Voluntary Environmental Programs: A Canadian Perspective

In light of the increasing number of environmental problems necessitating government's attention and the limited scope and budget for addressing these issues, environmental protection has, and continues to evolve as more flexible approaches to regulation are being sought and embraced by governments throughout the world. Voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) are a pragmatic response by both governments and business to find a more flexible way to protect the environment. We discuss the theoretical motivations for firms to adopt VEPs in general and examine Canada's experience with three types of VEPs, public, negotiated, and unilateral agreements, to assess whether the motivating factors are present. We then argue that the institutional, political, and regulatory framework governing environmental policy in Canada does not provide the conditions necessary to effectively promote superior corporate environmental protection across jurisdictions. Despite the lack of government‐directed VEPs, there has been considerable interest by both the private sector and civil society who have taken the lead by developing unilateral agreements. Using existing literature and our current research, we examine the factors that motivate firms in Canada to participate in unilateral agreements and the characteristics of firms with the higher environmental performance and suggest some policy implications.     

Environmental Public Voluntary Programs Reconsidered

Environmental “public voluntary programs” (PVPs) involve government offers of positive publicity and technical assistance to firms that reach certain environmental goals. A growing body of empirical work suggests these programs generally have little impact on the behavior of their participants. A natural policy conclusion would be to eliminate PVPs, but we argue that such a conclusion is premature. Many PVPs are best viewed as information diffusion programs, so identifying their effects econometrically is difficult because information is likely to diffuse to nonparticipants. Thus, after the early phases of even a successful PVP, it may well be impossible to detect a difference in the performance between participants and nonparticipants. We argue that new estimation approaches are needed to identify the effects of PVPs. We also explore the design of PVPs in detail, showing how PVPs can potentially enhance the diffusion of cost‐effective techniques for pollution abatement.     

Voluntary Environmental Programs in the Public Sector: Evaluating an Urban Water Conservation Program in California

Solving conflictual environmental policy problems is increasingly falling under the purview of local governments and public agencies. Nonregulatory approaches, such as the development of voluntary environmental programs (VEPs), could offer a useful policy alternative as they often have greater political traction and flexibility. However, there has been little work examining the use of VEPs in the public sector. This article uses a new dataset from California to examine how political institutions affect decisions by local governments and public agencies to participate in a voluntary urban water conservation program and whether this program has improved the water conservation performance of its members. The results show that special district governments, private utilities, and water suppliers dependent on purchased water are more likely to participate in the program and to join early. However, urban water agencies that have joined the program have not reduced their per capita water use more than those that have not. These results underscore the influence of political institutions in public‐sector decision making and demonstrate that, as in the private sector, commitment to a VEP by local government and public agencies does not guarantee implementation or environmental improvements. While voluntary programs offer political and administrative advantages, in order for VEPs in the public sector to be effective they must be accompanied and supported by credible enforcement mechanisms, performance standards, and rigorous monitoring programs.     

Strategic Spatial Planning: Collective Action and Moments of Opportunity

The theory and practice of strategic spatial planning makes a significant contribution to debates about contemporary European planning. Whilst its proponents describe a progressive style of governance and new territorial imaginations it is difficult to point to success on the ground. The paper argues that the normative conception of strategic spatial planning and focus on the failure of planners to live up to the ideal diverts attention from understanding the day-to-day work of planners and the ordinary politics of planning. We review some potentially helpful work in political sociology to develop framework that, rather than seeing planners failing to develop appropriate spatial and governance imaginations, may contribute to a better understanding of how planners pursue interests, attempt to manage the costs of collective action and assess institutional constraints and political opportunities.     

Why Russian Peasants Remain in Collective Farms: A Household Perspective on Agricultural Restructuring

This paper seeks to understand what motivates collective farm employees-share-holders to remain in collective structures rather than exercise their legally sanctioned right to leave with land and property shares. On the basis of a 1999 survey of 181 collective farm households and analysis of regional agricultural policies in Leningrad and Saratov oblasts, the paper examines divergent overt and covert benefits that employees derive from association with market-oriented versus less reformed collective agricultural producers. The paper relates the structure of employee incentives to regional-level agricultural policies and to the divergent effects these policies have on the depth and pattern of structural transformations of agricultural production. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O18, Q10, Q15. 5 figures, 15 tables, 38 references.     

Cooperation without Trust: Overcoming Collective Action Barriers to Endangered Species Protection

Mutual trust among individuals is frequently cited as an important factor in encouraging collective action, particularly in environmental policy settings. Yet the precise role of trust in the collective action process remains uncertain. This article explores the hypothesis that trust is overrated as a cause of cooperation. It initially tests this hypothesis through two case studies of voluntary collective action in a new context: the creation of multiactor Habitat Conservation Plans to protect endangered species. The two cases suggest that institutional mechanisms and political leadership can play an important role in encouraging collective action without relying on trust among cooperators. Besides their theoretical implications, the results suggest policymakers might spend more energy on creating incentives and assurance mechanisms to encourage collaboration, rather than the potentially fruitless task of building of social capital among rival stakeholders.     

基于管理与环境视角的中国旅游效率研究

从管理和环境的角度对区域旅游产业效率进行分析,测算全要素旅游管理效率和旅游环境影响率,判断究竟是内生变量还是外生环境影响了全要素旅游效率的高低,有助于旅游资源利用方式的优化和产业管理效率的提高。本文利用四阶段DEA模型对剔除环境因素影响的我国区域旅游效率进行实证分析,研究结果表明,2005～2009年我国旅游效率水平总体偏低,旅游业发展管理都是无效的;现阶段旅游效率的提升主要是依赖外生环境的改善,管理效率的提升明显不足;区域间全要素旅游效率、全要素旅游管理效率和旅游环境影响率之间存在明显的区域差异,东部地区全要素旅游效率明显高于中部与西部地区。从提高旅游业管理水平和改善旅游业外部环境方面提出不同区域提高旅游业效率的发展对策：北京、天津、江苏等应重点改善区域旅游管理能力;河北、辽宁、新疆等应从管理和环境两个层面推进;山西、内蒙古和黑龙江等应重点优化外部环境。     

Voluntary Approaches to Environmental Problems: Exploring the Rise of Nontraditional Public Policy

Government reliance on voluntary programs represents a significant shift in public policy: moving from command and control regulations to market based mechanisms. This article explores the determinants of Voluntary Remediation Programs (VRPs) in the American States. During the 1980s and 1990s, 44 states adopted VRPs to facilitate remediation of existing hazardous waste sites. Relying on diffusion of innovation theory, I develop a model of state policy adoption that explores the influence of internal state political and economic factors, as well as testing the influence of regional and top‐down diffusion forces. I utilize a discrete‐time event history approach to test this model. The results indicate that state policymaking is responsive to interest group pressure and the pace of cleanup at hazardous waste sites. Additionally, state policymaking is consistently influenced by the actions of surrounding state governments; the probability of adopting a voluntary program increases if surrounding states have already developed these policies.     

Heterogeneity,Group Size and Collective Action: The Role of Institutions in Forest Management

Collective action for sustainable management among resource‐dependent populations has important policy implications. Despite considerable progress in identifying factors that affect the prospects for collective action, no consensus exists about the role played by heterogeneity and size of group. The debate continues in part because of a lack of uniform conceptualization of these factors, the existence of non‐linear relationships, and the mediating role played by institutions. This article draws on research by scholars in the International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) research network which demonstrates that some forms of heterogeneity do not negatively affect some forms of collective action. More importantly, IFRI research draws out the interrelations among group size, heterogeneity, and institutions. Institutions can affect the level of heterogeneity or compensate for it. Group size appears to have a non‐linear relationship to at least some forms of collective action. Moreover, group size may be as much an indicator of institutional success as a precondition for such success.     

Strategic Alliances in Action: Toward a Theory of Evolution

The popularity and prevalence of strategic alliances for problem solving has been well documented in research on the corporate sector and public policy. However, there has been limited work to date on building a comprehensive theory about the evolutionary process of alliances. The purpose of this article is to synthesize current research on alliance development in order to develop a model of strategic alliance evolution. The theoretical model is built with ideas from prior research as well as findings from our own recent research on alliances in education. We conducted a national study of strategic alliances in charter schools focused on uncovering the process of evolution—including how alliances are initiated, operated, and evaluated—and the various internal and external factors that influence alliance development and progress. Our findings offer a model of strategic alliance evolution and provide direction for future research.     

论环境史对人的存在的认识及其意义

人及其活动依然是环境史研究的主题,不过,环境史对人的存在及其活动的认识,不是排斥或远离自然而是融入或回归自然而产生的。环境史的创见主要在于更新了认识人及其活动的视角,因而突破了“人类惟一”的狭隘意识以及“精英主义”的英雄史观。环境史不仅不反人类,相反,它倡导和实践的是一种更宽泛、更真实的人道主义,因为它既关注抽象的人类,也关注具体的人群和个人,还关注与人的生存息息相关的环境。环境史作为解读人类文明的新范式,其研究将直接影响着人们对待自然和他人的态度与行为,有助于人们反思“我们应该怎样生活?我们应该为什么生活?”,以便挖掘人存在的丰富意义,从而使史学在新时代更好地发挥其社会功能。     

西方地图史研究:收藏兴趣、后现代转向、多样化

地图史研究在20世纪六七十年代兴起,在各种社会思潮的影响下,20世纪八九十年代很快就发生了转向。其中,哈利(John Brain Harley)、大卫·特布尔(David Turnbull)、克里斯蒂安·雅克布(Christian Jacob)是地图史研究转向中展开系统理论阐述的代表性学者。尤其是哈利成就卓著,他关于地图史的理论阐述被称之为地图史哲学,而以他为核心的学者群为地图史研究做出了重大贡献,影响深远。他们对地图史研究理论的阐释有着内在的一致性,都强调了对地图的重新定义,地图与其所处的社会的关系,地图与知识、权力的关系。在理论发展的推动下,地图史研究在20世纪90年代以后开始蓬勃发展。首先,传统的实证主义专题在继续发展的同时,吸收新的思路与方法,不断深化;其次地图史不再只是地图史本身:地图史同时也呈现历史,而地图更被用来构建历史。第三,也是极为重要的,从权力、资本、知识关联性角度,讨论地图史与地理空间的相互创造过程。第四,地图装饰和女性主义等其他地图史专题研究,同样引人注目。