State Cooperation on Regulatory Policies for Transboundary Environmental Issues

• Main Author: Pennell, Jennifer Lyn
• Format: Others
• Published: PDXScholar 1995
• Subjects: Environmental policy > International cooperation; Environmental protection > International cooperation; Political Science
• Online Access: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4937; https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6009&context=open_access_etds

This research analyzes three contributing factors, perception, knowledge, and affordability, in order to estimate the likelihood of state cooperation on effective regulatory policies for transboundary environmental problems. The correlative hypothesis in this research postulates that states are more likely to support environmental regulatory policies when the issue is perceived by policymakers as serious, substantiated by a high level of knowledge, and affordable for the state. Regulatory policies for transboundary environmental issues require policymakers to act in foresight, employ precautionary measures, and cooperate. Cooperation implies that states will coordinate their policies and eschew their dominant strategy of independent decision making. However, this research contends that states decide to cooperate because they perceive the strategic interaction to be beneficial. Thus, the theory of cooperation in this research is consistent with realist assumptions of rational egoism.