The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Politics

The complexities and scope of environmental issues have not only outpaced the capacities and responsiveness of traditional political actors but also generated new innovations, constituencies, and approaches to governing environmental problems. In response, comparative environmental politics (CEP) has emerged as a vibrant and growing field of scholarly inquiry, embracing new questions and methods even as it addresses enduring questions in the broader field of comparative politics. Utilizing a range of methodological approaches, The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Politics delves into more traditional forms of CEP--the political economy of natural resources and the role of corporations and supply chains--while also showcasing new trends in CEP scholarship, particularly the comparative study of environmental injustice and intersectional inequities.

Moving beyond the field's earlier work that focused on cross-national comparisons of political institutions, regulatory styles, and state-society relations, the Handbook includes approaches from political science, anthropology, sociology, geography, gender theory, law, human rights, and development studies. Moreover, the chapters highlight scholarship from a broader range of regions, and analyze the construction and diffusion of norms, rights, ethics, and ideology across the globe and through various social movements (with a focus on approaches from the Global South). Including 42 chapters, organized across 9 sections, The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Politics explores some of the most important environmental issues through the lens of comparative politics, including energy, climate change, food, health, urbanization, waste, and sustainability.

Jeannie Sowers is Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of New Hampshire. Her research interests include comparative and international environmental politics, with a regional specialization in the Middle East and North Africa.

Stacy D. VanDeveer is Professor and Chair of the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance at the University of Massachusetts Boston. His research interests include EU environmental and energy politics, global environmental policymaking and institutions, comparative environmental politics, the roles of expertise in policymaking, and the global politics of resources and consumption.

Erika Weinthal is Professor of Environmental Policy and Public Policy at the Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University. She specializes in global environmental politics and environmental peacebuilding, with an emphasis on water and energy.