"Paths to a Green World provides the most theoretically sophisticated and sustained study to date on the relationship between economic globalization and environmental well-being. Rather than write a diatribe, Clapp and Dauvergne present conflicting views on this relationship and, in doing so, call on each of us to appreciate the diversity of environmental thought and probe our own understandings to work humbly yet urgently for a more sustainable global future.”

Paul Wapner
School of International Service,
American University

"Paths to a Green World is a rare achievement: succinct yet comprehensive, clear and balanced without removing the passion and controversy from the issues. The authors thoughtfully present and elaborate on four world-views, or paths to environmental protection, and then trust their readers to make their own choices. In a time when polarization or blandness seems to prevail in political life, this important book promotes tolerance and respect based upon a commitment to understanding the values and arguments of others."

Karen Liftin
Department of Political Science,
University of Washington

"For students and scholars of environmental politics, Jennifer Clapp and Peter Dauvergne have made transparent what is often opaque: What do people believe and why? This book provides the insights and under-standings necessary to separate the data from the noise, and makes clear how the same environmental information can lead to such divergent conclusions and policies. Paths to a Green World is sure to become an essential text in both environmental studies and political science."

Ronnie Lipschutz
Professor of Politics,
University of California, Santa Cruz

This comprehensive and accessible text fills the need for a political economy view of global environmental politics, focusing on the ways key economic processes affect environmental outcomes. It examines the main actors and forces shaping global environmental management, particularly in the developing world. Moving beyond the usual academic emphasis on inter-national agreements and institutions, it strives to integrate debates within the real world of global policy and the academic world of theory.

The book maps out an original typology of four contrasting worldviews of environmental change—those of market liberals, institutionalists, bioenvironmentalists, and social greens— and uses these as a framework to examine the links between the global political economy and ecological change. This typology not only helps students understand and participate in debates about these worldviews but also provides a common language for students and instructors to discuss the issues across the social sciences. The book covers globalization and its consequences for the environment; the evolution of global discourse and global environmental governance; wealth, poverty, and consumption; the impact on the environment of global trade and trade agreements; transnational corporations and differential environmental standards; and the environmental effects of international financing, including multilateral lending and aid and bilateral and private finance. Brief, illustrative case studies appear throughout the text.

Jennifer Clapp is Associate Professor of Environmental and Resource Studies and Chair of the International Development Studies Program at Trent University, Ontario, Canada.

Peter Dauvergne is Canada Research Chair in Global Environmental Politics, Director of the Environment Program of the Liu Institute for Global Issues, and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia.

List of Illustrations

Preface

Acknowledgments

Acronyms

1 Peril or Prosperity? Mapping Worldviews of Global Environmental Change 

Four Environmental Worldviews

Market Liberals

Institutionalists

Bioenvironmentalists

Social Greens

Conclusion

2 The Ecological Consequences of Globalization

What Is Globalization?

Globalization and the Global Environment

Conclusion

3 The Globalization of Environmentalism

The Evolution of Global Discourse on Environment and Development

Global Environmental Governance

Conclusion

4 Economic Growth in a World of Wealth and Poverty

Wealth and Poverty for Market Liberals and Institutionalists

Critiques: Bioenvironmentalists and Social Greens

Conclusion

5 Global Trade and the Environment

Globalization and Trade

Trade’s Impact on the Environment: Three Schools of Thought

Greening of Environmental Trade Agreements?

Regional Trade Agreements—Opportunity for Greener Models?

Conclusion

6 Global Investment and the Environment

Globalization and Transnational Corporations

Differential Standards: Pollution Havens, Industrial Flight, Double Standards?

TNCs and Site Practices

Greening or Greenwash? 

TNCs and Global Governance for Investment and the Environment

Conclusion

7 Global Financing and the Environment

Scope and Trends in International Finance

Multilateral Lending: The World Bank and the IMF

Multilateral Environmental Aid and the GEF

Bilateral Finance: ODA and Export Credit Agencies

Private Finance and the Environment

Conclusion

8 Paths to a Green World? Four Visions for a Healthy Global Environment

Market Liberal Vision

Institutionalist Vision

Bioenvironmentalist Vision

Social Green Vision

Clashing Visions?

Notes

References

Index