Discourses of global environmental governance from colonialism to the 21st century

摘要

Despite the expansion of global conferences, institutions, laws, and policies designed to address environmental problems, insecurities and uncertainties do not abate. Rather, environmental problems have expanded in their complexity, leading to a focus on the complex relationships between global environmental change and global politics. Academic debates around global environmental governance have tended to highlight the need for cooperation among disparate actors in an anarchic international system. However, this institutional focus leads to a neglect of the environmental discourses, including the different meanings and values attached to the environment, which underwrite policies. Studies that neglect such environmental discourses risk understanding global environmental governance in ways that legitimize environmentally and socially destructive practices and principles. Accordingly, this dissertation contributes to a critical rereading of the origins of global environmental governance informed by the concepts of environmental discourses and problem framing as a discursive strategy of power.;A comparative historical framework is used to evaluate discourses using a critical genealogical methodology. The methodology uses techniques of case study, including description, categorization, longitudinal and conceptual comparison, and interpretation. The work focuses on 2 major historical transitions as analytical reference points. The first is the shift from the colonial to the post-colonial era, exemplified by two UNESCO-sponsored Conferences held in 1949. The second is the shift to a globalized world, and is marked with the publication of the Brundtland Commission Report in 1987. Following this general framework, the work explores specific environmental problems over time, including the problem of deforestation and the issue of nature preservation through reserves and national parks.;The dissertation provides an analytical tool for illuminating differences among discourses and comparing their relative impact in different contexts. It holds the promise of improving processes of 'social learning' in the future by means of uncovering discourses that have been de-legitimized or excluded from official levels of institutional deliberation.