Global Environmental Politics

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Tony Fitzpatrick, Michael Cahill

"Environmentalism is defining the politics of the twenty-first century. At the grassroots and at World Summits from Rio to Kyoto to Johannesburg, people are struggling with the social and economic implications of environmentalism. But where does social policy fit into the picture? As ecological problems multiply, and as welfare reform becomes more vital so the debate concerning Green social policies grows in importance." "What has been missing to date is a comprehensive review of the main questions, problems and themes that bring together the principal contributors to this debate. As a result, environmentalism has been slow to affect the social policy agenda. Academics are only now beginning to wrestle with the subject while the influence of Green ideas upon welfare reform is almost non-existent. Environment and Welfare provides that much-needed review and will be essential reading for all those interested in the welfare policies of the future."--Jacket.

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John S. Dryzek

"The Politics of the Earth provides an excellent and accessible introduction to environmental affairs. John Dryzek analyses the approaches which have dominated environmental issues over the last four decades and which are likely to be influential in the future." "The Politics of the Earth is essential reading for all students of environmental politics and policy, and for anyone with an interest in environmental issues. This second edition is thoroughly updated and revised to cover the evolution of environmental discourses into the twenty-first century."--Jacket.

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Uri Savir

"Uri Savir has an ambitious goal: to bring peacemaking into the 21st century. "Little in today s world," writes Savir, "is more progressive than modern warfare. Yet little is more archaic than peacemaking." We remain trapped in a centuries-old mindset, with leaders bargaining warily for concessions and signing treaties that collapse because no one on the ground has any real stake in them." "Drawing on his experiences negotiating the Oslo Peace Accords as well as on trenchant examples from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Northern Ireland, and the former Yugoslavia, Savir argues that an enduring peace is built from the bottom up, not from the top down. He describes a new model based on establishing and nurturing mutually beneficial forms of cooperation beginning on the local level, city-to-city and organization-to-organization." "This process of "glocalization" - involving local actors in global issues - is the first step toward constructing a peace ecology: a comprehensive transnational culture dedicated to breaking down the psychological and social barriers between former enemies. These efforts are furthered through the establishment of joint ventures that give each side a tangible stake in maintaining peace. Diplomacy still has a role, but it must reject maneuvering for gain and instead emphasize the advantages both sides will gain with the cultivation of lasting peace."--BOOK JACKET.

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Michael Coppedge

This bold and comprehensive reassessment of democracy in Venezuela explains why one of the oldest and most admired democracies in Latin America has become fragile after more than three decades of apparent stability. The Venezuelan crisis is puzzling because Venezuela has held competitive elections since 1958; it has the fastest-growing economy in the region and a declining inflation rate; the military has not meddled in politics since 1962; there is no guerrilla insurgency; and drug trafficking has only begun to make an appearance. The author locates the causes of Venezuela's current problems in two political institutions. The first is partidocracia, or partyarchy. Venezuelan political parties monopolize the electoral process, dominate the legislative process, and block many of the informal channels of representation, such as interest groups, the media, the courts, and independent opinion leaders. The second cause is presidentialism, a system marked by frequent standoffs between the executive and the legislature that severely limit the president's ability to function effectively and that encourage opposition parties to frustrate the president in an effort to improve their own chances in future elections. Highlighting parallels and contrasts with other countries in Latin America and the industrialized world, the author places Venezuelan democracy in a truly comparative context for the first time, in the process revealing that Venezuela has had the most extreme partyarchy in the non-communist world. The combination of partyarchy and presidentialism has induced a cyclical pattern of factional struggles within the governing parties that has rendered them incapable of channeling popular demands between elections and has tarnished their image during campaigns. The author shows that though partyarchy initially helped democracy survive in Venezuela by giving a handful of party leaders great authority to manage crises and prevent mass disturbances, it also limited accountability and stifled meaningful popular participation, which ultimately eroded the legitimacy of the democratic regime. Partyarchy also made the executive-legislative stalemates and constitutional crises typical of presidential systems more likely and more intractable. The author supports his conclusions with evidence from his rigorous survey of 80 top leaders of the governing party, as well as from historical analysis, a multivariate model of Venezuelan elections, and more than a year of personal observation of party activities.