Governing a Common Sea Environmental Policies in the Baltic Sea Region

About this book

How is a natural common pool resource such as a sea, which is shared by several countries, best governed? The potential for international conflict is immense, as each country may have different agendas regarding issues such as exploitation and environmental protection.This book uses a case study of the Baltic Sea region to examine this complex problem. The sea itself has been highly vulnerable to pollution and recently the bordering nations have cooperated and tackled the issue by establishing several new forums to manage the sea. Administrative and political structures developed in the region are reviewed and shown to provide a model which could be applied to other seas and natural resource systems elsewhere in the world. It reflects the strong interest in controlling the effects of the notoriously heavy pollution in the Baltic; examines the politics of how nations bordering the Baltic have cooperated to integrate policies for the common good; and, provides a model for transnational governance of natural resource systems in other parts of the world.

Contents

Introduction: Governing a Common Sea; The Institutionalization of Environmental Concerns in the Baltic Sea Region; The New Structures of Governance in the Baltic Sea Region; Interactions Between Regional Governance for Conservation Policy and Local Livelihoods; Governing a Common Sea - Lessons Learned from the Baltic Sea Region; Index.

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Biography

Marko Joas is Senior Lecturer in Political Science and Head of Research in Public Administration at Abo Akademi University, Finland. Detlef Jahn is Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Greifswald, Germany. Kristine Kern is DAAD Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.