Over the last thirty years, the European Union has created a system of environmental governance in Europe. This work seeks to understand this new system of environmental governance both at the European level and at the level of member states. It argues that the system is multi-level, horizontally complex, evolving, and incomplete, and goes on to examine the extent of convergence and divergence in environmental policy among six member states: Germany, Spain, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK.

Environmental Governance in Europe: An Ever Closer Ecological Union?

Business & Money

Cini, Michelle

Flynn, Brendan

Pridham, Geoffrey

Weale, Albert

Porter, Martin

Konstadakopulos, Dimitrios

Economics

Oxford University Press

Modern Social Contract Theory provides an exposition and evaluation of major work in social contract theory from 1950 to the present. It locates the central themes of that theory in the intellectual legacy of utilitarianism, particularly the problems of defining principles of justice and ofshowing the grounds of moral obligation. It demonstrates how theorists responded in a novel way to the dilemmas articulated in utilitarianism, developing in their different approaches a constructivist method in ethics, a method that aimed to vindicate a liberal, democratic and just political order.A distinctive feature of the book is its comparative approach. By placing the works of Barry, Buchanan and Tullock, Harsanyi, Gauthier, Grice, Rawls, and Scanlon alongside one another, similarities and differences are brought out, most notably in the way in which principles are derived by eachauthor from the contractual construction as well as the extent to which the obligation to adopt those principles can be rationally grounded. Each theory is placed in its particular intellectual context. Special attention is paid to the contrasting theories of rationality adopted by the differentauthors, whether that be utility theory or a deliberative conception of rationality, with the intention of assessing how far the principles advanced can be justified by reference to the hypothetical choices of rational contracting agents.The book concludes with a discussion of some principal objections to the enterprise of contract theory, and offers its own programme for the future of that theory taking the form of the empirical method.

Modern Social Contract Theory

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

History

Europe

This book offers a theory of democratic justice. According to the theory, justice emerges from collective agreement among political associates who enjoy approximate equality of power. Such situations can be seen as social contracts, and we find an empirical model for social contracts in the examples of successful common property resource regimes. In these regimes, participants craft collective rules of access to the means of production on an equal basis and producers are entitled to the full fruits of their labour. To interpret this theoretically an account of practical rationality in terms of individual and public deliberation is required.In tracing the move from small scale to large scale societies, three important transformations become apparent: in political institutions; in the economy; and in the functions of the household. All are relevant to the understanding of justice. In great societies representative parties making policy and law in shifting coalitions in parliaments elected by proportional representation exemplify political equality and so instance one form of democratic justice. In the economy corporate hierarchies modify the full fruits principles, not always in the direction of justice. Redistribution is justified as a means of smoothing income across the life-cycle, rather than by appeal to economies of scale or a simple principle of need.The sense of democratic justice requires commitment to the maintenance of those institutions that protect common interests, whilst acknowledging where there are differences of interest. This sense of democratic justice needs to be upheld by effective governance.

Democratic Justice and the Social Contract

Politics & Government

Democracy

Defining democracy as a system of government in which important choices in public policy depend, in a systematic way, upon public opinion, Albert Weale argues that its key justification is its capacity to enable members of society to advance their common interests as political equals in a situation of human fallibility. Contrasting this justification with accounts of democracy based on the idea of autonomy, he argues that a satisfactory theory of democracy must presuppose the existence, at least to some degree, of common purpose among the citizens. The book elaborates this account of democratic government in relation to models of democracy ranging from accounts of direct democracy, inspired by Rousseau, to liberal constitutionalist theories that stress the importance of limited government.

PALGRAVE~MACMILLAN

Defining democracy as a system of government in which important choices in public policy depend, in a systematic way, upon public opinion, Albert Weale argues that its key justification is its capacity to enable members of society to advance their common interests as political equals in a situation of human fallibility. Contrasting this justification with accounts of democracy based on the idea of autonomy, he argues that a satisfactory theory of democracy must presuppose the existence, at least to some degree, of common purpose among the citizens. The book elaborates this account of democratic government in relation to models of democracy ranging from accounts of direct democracy, inspired by Rousseau, to liberal constitutionalist theories that stress the importance of limited government.

Palgrave HE UK

This wide-ranging text identifies and assesses the main conceptions of democracy from participationist to elitist. It proceeds to consider in detail a range of key issues in democratic theory in relation to which these conceptions can be distinguished. The second edition has been revised throughout and includes entirely new chapters on deliberative democracy and on self-determination and issues of governance at an international level in particular those associated with notions of cosmopolitan democracy.

Democracy (Issues in Political Theory, 6)

Red Globe Press

The New Politics of Pollution (Issues in Environmental Politics)

This work argues that current approaches to pollution not only fail to deal with the challenge of existing and novel types of pollution, but also fail to take into account our changing understanding of its international scale and effects. The authors assert that the new "politics of pollution" is best understood within the framework of social learning theory and that policy developments need to be seen as attempts on the part of governments to learn how to cope with environmental problems. The problem is examined in an international context - some particular countries cited are the United States, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.

Manchester Univ Pr

Developing a distinctive normative theory of political association, this book argues that the goods of democratic citizenship have been advanced by European integration in many respects, including environmental policy. In other respects, including social policy, primary political authority is best kept at the level of the nation-state.

Democratic citizenship and the European Union (Europe in Change)

Manchester University Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Weale, Albert. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Weale, Albert

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Weale, Albert. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Environmental Governance in Europe: An Ever Closer Ecological Union?

Modern Social Contract Theory

Environmental Governance in Europe: An Ever Closer Ecological Union?

Democratic Justice and the Social Contract

Democracy

Democracy

Democracy (Issues in Political Theory, 6)

The New Politics of Pollution (Issues in Environmental Politics)

The New Politics of Pollution (Issues in Environmental Politics)

Democratic citizenship and the European Union (Europe in Change)