Coping with Accession to the European Union - New Modes of Environmental Governance

This book explores the role of new modes of governance in helping future member states to cope with their accession to the European Union. The authors demonstrate that the accession countries of the Southern and Eastern enlargements have lacked two fundamental preconditions for the emergence and effectiveness of new modes of governance: state and non-state actors with sufficient resources to engage in non-hierarchical coordination to improve the effectiveness of public policy. This 'governance capacity' has been largely taken for granted by the governance literature since it has almost exclusively focused on Western democracies. The double weakness of transition countries results in a serious dilemma for governance research and practice alike – the stronger the need for non-hierarchical modes of governance, the less favourable are the conditions for their emergence and effectiveness.

Introduction; T.A.Börzel New Modes of Governance and Accession: The Paradox of Double Weakness; T.A.Börzel Environmental Policy: The Challenge of Accession; T.A.Börzel Greece: Overcoming Statism in Environmental Governance?; C.Koutalakis Portugal: The Challenges of Environmental Governance and the Realities of Government; A.M.Fernández& N.Font Spain: When Government Welcomes Environmental Governance; A.M.Fernández& N.Font Hungary: The Tricky Path of Building Environmental Governance; A.Buzogány Poland: When Environmental Governance Meets Politics; S.Guttenbrunner Romania: Environmental Governance – Form without Substance; A.Buzogány After Accession: Escaping the Low Capacity Trap?; T.A.Börzel