Book Review: Gabriella Kütting and Ronnie Lipschutz (eds), Environmental Governance: Power and Knowledge in a Local-Global World (London: Routledge, 2009, 226pp., £24.99 pbk)
| DOI | 10.1177/03058298110400011221 |
| Published date | 01 September 2011 |
| Author | Thomas O'Brien |
| Date | 01 September 2011 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Book Reviews 221
domestic politics ‘back in’ and the usefulness of the tools of comparative politics.9
Moreover, in the literature on climate politics, a number of studies have taken a similar
approach, including notable books such as Cass10 and Fisher,11 as well as a range of
articles in academic journals.12 But while their book is hardly the only comparative
study of domestic climate politics, it is special in the way it elaborates a set of hypoth-
eses about both ratification and implementation, and systematically explores how these
hold up across a range of important case studies. For those just broaching the subject, the
book undoubtedly offers an excellent place to start. However, a chapter on latecomers
like Turkey and Kazakhstan or another former Soviet Kyoto signatory, such as the
Ukraine, may have been more revealing. Nevertheless, the authors provide a good, even-
handed summary of China’s very interesting climate politics.
Charles Roger
Charles Roger is a Research Officer, LSE Global Governance, London School of
Economics, UK.
Gabriella Kütting and Ronnie Lipschutz (eds), Environmental Governance: Power and Knowledge
in a Local-Global World (London: Routledge, 2009, 226pp., £24.99 pbk).
This book brings together a collection of papers examining knowledge in global environ-
mental governance and how it is used to ‘orchestrate and manipulate local communities
within a continuing hegemonic system’ (p. 5). In doing so, it provides a useful contribu-
tion to studies of global environmental governance. The focus is on connections between
the global and the local, asking how actors at each of these levels engage with and create
knowledge. In justifying this approach, the Editors argue that knowledge must be under-
stood in ‘the context in which it is produced, accumulated and deployed’ and that ‘knowl-
edge in space and knowledge in place act at cross-purposes’ (pp. 2–3). The division
between knowledge in space, seen as universal and privileged, and more particularistic
forms of local knowledge in place provides the framework for the book, constructing a
convincing case in support of the role of knowledge in perpetuating power relations.
9. H. Milner, ‘Rationalizing Politics: The Emerging Synthesis of International, American and Comparative
Politics’, in Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics, eds Peter J. Katzenstein, Robert
O. Keohane and Stephen D. Krasner (London: MIT Press, 1999).
10. L. Cass, The Failures of American and European Climate Policy: International Norms, Domestic Politics,
and Unachievable Commitments (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2006).
11. D. Fisher, National Governance and the Global Climate Regime (Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield
Publishers, Inc., 2004).
12. See, N. Dolšak, ‘Mitigating Global Climate Change: Why Are Some Countries More Committed
Than Others?’, Policy Studies Journal 29, no. 3 (2001) pp. nos; N. Dolšak, ‘Climate Change Policy
Implementation: A Cross-Sectional Analysis’, Review of Policy Research 26, no. 5 (2009) pp. nos; M. Bättig
and T. Bernauer, ‘National Institutions and Global Public Goods: Are Democracies More Cooperative in
Climate Change Policy?’, International Organisation 63, no. 2 (2009) pp. nos. See also, D. F. Sprinz
and M. Weiss, ‘Domestic Politics and Global Climate Policy’, in International Relations and Global
Climate Change, eds U . Luterbacher and D. F. Sprinz (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001), 67–94.
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