Conflicts in Environmental Regulation and the Internationalisation of the State: Contested Terrains

Since the beginning of the 1990s there have been numerous international attempts to politicise and regulate crucial global problems. Environmental problems have proven to be one of the key areas of international concern and this has been highlighted by the series of UN conferences that took place on the environment and development, with a strong focus on climate change and biological diversity.This book examines the global regulation of biodiversity politics through the UN, WTO and international treaties. Using historical-materialist state and regulation theory, it assesses how the discourse and politics of sustainable development has transformed and contributed to the internationalisation of the state.The authors argue that sustainable development, far from being a fixed concept, is a conceptual terrain on which different and conflicting symbolisations and "solutions" of the ecological crisis struggle for hegemony. Furthermore, it shows that the international environmental organisations are not at all a means to counteract neoliberal globalisation but, on the contrary, form an integral part of the ongoing transformation process. Focussing on the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and the Agreement on Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in the World Trade Organisation, this co-authored volume addresses the following issues: biodiversity protection; the access to genetic resources; the sharing of benefits which arise out of its use; and the enforcement of intellectual property rights.This book will be of interest to students and scholars of international politics, international political economy, environmental studies, development studies and political ecology.Brand, Ulrich is the author of 'Conflicts in Environmental Regulation and the Internationalisation of the State: Contested Terrains', published 2008 under ISBN 9780415455138 and ISBN 0415455138.