North Sea Cooperation: Linking International and Domestic Pollution Control

by Jon Birger Skjaerseth

This is the first book to examine the link between international and national environmental institutions. It examines this link in depth by analyzing the making and implementation of North Sea pollution commitments. The author develops two models generating different propositions aimed at distinguishing the significance of institutions from other explanatory factors. The key to understanding the success of international institutions in the North Sea cooperation lies in the balancing of hard legally binding and soft politically acting institutions in the same issue-area. He goes on to show the extent to which different national institutions in Norway, the Netherlands and the UK are suited to implement the North Sea commitments.

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 9, 2000