Environmental Policy in Europe: The Europeanization of National Environmental Policy

The continuing development of the European Union (EU) is transforming policy and politics in its member countries, and possibly in an even larger number of potential members. This book offers a detailed investigation of the Europeanization of national environmental policy in ten Western European countries since 1970. By blending state-of-the-art theories with fresh empirical material on the many manifestations of Europeanization, it sheds new light on the dynamics that are decisively reshaping national environmental policy. It also offers an original assessment of how far Europeanization has produced greater policy convergence in Western Europe. Throughout, the approach taken is genuinely comparative, drawing on the insights provided by leading country specialists. The country studies powerfully demonstrate that every single state has been Europeanized to some extent. However, the overall pattern of domestic change is highly variegated with some aspects of national policy converging more substantiallythan others. The book shows that the EU's primary contribution has been to add sharpness and a greater sense of urgency to the policy convergence that would probably have occurred anyway. By combining cutting-edge accounts of national policy developments with a fresh perspective on the theoretical debate about Europeanization, this book has much to offer students and scholars alike.