Transition And Sustainabilityactors And Interests In Eastern European Environmental Policies

This study links two major themes in European Social Science in the 1990s: The transition of Eastern Europe And The question of sustainable development. Are environmental difficulties in this time and place just a component of European transitional difficulties generally? Or, conversely, are European transitional difficulties themselves a product of environmental problems? This work analyses both views with an interdisciplinary approach and argues that sustainable development takes on a specific meaning in the context of transition. Transition and Sustainability documents the history of environmental policy in Bulgaria based on both western and eastern sources, identifying the relevant actors For The Eastern European environment and their interests. While recognising the dominance of non-environmental issues like the emergence of parties, privatisation or restitution of property, and economic restraints on Europe during post-Communist transition, The text proposes that concrete policy recommendations may result in sustainable development for transitioning economies.

Environmental Transitions is a detailed and comprehensive account of the environmental changes in Central and Eastern Europe, both under state socialism and during the period of transition to capitalism. The change in politics in the late 1980s and early 1990s allowed an opportunity for a rapid environmental clean up, in an area once considered one of the most environmentally devastated regions on earth. The book illustrates how transformations after 1989 have brought major environmental improvements, as well as new environmental problems. It shows how environmental policy, economic change and popular support for environmental movements, have specific and changing geographies associated with them. Environmental Transitions addresses a large number of topics, including the historical geographical analysis of the environmental change, health impacts of environmental degradation, the role of environmental issues during the anti-communist revolutions, legislative reform and the effects of transition on environmental quality after 1989. Environmental Transitions contains detailed case studies from the region, which illustrate the complexity of environmental issues and their intimate relationship with political and economic realities. It gives theoretically informed ideas for understanding environmental change in the context of the political economy of state socialism and post-communist transformations, drawing on a wide body of literature from West, Central and Eastern Europe.

This book takes a long-term view of environmental policy in Poland, which thus serves as an example to increase our understanding of environmental policy making in general in the former Eastern bloc countries. The perspective adopted also includes the pre-transition period, since the transformation process cannot be understood without reference to the preceding period. The book investigates the driving forces underlying policy changes, both prior to and after the transition, and identifies elements both of change and continuity - topics that have hitherto been neglected in the literature. A change of political system in Poland did not lead to a major change in the thrust of environmental policy: the policy makers adopted a cautious approach to new instruments and institutions during the transition period. What did change with the transition was the implementation aspect: the effectiveness of environmental policy increased dramatically after the abolition of socialism. The rule of law meant that the state administration and the polluters were subordinated to the legal system, thus increasing the power to environmental policy. Readership: Researchers and students interested in the environment and the countries in transition.

This volume focuses attention on key environmental and institutional changes associated with eastern expansion of the European Union, assessing and challenging prevailing views about the outcomes and processes of this historic development. Looking at four central themes -- capacity changes and limitations, the EU's mixed messages and conflicting priorities, non-state actor roles and developments, and the exchange of ideas and information - the volume shows that enlargement will change the EU, not just make it bigger, and that EU officials and programs are improving aspects of environmental policy in CEE countries even as they are making others less sustainable. This book was previously published as a special issue of the journal Environmental Politics.

Among the most costly and complicated chapters in the former Eastern bloc countries' transitions to democracy is the clean up and restoration of the environment. Even as Communist-era environmental problems fade in significance-such as pollution from heavy industry-new threats have emerged. Restoring Cursed Earth considers how rule making, sanctions, incentives, and programs shape environmental protection efforts, and whether and to what extent these emerging policy structures are promoting environmental well-being for citizens in Russia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Estonia.

A study of the effect of EU membership on Central and Eastern European environmental policy and the interplay of political incentives and industry behavior that determines policy In Transnational Politics of the Environment, Liliana Andonova examines the effect of the Europen Union (EU) on the environmental policies of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Poland. Compliance with EU environmental regulations is especially onerous for Central and Eastern European countries because of the costs involved and the legacy of pollution from communist-era industries. But Andonova argues that EU integration has a positive impact on environmental policies in these countries by exerting a strong influence on the environmental interests of regulated industries. With her empirical study of chemical safety and air pollution policies from 1990 to 2000, she shows that export-competitive industries such as the chemical industry that would benefit from economic integration have an incentive to adopt EU norms. By contrast, industries such as electric utilities that primarily serve the domestic market remain opposed to EU environmental standards and must be prodded by their own governments to implement environmental-protection measures. These differences in domestic interests greatly influence the course of reforms and the adoption of EU standards. Transnational Politics of the Environment challenges the current focus on intergovernmental cooperation between East and West by highlighting the roles of industries, transnational norms, and domestic institutions in promoting change in environmental regulation. It offers a generalizable framework for understanding the politics of environmental regulation in emerging market economies, and helps bridge the divide between the study of domestic and international environmental politics.

Seaports, as part of urban centers, play a major role in the cultural, social and economic life of the cities in which they are located, and through the links they provide to the outside world. Port-cities in Europe have faced significant change, first with the loss of heavy industry, emergence of Eastern European democracies, and the widening of the European Community (now European Union) during the second half of the twentieth century, and more recently through drivers to change including the global Sustainable Development Agenda and the European Union Circular Economy Agenda. This book examines the role of modern seaports in Europe and consider how port-cities are responding to these major drivers for change. It discusses the broad issues facing European Sea Ports, including port life cycles, spatial planning, and societal integration. May 2019 saw the 200th anniversary of the first steam ship to cross the Atlantic between the US and England, and it is just over 60 years since the invention of the modern intermodal shipping container – both drivers of change in the maritime and ports industry. Increasing movements of people, e.g. through low cost cruises to port cities, can play a major role in changing the nature of such a city and impact on the lives of the people living there. This book brings together original research by both long-standing and younger scholars from multiple disciplines and builds upon the wider discourse about sea ports, port cities, and sustainability.

This volume explores the impact of democratization and marketization on the environment in East Central Europe. The essays investigate: how the twin processes of change affect the physical environment; the expression of environmental interest; and environmental management policies.