Schreurs, M. A., Selin, H., & VanDeveer, S. D. (2009). Expanding transatlantic relations: implications for environment and energy politics. Transatlantic Environment and Energy Politics. Comparative and International Perspectives. Surrey and Burlington. Ashgate Publishing.
2. Where did/does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
Dr. Miranda Schreurs is the Director of Environmental Policy Research Centre at the Freie Universitat Berlin. Her work focuses on comparative environmental politics and policy in Europe, US and East Asia. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan and her MA and BA from the University of Washington.
3. What are the topics of the text?
This chapter serves as an introduction to the policy divide seen in environmental regulations between the US and the EU. In part, the chapter also serves to explain the massive power and influence wielded by the two superpowers, and their ability to either work together to make great strides forward, or clash and bring all progressive action to a standstill. The chapter advocates for a look at EU-US relations from multiple levels, from supernational to subnational, to see all the similarities and differences between policy.
4. What is the main argument of the text?
This chapter serves as an introduction to the book, which looks at case studies of policy around environmental issues, in both the US and the EU. The conclusion to be drawn from this analysis of case studies is that although at the national/supernational level of comparison there has been a divide with the EU (in recent years) being more progressive, several US states have been similar to EU regulations, and the regulatory convergence and divergence changes over time.
5. Describe 3 ways the argument is supported.
The chapter details the influence of the two superpowers through a discussion of their various bodies of government, economic hold over other countries, and previously held colonies sharing similar interests.
The chapter also goes into, briefly, some of the regulations that the EU and US have agreed upon in the past few decades, to show convergence, as well as a few where one superpower lead the other in terms of regulation, showing the lag time that seems to exist.
The chapter then details what the book will be discussing is chapters ahead, outlining the chapter case studies.
6. What three quotes capture the text?
“…some of the differences between the EU and the US are being mitigated
by a range of forces, including transnational actors and sub-national policy
diffusion, and international legal developments” p. 18
“This historical pattern of close EU-US cooperation however has changed
as different policy styles and approaches came to dominate on the two sides
of the Atlantic” p. 7
“Growing
EU market power, driven by the size of the EU market and the EU’s ability
to impose common standards, results in increased opportunities for Europe to
challenge the US in setting de facto global product and regulatory standards” p. 6
7. Three questions about environmental risk and precaution?
Is the very idea of having global super powers a risky approach to global regulation?
Should the US and EU dissolve their control over other countries in order to allow other nations to develop regulatory power?
Would a single global super power, unopposed in the regulatory arena, be worse than having these two superpowers oppose each other and cause a standstill in global problem solving?
- 1. Full Citation
Schreurs, M. A., Selin, H., & VanDeveer, S. D. (2009). Expanding transatlantic relations: implications for environment and energy politics. Transatlantic Environment and Energy Politics. Comparative and International Perspectives. Surrey and Burlington. Ashgate Publishing.- 2. Where did/does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
Dr. Miranda Schreurs is the Director of Environmental Policy Research Centre at the Freie Universitat Berlin. Her work focuses on comparative environmental politics and policy in Europe, US and East Asia. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan and her MA and BA from the University of Washington.- 3. What are the topics of the text?
This chapter serves as an introduction to the policy divide seen in environmental regulations between the US and the EU. In part, the chapter also serves to explain the massive power and influence wielded by the two superpowers, and their ability to either work together to make great strides forward, or clash and bring all progressive action to a standstill. The chapter advocates for a look at EU-US relations from multiple levels, from supernational to subnational, to see all the similarities and differences between policy.- 4. What is the main argument of the text?
This chapter serves as an introduction to the book, which looks at case studies of policy around environmental issues, in both the US and the EU. The conclusion to be drawn from this analysis of case studies is that although at the national/supernational level of comparison there has been a divide with the EU (in recent years) being more progressive, several US states have been similar to EU regulations, and the regulatory convergence and divergence changes over time.- 5. Describe 3 ways the argument is supported.
The chapter details the influence of the two superpowers through a discussion of their various bodies of government, economic hold over other countries, and previously held colonies sharing similar interests.The chapter also goes into, briefly, some of the regulations that the EU and US have agreed upon in the past few decades, to show convergence, as well as a few where one superpower lead the other in terms of regulation, showing the lag time that seems to exist.
The chapter then details what the book will be discussing is chapters ahead, outlining the chapter case studies.
- 6. What three quotes capture the text?
“…some of the differences between the EU and the US are being mitigatedby a range of forces, including transnational actors and sub-national policy
diffusion, and international legal developments” p. 18
“This historical pattern of close EU-US cooperation however has changed
as different policy styles and approaches came to dominate on the two sides
- of the Atlantic” p. 7
“GrowingEU market power, driven by the size of the EU market and the EU’s ability
to impose common standards, results in increased opportunities for Europe to
challenge the US in setting de facto global product and regulatory standards” p. 6
- 7. Three questions about environmental risk and precaution?
Is the very idea of having global super powers a risky approach to global regulation?Should the US and EU dissolve their control over other countries in order to allow other nations to develop regulatory power?
Would a single global super power, unopposed in the regulatory arena, be worse than having these two superpowers oppose each other and cause a standstill in global problem solving?