Which theory best explains the development of EU environmental policy?

Which theory best explains the development of EU environmental policy

Introduction

The successful development of EU international environmental policy has been the subject of much recent study within various disciplines . One promising theory for cross-disciplinary researches of EU environmental policy invokes the concept of international regime . Regime theory might expect to explain a great deal about the development of EU environmental policy in global environmental affairs . It is insightful to consider the EU environmental policy as a regime given that the regime definition most frequently cited is so broad as to

certainly include the EU where 'norms , rules and decision-making procedures in a given area of international relations (Krasner , 1983 ,

. 2 ) are said to be in existence . This sort of theory would enable one to consider the connections between the institutions of the EU and the member states . It may explain the inter-state relationship that lies behind the formation and development of EU international environmental policy . Te positions the EU projects in international affairs are evidently themselves the product of interest mediation and agreed bargaining directed by institutions . This will consider the work of both international relations (IR ) and international law (IL ) scholars to evaluate regime theory as instrument of EU environmental policy , using ozone layer depletion case study as specific example

Main Body

International Regime Theory

Although international regimes were used much earlier by IL as a means of giving an account of legal regulation in unregulated areas (Connelly and Smith 2002 ,

. 190 , the regime theory has gained significance originally within the discipline of IR . The regime theory was developed to explain stability in the international system despite the absence or decline of domination (Connelly and Smith 2002 ,

. 202 . It is only in the 1990th that regime theory has again become the focal point of legal scholars searching for ways to stimulate international cooperation (Connelly and Smith 2002 ,

. 210 . This requires the organization into a unified pattern of the disciplines of IR and IL , the relationships between them having been one of mutual neglect , as explained by Hurrell and Kingsbury

Regime theorists have tended to neglect the particular status of legal rules , to downplay the links between specific sets of rules and the broader structure of the international legal system , and to underrate the complexity and variety of legal rules , processes , and procedures . On the other hand , theoretical accounts of international . law have often paid rather little explicit attention to the political bargaining processes that underpin the emergence of new norms of international . law , to the role of power and interest in inter-state negotiations and to the range of political factors that explain whether states will or will not comply with rules (1992 ,

. 12

There is no absolute agreement on what precisely forms an international regime . Goldie , in one of his works in this area , described regimes as (1 ) the acceptance , amongst a group of States , of a community of laws and of legal ideas (2 ) the mutual respect and recognition accorded by...