An Institutional Basis for Environmental Stewardship

This book explores an institutional framework for environmental governance. Starting from the assumption that governments can facilitate the sustainability of resource management by state and non-state actors through the structuring of decision contexts, the analyses combined in the book explore determinants of environmental stewardship with particular emphasis on the structure and quality of property rights. In pursuit of their objectives, the analyses build on previous research on determinants of environmental quality, critically examine findings and claims on the existence of an environmental Kuznets curve, and draw linkages to the literatures on government capacity and collective action. In addition, the book substantially extends the state of the knowledge on the environmental implications of property rights, integrating economic and political dimensions and establishing links between previously unconnected research areas in environmental politics, environmental economics, and resource management.