Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T02:44:16.976Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Environmental Policy Convergence: The Impact of International Harmonization, Transnational Communication, and Regulatory Competition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 October 2008

Katharina Holzinger ,
Christoph Knill  and
Thomas Sommerer
Katharina Holzinger
Affiliation:
University of Konstanz, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]
Christoph Knill
Affiliation:
University of Konstanz, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]
Thomas Sommerer
Affiliation:
University of Konstanz, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

In recent years, there is growing interest in the study of cross-national policy convergence. Yet we still have a limited understanding of the phenomenon: Do we observe convergence of policies at all? Under which conditions can we expect that domestic policies converge or rather develop further apart? In this article, we address this research deficit. From a theoretical perspective, we concentrate on the explanatory power of three factors, namely international harmonization, transnational communication, and regulatory competition. In empirical terms, we analyze if and to what extent we can observe convergence of environmental policies across twenty-four industrialized countries between 1970 and 2000. We find an impressive degree of environmental policy convergence between the countries under investigation. This development is mainly caused by international harmonization and, to a considerable degree, also by transnational communication, whereas regulatory competition does not seem to play a role.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Organization , Volume 62 , Issue 4 , October 2008 , pp. 553 - 587
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Acharya, Amitav. 2004. How Ideas Spread: Whose Norms Matter? Norm Localization and Institutional Change in Asian Regionalism. International Organization 58 (2):239–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrios, Salvador, Görg, Holger, and Strobl, Eric A.. 2003. Multinational Enterprises and New Trade Theory: Evidence for the Convergence Hypothesis. Open Economies Review 14 (4):397–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, Nathaniel, and Katz, Jonathan N.. 1995. What to Do (and Not to Do) with Time-Series-Cross-Section Data. American Political Science Review 89 (3):634–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, Colin. 1991. What Is Policy Convergence and What Causes It? British Journal of Political Science 21 (2):215–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bremer, Stuart A. 1992. Dangerous Dyads: Conditions Affecting the Likelihood of Interstate War, 1816–1965. Journal of Conflict Resolution 36 (2):309–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brinks, Daniel, and Coppedge, Michael. 2006. Diffusion Is No Illusion: Neighbor Emulation in the Third Wave of Democracy. Comparative Political Studies 39 (4):463–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chwieroth, Jeffrey. 2007. Neoliberal Economists and Capital Account Liberalization in Emerging Markets. International Organization 61 (2):443–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crescenzi, Mark J. C. 2007. Reputation and Interstate Conflict. American Journal of Political Science 51 (2):382–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DiMaggio, Paul J., and Powell, Walter W.. 1991. The Iron Cage Revisited. Institutionalized Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields. In The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, edited by Powell, Walter W. and DiMaggio, Paul J., 63–82. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Elkins, Zachary, Guzman, Andrew T., and Simmons, Beth A.. 2006. Competing for Capital: The Diffusion of Bilateral Investment Treaties, 1960–2000. International Organization 60 (4):811–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, Donald P., Kim, Soo Yeon, and Yoon, David H.. 2001. Dirty Pool. International Organization 55 (2):441–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greene, William H. 2000. Econometric Analysis. 4thed.Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Haas, Peter M. 1992. Introduction: Epistemic Communities and International Policy Coordination. International Organization 46 (1):1–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heichel, Stephan, Pape, Jessica, and Sommerer, Thomas. 2005. Is There Convergence in Convergence Research? An Overview of Empirical Studies on Policy Convergence. Journal of European Public Policy 12 (5):817–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoberg, Georg. 2001. Globalization and Policy Convergence: Symposium Overview. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice 3 (2):127–32.Google Scholar
Holzinger, Katharina. 1995. A Surprising Success in EC Environmental Policy: The Small Car Exhaust Emission Directive of 1989. In Successful Environmental Policy, edited by Jänicke, Martin and Weidner, Helmut, 187–202. Berlin: Edition Sigma.Google Scholar
Holzinger, Katharina. 2003. Common Goods, Matrix Games, and Institutional Solutions. European Journal of International Relations 9:173–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holzinger, Katharina. 2006. Methodological Pitfalls of Convergence Analysis. European Union Politics 7 (2):271–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holzinger, Katharina, and Knill, Christoph. 2005. Causes and Conditions of Cross-national Policy Convergence. Journal of European Public Policy 12:775–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Fourth Assessment Report. Climate Change 2007. Synthesis Report. Available at ⟨http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf⟩. Accessed 27 June 2008.Google Scholar
Kahler, Miles, and Lake, David A.. 2003. Governance in a Global Economy: Political Authority in Transition. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Kinsella, David, and Russett, Bruce. 2002. Conflict Emergence and Escalation in Interactive International Dyads. Journal of Politics 64 (4):1045–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knill, Christoph. 2001. The Europeanisation of National Administrations: Patterns of Institutional Change and Persistence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knill, Christoph. 2005. Introduction: Cross-national Policy Convergence: Concepts, Approaches and Explanatory Factors. Journal of European Public Policy 12 (5):764–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knill, Christoph, and Liefferink, Duncan. 2007. Environmental Politics in the European Union: Policy-Making, Implementation and Patterns of Multi-Level Governance. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knill, Christoph, Heichel, Stephan, and Tosun, Jale. 2008. Balancing Competition and Conditionality: Environmental Policy-Making in Low-Regulating Countries. Journal of European Public Policy 15: forthcoming.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Chang Kil, and Strang, David. 2006. The International Diffusion of Public-Sector Downsizing: Network Emulation and Theory-Driven Learning. International Organization 60 (4):883–909.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levi-Faur, David. 2005. The Political Economy of Legal Globalization: Juridification, Adversarial Legalism, and Responsive Regulation. A Comment. International Organization 59 (2):451–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, Lisa L., and Simmons, Beth A.. 1998. Theories and Empirical Studies of International Institutions. International Organization 52 (4):729–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, Richard. 1991. What Is Lesson-Drawing? Journal of Public Policy 11 (3):3–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmons, Beth A., and Elkins, Zachary. 2004. The Globalization of Liberalization: Policy Diffusion in the International Political Economy. American Political Science Review 98 (1):171–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmons, Beth A., Dobbin, Frank, and Garrett, Geoffrey. 2006. Introduction: The International Diffusion of Liberalism. International Organization 60 (4):781–810.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stern, David I., and Common, Michael S.. 2001. Is There an Environmental Kuznets Curve for Sulfur? Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 41 (2):162–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strang, David, and Meyer, John W.. 1993. Institutional Conditions for Diffusion. Theory and Society 22 (4):487–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swank, Duane. 2006. Tax Policy in an Era of Internationalization: Explaining the Spread of Neoliberalism. International Organization 60 (4):847–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vogel, David. 1995. Trading Up: Consumer and Environmental Regulation in the Global Economy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Volden, Craig. 2006. States as Policy Laboratories: Emulating Success in the Children's Health Insurance Program. American Journal of Political Science 50 (2):294–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, Sven E., and Butler, Daniel M.. 2007. A Lot More to Do: The Sensitivity of Time-Series Cross-Section Analyses to Simple Alternative Specifications. Political Analysis 15 (2):101–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar