Institutional Dynamics: Emergent Patterns in International Environmental Governance (Earth System Governance: A Core Research Project of the ... on Global Environmental Change)

International environmental regimes--institutional arrangements that
govern human-environmental interactions--are dynamic, changing continuously over
time. Some regimes go from strength to strength, becoming more effective over the
years, while others seem stymied from the beginning. Some regimes start strong, then
decline; others are ineffective at first but become successful with the passage of
time. In Institutional Dynamics, Oran Young offers the first detailed analysis of
these developmental trajectories. Understanding the emergent patterns in
environmental governance and how they affect regime effectiveness, he argues, is an
important part of solving environmental problems. Young proposes a framework for
analyzing patterns of institutional change based on the alignment of internal,
endogenous factors--which include flexibility, monitoring procedures, and funding
mechanisms--with such external, exogenous factors as the attributes of environmental
problems, the political and economic contexts, and technological innovations. He
offers five case studies of environmental regimes, governing environmental problems
ranging from climate change to the protection of the Northern Fur Seal, each of
which exemplifies one of the emergent patterns he has identified: progressive
development, punctuated equilibrium, arrested development, diversion, and
collapse.