Understanding Environmental Policy Convergence: The Power of Words, Rules and Money

Over recent decades national environmental policies have become increasingly alike. This book analyses the driving forces of this process of policy convergence, providing an in-depth empirical analysis of the international forces at work. It does so by investigating how four countries - France, Hungary, Mexico and the Netherlands - have shaped their domestic environmental policies in the context of international institutions and relationships, while taking into account various domestic factors and national conditions. Employing a qualitative approach, the authors seek to deepen understanding of the processes and mechanisms through which international forces such as legal harmonisation, institutionalised information flows and global trade dynamics affect domestic environmental policy change. Together with its companion volume Environmental Policy Convergence in Europe: The Impact of Trade and International Institutions (2008) this book provides a 'showcase' of mixed methodologies, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches in an innovative way.

Helge Jörgens is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the Freie Universität Berlin and Managing Director of the Environmental Policy Research Centre (FFU).

Andrea Lenschow is Professor of European Politics in the Department of Social Sciences at Osnabrück University, Germany, where she also holds a Jean Monnet Chair and directs the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence in European Studies. In addition, she teaches at the College of Europe in Bruges.

Duncan Liefferink is a Senior Researcher in the Department of Political Sciences of the Environment at Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands.