Cookies?
Library Header Image
LSE Research Online LSE Library Services

Implementing multilateral environmental agreements: an analysis of EU directives

Perkins, Richard and Neumayer, Eric ORCID: 0000-0003-2719-7563 (2007) Implementing multilateral environmental agreements: an analysis of EU directives. Global Environmental Politics, 7 (3). pp. 13-41. ISSN 1526-3800

[img]
Preview
PDF
Download (617kB) | Preview

Identification Number: 10.1162/glep.2007.7.3.13

Abstract

While a number of different theoretical models have been advanced to explain why states implement—or, indeed, do not implement—multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), very little empirical work has been undertaken to validate their predictions. With a view to narrowing this gap, the present article adopts a large-N, econometric approach to test the explanatory power of four distinct models of compliance—domestic adjustment, reputational, constructivist and managerial—in the context of European Union (EU) environmental policy. Using data on the number of ofıcial infringements received by 15 member states for non-implementation of environmental directives over the period 1979–2000, we ınd that all four models make a statistically signiıcant contribution to explaining spatio-temporal differences in legal implementation. Thus, our results suggest that the implementation of MEAs is shaped by a combination of rational calculations of domestic compliance costs and reputational damage, domestically institutionalized normative obligations, and legal and political constraints. We conclude by suggesting a greater need for multi-causal theoretical models of supranational legal compliance.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/loi/glep
Additional Information: © 2007 MIT Press
Divisions: Geography & Environment
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
Date Deposited: 09 Jan 2008
Last Modified: 24 Sep 2024 05:03
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/3056

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics