Europe, globalization and sustainable development

Abstract:

This work examines three concepts - Sustainability, Globalisation and Europeanisation - encountered in the pursuit of economic development.

The book is organised over eleven chapters, each allotted to one of two parts - politics and policy. Following a fulsome introduction chapter two addresses ecofeminism, exploring its two broad groupings of 'cultural ecofeminism' and 'social ecofeminism' before moving on to discuss ecofeminist political activism. Chapter three explores the belief systems of anti-globalism and ecologism and their relationship to globalisation and modern capitalism. Chapter four asks the question 'Is there a European environmental movement?' and suggests that environmental activism may have awakened European politicians to those issues that have yet to mature into a recognisable European environmental movement. The role of citizens and the changing and confusion notion of citizenship in a global environment are the focus of chapter five. Public access to environmental information, public participation in environmental decision making and public access to the courts to enforce these principles are the core elements of the Aarhus Convention discussed in chapter six.

Motivational factors for human behaviour are explored in chapter seven which considers the role of social inclusion and citizenship education in achieving environmental sustainability. A comparative analysis of the Europeanisation of environmental policy in ten Member States is offered in chapter eight. The theory of incompatibility between economic growth and environmental protection as undermined by the emergence of ecological modernisation prompts discussion in chapter nine of the interaction between globalisation and the environment as they might be influenced by Ecological Modernisation ideas. Chapter ten explores the role of the EU in promoting sustainable development since it received 'full participant status' at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, and the extent to which it has engaged in the priorities water, health, biodiversity, energy and agriculture outlined at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. The part played by the WTO and the interaction between politics, political science and law is examined in chapter eleven.

The work will interest scholars and students, policy researchers and policy makers in the fields of Environmental Sciences International Affairs, Politics and European Union studies.