Environmental Governance in Europe

Over the last thirty years, the European Union has created a system of environmental governance in Europe. With a large number of legislative measures, the EU's environmental policy is broad in scope, extensive in detail and often stringent in effect. Environmental governance also extends to the ways in which decision making on environmental policy has become institutionalized within Europe, both at the level of the EU itself and in the practices of the memberstates. This work seeks to understand this new system of environmental governance both at the European level and at the level of member states. It argues that the system is multi-level, horizontally complex, evolving and incomplete. Locating developments at the European level in theories of European integration, it goes on to examine the extent of convergence and divergence in environmental policy among six member states: Germany, Spain, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK. It then looks at theoperation of the system of environmental governance through an examination of policy case studies before examining the wider political significance of these developments.

... an important and impressive book., ... offers the most extensive examination of the development of EU environmental governance that I have come across ... absolutely packed with information, which makes it an essential reference for anyone interested in the subject., ... provides a most comprehensive account of European environmental policy-making .. rich empirical material ... presents new insights also to those of us who are already familiar with EU environmental policy-making ... this is certainly one of the best books on European environmental policy-making that are currently available on the market. It is highly recommendable not only to students of (EU) environmental politics but also to those with a more general interest in issues of European governance., Provides both a welcome read and a source of information ... the book provides a comprehensive account of environmental governance within the EU and would make a valuable contribution to courses concerned with environmental management and regulation

Albert Weale, Professor of Government, University of EssexGeoffrey Pridham, Centre for Mediterranean Studies, University of BristolMichelle Cini, Jean Monnet Lecturer in EC Politics, Department of Politics, University of BristolDimitrios Konstadakopulos, Research Fellow, Centre for European Studies, Lecturer in Managing Business Culture, Europe and European Environmental PolicyMartin Porter, VP for Operations Management at Adamson BSMG WorldwideBrendan Flynn, Department of Political Science and Sociology at the National University of Ireland, Galway