Green Giants? : Environmental Policies of the United States and the European Union

The United States in recent years has been abandoning its historical role as a leaderin environmental regulation. At the same time, the European Union, spurred by political integration,has enacted many new environmental laws and assumed a leadership role in promoting globalenvironmental sustainability. Green Giants?, one of the most detailed comparisons of theenvironmental policies of America and Europe yet undertaken, looks at current policy trends in theUnited States and the European Union--the two largest economic actors in the world--and theimplications they have for future transatlantic and global cooperation. The contributors--leadingEuropean and American scholars and practitioners--examine similarities and differences in specificpolicy areas in order to assess whether United States and European Union policies are diverging,pursuing similar goals and methods, or undergoing a "hybridization" through joint learning andexchanges. They find that although European and American policies may parallel each other somewhatin domestic regulation, they are clearly diverging in the "third generation" of environmentalconcerns, which include such global problems as climate change, international trade, and sustainabledevelopment. In the final chapter the editors conclude that transatlantic dialogue and cooperationat the highest level are necessary if these two economic and political giants are to lead theinternational community toward a stable and secure ecological future.