Analyzing International Environmental Regimes: From Case Study to Database

Regime theory has become an increasingly influential approach to the analysis ofinternational relations, particularly in the areas of international political economy andinternational environmental politics. The conceptual appeal of the idea of "governance withoutgovernment"--in which a combination of different organizations and institutions supply governance toaddress specific problems--reflects a world in which the demand for governance is great but thefamiliar mechanisms for supplying it are weak. Most research on international regimes employsqualitative methods, often using case studies to develop larger theoretical arguments; but a lack ofstandardization makes comparative analysis difficult. Analyzing International Environmental Regimesintroduces the International Regimes Database (IRD), an important methodological innovation thatallows scholars to adopt a quantitative approach to the study of international regimes.The IRD is arelational database that makes it possible to compare records on specific aspects of a number ofinternational environmental regimes that are coded using a single, well-defined set of concepts,definitions, and scales. The book first describes the database and discusses a number ofmethodological, technical, and architectural issues. It then illustrates the use of the IRD as ananalytic tool, drawing on the database for descriptive statistics to evaluate theoretical ideasabout compliance, decision rules, and the role of knowledge. A CD containing the full IRD dataprotocol and all the data currently in the database accompanies the book.

Michael Zürn is Dean of the Hertie School of Governance and Director of the Transnational Conflicts and International Institutions program at the Social Science Research Center in Berlin.