Rethinking nongovernmental organizations: Neoliberalism, “nonstate” actors,and the politics of recognition in the United States

This article builds on and contributes to the scholarship on social movements and the law by revealing the critical function of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in law and policy in neoliberal times. Building on frame theories in social movement literature, this essay uses the lens of NGO-produced advocacy for binational same-sex couples to consider more broadly the relationship between individual experience, subjectivity, and the discourses and practices employed by NGO actors. It offers an analysis of both how NGOs developed and utilized particular messaging strategies and rhetorical frames to discursively produce a normative image of their constituency, and how constituents navigated and made use of the framing strategies developed by NGOs in their own claims to state rights and recognition. This discussion thus highlights the potentials and the problematics of the NGO model in social movements' efforts toward legal and political change.     

Investigating the Influence of Non-state Actors on Amendments to the CITES Appendices

Abstract

Non-state actors are playing an increasing role in global environmental governance. Elucidating the modalities and implications of this engagement is important to understanding international policy-making processes. CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, is the primary mechanism for regulating international wildlife trade. It functions by listing species in its Appendices with corresponding trade controls. Accurately listing species in the Appendices is therefore fundamental to the Convention’s effectiveness. We investigate the influence of non-state actors on amending the CITES Appendices using an established framework for assessing NGO influence in international environmental negotiations. We find that non-state actors have been successful in issue framing and agenda setting, and in influencing the position of other actors and final decisions. We also find evidence that NGOs have sought to abuse CITES in pursuit of “campaign” victories, including claiming unwarranted victories, thus undermining NGO legitimacy and accountability. We recommend that the CITES parties seek the most robust science to inform decision-making on proposed amendments to the appendices, which should be broadened to include socioeconomic and economic considerations in order that proposals are evaluated in their real-world context. We further recommend that NGOs should seek to fully understand decision-making in the Convention in order to maximise their legitimate contribution to CITES. Further research is needed to fully elucidate the influence of non-state actors in CITES.     

对优化基层行政执法环境的探讨

行政执法环境是直接或间接地影响或作用于执法活动的环境因素,它决定了执法的难易程度和最终落实程度,直接关系到国家法律法规的正确实施。本文在探讨基层行政执法环境的现状和影响基层行政执法环境因素的基础上,从更新执法理念,追求执法合力,营造和谐的执法环境等方面对优化基层行政执法环境提出建议。     

A Review of “Taking Back Eden: Eight Environmental Cases That Changed the World”

Abstract

The biological aspects of illegal harvests of threatened wildlife are outlined. It is shown that local agriculturalists are beneficiaries of illegal harvesting and that competition from agriculture exacerbates the extinction risk. Illegal harvesting of wildlife is driven by the profitability of the exercise, but law enforcement activity can deter poaching by reducing the associated expected profits. Law enforcement may be unable to limit illegal harvesting to levels threatened populations can sustain as a result of perverse consequences or strategic responses by poachers to law enforcement activity. Poaching activity is sensitive to the beliefs of participants about future prices and the availability of wildlife. Erroneous beliefs result in price collapses being observed. Integrating legal markets with increased local control of wildlife and punitive law enforcement strategies may be the most effective and efficient means to constrain illegal harvests.     

Facilitating and Controlling Civil Society in International Environmental Law

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are typically viewed as one of the essential actors in sustainable development, at both the domestic and international levels. However, despite generally warm international support for NGOs, and pledges to support their inclusion, their involvement is governed by seven considerations, which actively enhance or retard their participation. These considerations relate to (1) whether participation of both international and domestically based NGOs is allowed; (2) NGO qualifications that are required; (3) the level of NGO participation fees; (4) the accreditation vetting process; (5) NGO access to subsidiary bodies; and (6) whether NGO oral contributions and (7) written contributions are permitted. This article seeks to elaborate on these seven considerations and analyse how they are utilized to facilitate and control civil society in international environmental processes.     

The Common Law Clean Up of the ‘Workshop of the World’: More Realism About Nuisance Law's Historic Environmental Achievements

This article examines the environmental benefits arising from compliance with common law nuisance injunctions during the British industrial revolution. It argues, based on the outcomes of industrial nuisance actions involving allegations of serious air and river pollution, that many millions of pounds were invested by corporate polluters in designing and implementing clean technologies within the framework of the common law. Nuisance law was not an unqualified success in the field of environmental protection at this time, but overall the findings contribute to the on‐going critique of the nuisance law histories of Brenner and McLaren, which argue that various limitations of the common law are at the root of modern environmental problems. The discovery of historic practical measures of environmental protection through common law enforcement raises important conceptual, policy, and legal questions for today, and disciplinary questions regarding the rigour of realist legal scholarship concerning the historic performance of the law.     

The Nature and Extent of Conservation Policing: Law Enforcement Generalists or Conservation Specialists?

Little is known about law enforcement agencies with responsibility for fish, wildlife, and natural resource protection. Traditional conceptions of fish and wildlife police associate these officers almost entirely with fishing and hunting activities. The relative scarcity of academic literature regarding fish and wildlife police agencies results in a lack of understanding about their role in the criminal justice system in general. The current study seeks to contribute to the limited existing literature by examining conservation policing in Florida, a state not yet studied in this context, by analyzing some 2,910 field events. Findings indicate that officers devote a considerable portion of their attention to traditional law enforcement activities in addition to the type of enforcement customarily associated with fish and wildlife law enforcement.     

Legal Opportunity Structures and the Paradox of Legal Mobilization by the Environmental Movement in the UK

This article examines the strategic legal activity of the environmental movement in the United Kingdom over the past twenty years. Environmental non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) have increasingly turned to the courts in pursuit of their policy goals, despite significant losses on substantive legal issues, difficulties gaining standing and high costs awarded against them under the “loser pays” system. This presents a puzzle: why does the movement continue to pursue legal action in the face of what activists claim is a hostile legal opportunity structure (LOS)? This study explores this seeming paradox using a single‐country, cross‐temporal comparative approach, an original dataset of legal cases taken by NGOs as well as qualitative case studies of strategic litigation. It highlights the agency the movement exhibits within opportunity structures and suggests that NGOs that use litigation are able to highlight the failings of the existing system and improve future access to justice for themselves and other groups.     

Toxic Atmospheres Air Pollution,Trade and the Politics of Regulation

Air is an essential ingredient for all living things and its properties influence the quality and longevity of life. When polluted, it is estimated that it causes the annual premature death of millions of people and the world-wide damage and destruction of wildlife and natural habitats. This article examines human-made air pollution within a framework of ‘eco-crime’ and Green Criminology. Using original data on air pollution infringements, it critically examines the shortcomings with existing mechanisms of air pollution control, regulation and enforcement in the UK. In doing so, it identifies how Criminology must continue to push new boundaries and engage with emerging harmful acts of both local and global concern.     

Filling the gap? An analysis of non-governmental organizations responses to participation and representation deficits in global climate governance

The involvement of civil society actors such as NGOs is often presented as one possible remedy to shortcomings in the democratic legitimacy and accountability of institutions of earth system governance. This article uses the case of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to show how its constituency of environmental and development NGOs has responded to perceived representation and participation deficits in global climate policy-making. It discusses three types of NGO responses, which could potentially help to bring the voices of affected but marginalized communities to the relevant levels of climate policy-making: firstly, NGO proposals designed to remedy representation inequities among governments; secondly, NGO demands for strengthening opportunities for participation by societal stakeholders at all levels of climate policy-making; and finally, representative practices (based on authorization and accountability) reflected in the NGOs’ own decision-making processes and governance structures. With regard to the first two types of responses, the article finds that the NGOs tend to support broadly similar standards of participation and representation in the climate convention. The analysis of the decision-making processes and governance structure of the Climate Action Network, the constituency focal point for the environment and development NGOs in the climate convention, highlights a number of ways through which the network can legitimately claim to represent a wider constituency. At the same time, however, it is important for NGOs not to underestimate the potential costs of high standards of inclusiveness and representativeness.     

How Law Changes the Environmental Mind: An Experimental Study of the Effect of Legal Norms on Moral Perceptions and Civic Enforcement

This paper examines how different legal instruments affect people's moral intuitions and willingness to engage in social enforcement in the field of environmental law. These instruments vary in terms of their governance technique, the process through which they were enacted, and their allocation of enforcement responsibilities. Their effect on citizens' moral evaluation and emotional reaction to corporate polluting behaviour are examined, based on an experimental survey of a representative sample of 1400 individuals in Israel.
Our findings demonstrate that their design influences people's level of moral and emotional resentment when faced by environmentally problematic behaviour, as well as their motivation to engage in private enforcement. The design of the regulatory instrument could thus generate biases in social reactions to polluting behaviour, irrespective of its actual ecological adverse effect. We analyse the moral and psychological mechanisms which underlie these effects and explore their various policy implications.     

Organizational Social Capital and Performance of Drug Law Enforcement Departments

Supply reduction efforts by drug law enforcement departments are a significant factor in improving the effectiveness of drug control policies. The performance of drug law enforcement departments is one of the most important concerns for policy makers. Therefore, improving the performance of these departments is crucial in order for governments to constrict illegal drug markets and prevent illegal drug distribution. The literature suggests that social capital may have significant impacts on organizational performance. Using survey data from 12 city law enforcement departments in Turkey, this study examines the effects of three social capital dimensions (structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions) on the perceived performance of drug law enforcement departments by using structural equation modeling. The results of this conceptually grounded and empirical study suggest that drug law enforcement departments should pay close attention to promoting social capital among officers in order to fight effectively against drug trafficking.     

Politics,Prisons, and Law Enforcement: An Examination of the Emergence of “Law and Order” Politics in Texas

This article examines the rise of “law and order” politics in Texas, providing an in‐depth archival case study of changes in prison policy in a Southern state during the pivotal period when many U.S. states turned to mass incarceration. It brings attention to the important role an insurgent Republican governor and law enforcement officials played in shaping crime policy. Law enforcement's role is considered within a broader examination of political strategy during a period of intense socioeconomic volatility. The findings suggest that within particular political contexts, especially those with low levels of political participation, law enforcement agents might play a key role in shaping punishment.     

The serpent beguiled me and i did eat: Entrapment and the creation of crime

This paper examines the legitimacy of pro-active law enforcement techniques, i.e. the use of deception to produce the performance of a criminal act in circumstances where it can be observed by law enforcement officials. It argues that law enforcement officials should only be allowed to create the intent to commit a crime in individuals who they have probable cause to suppose are already engaged or intending to engage in criminal activity of a similar nature.     

Sustainable Use of Wildlife Indicators: Formation and Implementation Issues in the Russian Federation

The article explores the legal category of “sustainable use of wildlife” as a model for the behavior of subjects in a legal relationship in the sphere of wildlife use and as a fundamental principle aimed at preserving and restoring the entire biodiversity of wildlife. Based on the analysis of certain legislative provisions concerning wildlife and law enforcement practice, the author justifies the conclusion that there are no criteria and indicators for sustainable use of wildlife in the Russian Federation. Indicators for sustainable use of wildlife, proposed by the author, are an important mechanism for monitoring and influencing the system of sustainable wildlife management, the main tool in assessing the effectiveness of the funds used and the levels of achievement. In the author's opinion, these criteria and indicators would be useful for the development of national programs for the sustainable use of wildlife, providing incentives for the transition to sustainable use. Creating mechanisms of this kind could enhance dialogue with the public and involve them in the process of sustainable use of wildlife objects, with a view to balancing between economic, environmental and social interests.     

Becoming a Game Warden: Motivations for Choosing a Career in Wildlife Law Enforcement

Conservation law enforcement is a type of specialized policing that occurs mostly in rural areas. Game wardens have the primary responsibility of enforcing hunting and fishing laws. Little research exists on the motivations for entering this branch of specialized law enforcement. This study took a qualitative approach to data collection and examined the motivations of Montana state game wardens for choosing a career in wildlife law enforcement. Three main categories for becoming a warden were identified that included a desire to work in the outdoors, a desire to protect natural resources, and other.     

论农村环境保护法的实施机制

法的实施机制关系法的有效性,现行单一化的环境保护法实施机制影响了其有效性的发挥。农村环境保护的现实状况决定了农村环境保护法的实施机制必须从实然的单一化走向应然的多元化,构建共生互补、协调配套的多元化实施机制。     

环保NGO环境公益诉讼主体资格探究

环保NGO作为环境公益诉讼适格主体不仅具有正当性,而且具有可行性.环保NGO要充分发挥其在环境公益诉讼中的重要作用,需要立法给予相应的制度保障,确立环保NGO环境公益诉讼主体资格的合法性,明确环保NGO成为环境公益诉讼主体的适格条件及环保NGO提起环境公益诉讼的模式,建立有利于环保NGO参与环境公益诉讼的相关制度.     

Company Liability and Competition Law: Exposure of Company to Risk of Undesirable Behaviour of Directors

In order to protect the objectives of competition policy, companies as undertakings are primarily targeted for the competition law infringements based on the mixed approach of compliance and deterrence theories relying on the view that company directors are incentivised to comply with the rules of competition law by the internal compliance programmes and corporate fines are the consequences of incompliance. This enforcement strategy gives rise to a tension between corporate governance, company law and competition law, as the former two focus on the behaviour of individuals within the corporate structure, while the latter concerns the impact of the company’s behaviour in the market. The question that arises in this tension is whether or to what extent competition law actually considers the way in which the company is run internally while it seeks to promote these primary objectives. This article analyses the deterrent effectiveness of primary enforcement strategy employed in the UK competition law regime and argues that competition law does not tend to localise the source of conduct or particular decisions and does not aim to correct the right wrongdoer. Despite that lack of effectiveness of public enforcement strategy to deter further anti-competitive behaviour has led individual sanctions to be introduced by the Enterprise Act 2002 and the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 in the UK, companies are still primarily targeted by corporate fines even though directors have intentionally breached the rules of competition law and this strategy is unlikely to deter directors from engaging with undesirable behaviour which exposes the company to risk of liability and loss.

     

Regulation and In-Company Environmental Management in the Netherlands*

This paper addresses the relationship between preventive systems of social control and regulation of the behavior of public bodies and private organizations. Illustrated with material on new developments in self-regulation concerning environmental management in companies in the Netherlands, the author argues that a combination of stimulated (or “regulated”) self-regulation and stringent enforcement policies is feasible and should lead to company compliance with environmental regulation. The article discusses the assertion that to reduce the social distance between government and individual citizen, between regulator and regulated, a mixture of policy instruments is needed, ergo: by involving societal groups of interested people in policy formation and self-regulation, enhancing the creation of normative systems (involvement “by association”) on the one hand and the availability of adequate law enforcement procedures on the other, corporations, through responsive government regulation, could promote an adequate and successful preventive system of social control.