On Environmental Governance: Sustainability, Efficiency, and Equity (On Politics) by Oran R. Young

On Environmental Governance: Sustainability, Efficiency, and Equity (On Politics) by Oran R. Young

Author:Oran R. Young [Young, Oran R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612051338
Goodreads: 15095473
Publisher: Paradigm Publishers
Published: 2012-07-01T00:00:00+00:00


Multilevel Public Authority

Public authority in the sense of legitimate power to make decisions on behalf of a society regarding matters of common concern is socially constructed. We can ask whether the actual pattern of authority in a given society conforms to the pattern articulated in its constitution or constitutive documents, and we can examine patterns of authority as they evolve over time in any given society. But the allocation of authority across levels of social organization varies greatly from one society to another, developing in a distinctive manner within individual societies. These differences can be expected to have significant consequences for handling matters of environmental governance.

As a point of departure consider a spectrum ranging from extreme centralization regarding the allocation of authority to extreme decentralization in this realm.2 Some countries (e.g., France, China) have political systems in which public authority is highly centralized so that local and even regional governments have little or no authority to make decisions about environmental matters on their own. On paper, at least, municipal governments in these countries must seek authorization from the center if and when they want to address questions like the treatment of air and water pollution affecting the well-being of their citizens. At the opposite extreme are political systems that are so decentralized that the center has little or no authority to make decisions on behalf of society as a whole. The US government operating under the Articles of Confederation during the 1770s and 1780s, for example, had little authority to make decisions about matters of common concern (e.g., raising an army, imposing taxes) without the consent of the individual states.3 A contemporary example that is similar in character is the European Union. Although the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have slowly acquired limited authority in some areas, collective action on the part of the union in most areas requires the explicit or at least implicit consent of the member states.4

Most political systems lie somewhere along this (de)centralization spectrum with regard to the allocation of authority to address matters of environmental governance. Consider Canada, a confederal system, and the United States, a federal system, in these terms. Under the terms of the Constitution of 1982, the national government of Canada must seek the consent of the governments of the individual provinces in order to assume obligations (e.g., commitments regarding emissions of greenhouse gases) that will bind the society as a whole.5 The US Constitution does grant authority to the federal government regarding a variety of specific issues, including the handling of foreign relations, national security, and the regulation of interstate commerce. But under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution the individual states retain authority over all matters not explicitly awarded to the federal government.6 Because most environmental issues were local or regional concerns during the last quarter of the eighteenth century, the Constitution does not speak directly to the role of the federal government in the realm of environmental governance.



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