. Buhaug. 2011/12. ‘Climate Wars? Assessing the Claim that Drought Breeds Conflict’, International Security 36(3): 79–106
Young, Oran R. 2011. Effectiveness of international environmental regimes: Existing knowledge, cutting-edge themes, and research strategies. PNAS, 108 (50): 19853-19860.
***********************************************************************
3. ANNOUNCEMENTS
***********************************************************************
CALL FOR PAPERS: EARTH SYSTEM GOVERNANCE TOKYO CONFERENCE
TOKYO, 28-31 JANUARY 2013
We invite you to the Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference, to be held 28-31 January 2013 at the United Nations University Head Quarters in Tokyo, Japan. This event is part of the global conference series organized by the Earth System Governance Project, a ten-year research programme under the auspices of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP). This conference will be the fourth in a global series organized by the Earth System Governance Project. The Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference will be jointly hosted by the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), the International Environmental Governance Architecture Research Group and the Tokyo Institute of Technology on behalf of the Earth System Governance Project.
Key Dates
• Deadline for paper abstracts: 1 July 2012
• Notification of acceptance: 1 September 2012
• Full papers due: 1 December 2012
• Conference date: 28-31 January 2013
Conference Themes
Today, a multitude of agents plays a significant role in earth system governance, ranging from traditional state actors to international organizations, civil society organizations, science networks, city coalitions, or business associations. At the same time, the overall governance architecture, from local to global levels, is becoming more complex as a consequence of ever increasing needs for governance and policy-development. This situation poses fundamental questions about the impacts of fragmented and complex governance architectures, the overall effectiveness of earth system governance, and the ways in which multiple agents at all levels influence related processes.
We invite papers on six interrelated clusters of questions:
1. Earth System Governance Architectures in the 21st Century
2. Climate and Energy Governance Architectures
3. The Nexus between Architecture and the other “A’s†in Earth System Governance
4. Political Dynamics in the Interface of Agency and Architecture
5. Methodological Challenges to Complex Architectures and Multiple Agents
6. Special Conference Stream on Nuclear Safety and Post-disaster Governance
* Abstract Submission:
We invite abstracts on one of these six conference themes from scholars in the social and natural sciences, as well as practitioners, from the global South and North. Abstracts must be submitted electronically through the conference website www.tokyo2013.earthsystemgovernance.org by 1 July 2012 and may not exceed 300 words. All abstracts will be evaluated in double-blind peer-review by several members of the conference review panel. For additional information on the Earth System Governance Project, including its Science and Implementation Plan, please visit www.earthsystemgovernance.org.
For additional information on the Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference, please e-mail us here: TokyoESG2013@ias.unu.edu
We look forward to welcoming you to the first Earth System Governance conference in Asia!
Norichika KANIE
Chair, 2013 Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference
Erin Kennedy
Conference Manager, 2013 Earth System Governance Tokyo
Summer Institute, “Contemplative Environmental Studies,” July 1-7, in San Cristobal, NM
Environmental issues represent some of the most profound challenges humanity has ever faced. How can we best teach and undertake research in an age of environmental intensification? This Institute will bring together professors from various environmental disciplines to explore “whole person” environmental education and research. It will investigate the interface between one’s interiority and external political engagement with the aim of developing meaningful and effective orientations to environmental education and practice. The Institute will take place at the Lama Foundation, in the mountains of northern New Mexico. Part workshop and part retreat, the Institute offers a tremendous opportunity to experience contemplative practices such as yoga and meditation, and link them to our lives as environmental educators and researchers. For more information, contact Paul Wapner (pwapner@american.edu) or visit: http://bit.ly/szz3yv .
INGO Scholars
INGO Scholars is a place for scholars of international/transnational/global non-governmental organizations to connect. At INGO Scholars, we share events, new publications, research, teaching questions, and advice. We encourage scholars from all disciplines to engage with each other to strengthen our individual work as well as the field in general. Our current members examine issues of governance and accountability, service delivery, and INGO-government relations in the development, environmental, and humanitarian sectors, and beyond.
The INGO Scholars network was created in February 2010, and currently serves over 50 members. Membership is by invitation only, and we are looking to expand our current membership base. We invite you to visit our website at http://ingoscholars.ning.com/. If you are interested in what you see and wish to join our community, we urge you to become a member by taking a few moments to sign up!
SC Opinion on Greenhouse Gas Accounting in Relation to Bioenergy – 15 September 2011
To download the PDF file visit: http://www.eea.europa.eu/about-us/governance/scientific-committee/sc-opinions/opinions-on-scientific-issues/sc-opinion-on-greenhouse-gas/view
***********************************************************************
4. CAREER RESOURCES
***********************************************************************
You can find an array of career resources on the Environmental Studies section website at: http://environmental-studies.org/?page_id=82
