Workshop on Regional Environmental Governance in Geneva
REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE (REGov):
Interdisciplinary Approaches, Theoretical Issues, Comparative Designs
Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS)
University of Geneva ETH Zurich The Graduate Institute EAWAG
University of New Hampshire
Geneva, Switzerland
June 16-18, 2010
Workshop Background
As world leaders and climate change experts intensify negotiations over the
outlines of a future global regime, there is growing recognition that actual
mitigation and adaptation will have to take place much closer to home. In
other environmental issue areas as well, the transaction costs of servicing
global regimes, as well as a creeping “global convention fatigue,” are
producing a shift in the locus of impetus, implementation, and innovation to
regional levels. Compared to global approaches, initiatives with a regional
focus – regions are understood here as areas that (a) include all or parts
of more than one nation state and (b) serve as locus for cohesive action by
various stakeholders – can benefit from enhanced commonalities in a
particular environmental challenge, greater familiarity with key actors, and
the ability to tailor mitigative action to a smaller than global
constituency.
The objective of the workshop is to look “beyond Copenhagen” and assess the
state of the art in regional environmental governance. Although there is a
long history of work about regions in different disciplines, a recent review
concluded that (a) the nature of “regions” have mostly been assumed rather
than explained, (b) the substantive focus has largely been international
security and economic integration, and © the dearth of comparative work
has undermined progress both in theory and practice. The proposed workshop
seeks to address these shortcomings through an explicit emphasis on an
interdisciplinary dialogue, encompassing comparative perspectives as well as
practical value.
Abstracts
Abstracts of 400-500 words must be sent as e-mail attachments to
abstracts@reg-observatory.org by January 15, 2010. We especially encourage
submissions by doctoral students and early career researchers in the fields
of political, human, and economic geography; international relations;
international political economy; and political science.
Please indicate the theme(s) your abstract best fits, include up to five
keywords, and omit your name and institutional affiliation from the
attachment. All abstracts will be evaluated in double-blind peer-review by
at least three experts. Notifications will be made on March 1, 2010.
Finalized papers submitted for the workshop will be published in a
proceedings.
For detailed information click here.
