Filtering EU environmental policies through the government layers

The EIA directive in Scotland and Bavaria

Bibliographic Data

ID7763607
AuthorsAntje Brown (University of Stirling, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume8
Issue4
Pages66-89
Publication date1999-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironmental Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0964-4016 • E-ISSN: 1743-8934
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09644019908414494
OpenAlexW2078859761
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited11

With over 300 environmental laws designed to regulate economic activities and tackle pollution problems, EU actors have established an impressive environmental policy. Yet, implementation has often been disappointing with the result that EU environmental policy now suffers from an ‘implementation deficit’ whereby policy intentions on paper are not carried out properly ‘on the ground’. Until recently, EU actors and analysts have focused primarily on the initial stages of the policy process, in particular the dynamics of bargaining between Member States. The overall effectiveness of EU environmental policies, however, depends upon actors ‘on the ground’ and how they apply the policies in practice. This article moves away from the conventional state‐centrist approach and focuses instead on the subnational regions and their role in the overall success of EU environmental policies. A case study of the EIA Directive to illustrate the implementation process and, in particular, the subnational regions' role in it. By combining insights from existing policy implementation and multi‐level governance studies, implementation is regarded as a ‘filtering’ process through national and subnational ‘layers’ which feature their own unique combination of formal and informal implementation factors. These factors can either facilitate, modify or obstruct policies from reaching their targets. It is argued that subnational regions feature implementation factors which not only differ from national factors but also shape EU environmental policies in their own way. In order to gain a more accurate picture of the EU environmental policy ‘reality’, it is therefore important to pay particular attention to subnational regions and their actors

Business · Corporate governance · Directive · Economics · Environmental governance · Environmental planning · Environmental policy · Environmental resource management · Geography · Political science · Public economics · Computer Science · European Union Policy and Governance · Policy Transfer and Learning · Public Administration · Regulation and Compliance Studies

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub