ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE: AN EMERGING PUBLIC POLICY ISSUE

ABSTRACT

Environmental justice is a major issue today and of interest to citizens, administrators, and scholars of public administration. In this introduction, we review the emergence of the environmental justice movement and discuss the development of the field by presenting an overview of the literature and existent research on environmental justice. This research has focused to a large extent on siting issues and on the causes and explanations of environmental equity. In particular, five causes or explanations of environmental injustice have been emphasized in the literature: (a) race; (b) economic and market factors; (c) political and administrative issues; (d) attitudinal issues; and (e) post-materialism. We review the major pieces of research and evidence in these areas and compare and contrast the explanations of environmental injustice. for the most part we find that there is considerable controversy over the different explanations and causes of environmental injustice. In the third section of the paper, we highlight some of the issues that have not been explored so far and the unfulfilled gaps, in academic research on environmental justice issues. We conclude by presenting a brief synopsis of the articles in this symposium.     

Strengthening the Link

Abstract

Through exploration of definitional issues and current migration realities, this article discusses ways in which emphasis on the international dimensions of social work with immigrants and refugees offers opportunities to improve practice and to enhance the relevance of international social work to the profession. The international character of present day migration is illustrated through discussion of the transnational family and the economic and other relationships that tie immigrants to their countries of origin. The paper concludes with recommendations for increased cross-national professional collaboration.     

Access to What? Legal Agency and Access to Justice for Indigenous Peoples in Latin America

Abstract

In this paper I issue a call for a primary focus on expanding and strengthening alternative, community-based justice systems, as a strategy for securing the full benefits of legal agency to indigenous and other culturally distinct groups. I do so because what lies within the formal justice system – the very system to which so many well-meaning programmes promise access – is, for these groups and their members, often partial justice at best. Efforts to increase the space governed by autochthonous justice are more likely to produce true legal agency for both the communities and their members, although they raise important issues for included subgroups, such as women or culturally nonconforming groups. Somewhat paradoxically, indigenous groups’ engagement with the very apex of formal systems, through constitutional litigation, has been one avenue for increasing that space, thus reflecting the exercise of collective legal agency in the pursuit of collective and individual legal agency.     

NEW FRONTIERS IN ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

ABSTRACT

This symposium brings together seven papers pertaining to alternative dispute resolution (ADR). ADR, denoting non-judicial means of settling disagreements, has become the dominant mechanism for resolving disagreements. Its expansion should continue, fueled by the inherent deficiencies of the judicial system and by the changing nature of disputed issues that lend themselves more readily to these types of dispute resolution mechanisms. The first three papers focus on resolving environmental and natural resource disputes. These include a survey of American environmental lawyers, a case study of the World Commission on Dams, and a methodology aimed at uncovering “win-win” solutions. The fourth paper analyzes the new mediator training program of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, an American governmental agency which is primarily charged with improving labor-management relations. The final three papers discuss ADR as a community-based approach to resolving civil and criminal justice cases as well as family disputes. These include two case studies of aboriginal dispute resolution systems (one from Canada and one from the United States), and an empirical comparison of forty-four criminal justice dispute resolution systems throughout the world.     

The origins and politics,campaigns and demands by the international fisher peoples’ movement: an Indigenous perspective

Abstract

This reflective contribution discusses the intersection of Indigenous and Small Scale Fisheries’ (SSF) issues, and how the international SSF movement has a critical role in the broader struggle for the convergence of social justice regarding the environment, food and lifeways. I explore some of the political tensions around Indigenous and SSF struggles against global neoliberalisation of land and water resources, some of the successes and challenges of the international SSF movement, and future considerations for academic/activist ‘decolonising’ work.     

Tangled Nets of Discourse and Turbines of Development: Lower Mekong mainstream dam debates

Abstract

Hydropower development on the mainstream of the Mekong River in the Lower Mekong Basin (lmb) has become one of the most pressing issues on the development agenda, being touted as the way forward in solving energy, development and sustainability needs in the region. Despite dominant and compelling arguments in favour of such development, a growing anti-dam lobby has taken to arguing that hydropower development will threaten the economic, social, environmental and food security of some 62 million people living in the lmb. The anti-dam lobby comprises a heterogeneous assemblage of actors, agencies and networks, working to provide critical and alternative geographical (re)imaginations of the lmb. This paper explores these multiple perspectives afforded by the anti-dam lobby through the lens of knowledge production. The anti-dam lobby, it will be seen, engages in a politics of legitimacy and re-scaling with the pro-hydropower lobby, played out through varying strategies, while highlighting urgent and critical knowledge gaps which need to be taken seriously for future development in the lmb.     

Whose world? Development,civil society,development studies and (not only) scholar activists

The current international development discourse focuses much on the Millennium Development Goals (mdgs) as part of a global social contract in support of international cooperation and governance, with the debate on the post-mdgs and the Sustainable Development Goals (sdgs) indicating a shift. These goals are at least in part addressing developmental constraints confronting the world as a result of the effects the dominant growth models have had on limited resources and global goods. Rio+20 was a forum which brought to the fore the conflicting issues at stake and the challenges for any development paradigm seeking to enhance global justice and equality. This article explores the discrepancies between dominant paradigms cultivated in official discourses, on the one hand, and alternatives for another development presented as anti-hegemonic counter-models for survival strategies. It considers the role of civil society agencies and scholar activists in development studies.     

ISSUE DEFINITION AND THE POLITICS OF STATE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE POLICY ADOPTION

ABSTRACT

The past decade has witnessed an explosion of research regarding environmental justice. Nearly all of this research, however, focuses on documenting the proximity and exposure of poor and minority communities to sources of environmental risk. Researchers have yet to assess systematically governmental responses to inequities in the distribution of this risk. Our paper begins to fill this gap by examining the policy responses of state governments to charges of environmental injustice. First, we provide a brief overview of environmental justice policy activity at all levels of government. Second, we discuss how issue definition may help determine the politics of policy adoption in the area of environmental justice, and develop a theory to explain these policy adoptions. Third, we model state policy activity using probit and ordered probit analysis, testing to see whether these responses are best explained by the severity of the environmental justice problem in the state, state racial diversity, state political capacity, or state administrative capacity and evaluating whether these results are more consistent with redistributive or protective regulatory policy. We close by discussing what our results imply for issue definition in environmental justice and the prospects of adequate state policy responses to inequities in the distribution of environmental risk.     

Convergence as political strategy: social justice movements,natural resources and climate change

Abstract

Critical scholars and activists have now been contending with a widely recognised convergence of global crises for a decade. The issues have intersected decisively, with staple food sources proving inaccessible for the world’s poor, banks foreclosing on the most vulnerable, fuel sources causing war and impacting migration, and climate change-related instabilities shaking low-income communities to their core. At the same time, agrarian, environmental, indigenous and fishers’ movements – among others – have used this moment to converge in their own right. This article explores this intertwining of social justice movements with an eye on such interrelated challenges. Its overall objective is, on one side, to provide some broad empirical brushstrokes on the intertwining of transnational social justice movements at the local, national and regional scales as they work with and trade frameworks of food sovereignty and climate justice. On the flip side, this article offers a set of tools to analyse and understand the politics of convergence as political strategy – as a means of advancing global social justice – against the rising tide of climate-related resource grabs.     

Maritime Strategies of Rising Powers: developments in China and Russia

Abstract

This paper seeks to uncover the drivers of maritime strategy formulation in Russia and China, two active players on the international stage that have often been identified as both rising and regional powers. The paper takes as its starting point the realist theory of state power and threat perception, which provide the means and motivation for states to accumulate material capabilities in an effort to safeguard their position in the international system. Given the increasing pressures of a changing security environment, China’s and Russia’s maritime strategies show a trend towards greater complexity and capability. The paper also addresses the impact of the revolution in military affairs ( rma ) and its subsequent manifestation as force transformation in Western states, especially the USA. Given that this new, qualitatively focused way of war has gained supremacy, at least where high-intensity inter-state war is concerned, the question remains of whether the Chinese and Russians will choose to emulate the leading powers in the system or, instead, will forge into the unknown and formulate an entirely different and innovative maritime strategy.     

Recent narcotics and mafia research

Abstract

Research into narcotics‐related issues is underway all over the world. No country can afford to ignore the social and economic consequences of drug production, distribution, consumption, or the laundering of the profits thereof. The article examines recent and ongoing research in Latin America, the United States, the United Kingdom, and within the context of the European Community. Latin American studies relate drug production to wider problems of economic development, whereas typical “consumer country” studies are more concerned with criminological aspects and demand reduction policies. The drugs/crime link is seen to be closely bound up with the illegal context of the drugs market, thus the option for legalization is considered. The economic growth of the Italian mafia is explained. The author describes recent international agreements on money laundering and precursor chemicals, and concludes by stressing the value of international cooperation on all aspects of narcotics research.     

BLACKS JUST DON'T CARE: UNMASKING POPULAR STEREOTYPES ABOUT CONCERN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AMONG AFRICAN-AMERICANS

ABSTRACT

The paper examines how blacks and other less powerful groups have been unfairly portrayed and represented within the public policy debate on environmental issues. The common assumption that blacks are rather shallow in their concern for the environment is one example of this bias. Its validity is assessed under the conditions of the economic contingency hypothesis, which specifies that this apparent lack of concern by blacks should be most evident during periods of economic decline. Previous studies and analyses conducted on NORC General Social Survey trend data do not lend support to this claim. Suggestions are provided to better identify, articulate, and incorporate the views of people of color in environmental policy and its administration.     

Impact of the 1996 Welfare Reform and Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Acts on Caribbean Immigrants

SUMMARY

This paper examines the impact of the 1996 Welfare Reform and Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Acts on Caribbean immigrants in the United States. Drawing from the conceptual framework posited by Dye's (1984) Elite Preference Modelof policy analysis, the author argues that the three laws have created enormous economic and psychological difficulties among families in the United States. Developing countries in the Caribbean region have been severely impacted by the law since they have had to accommodate returning citizens when they are deported under provisions of immigration policies. The question for consideration by this paper is how may the legal and human rights of deportees be balanced against the rights of the U.S. government to secure its borders and ensure the security of its citizens? The paper also addresses issues of immigration, and international relations particularly the north-south dialogue between powerful developed countries such as the United States and small developing states of the Caribbean.     

The International Criminal Court: limits,potential and conditions for the promotion of justice and peace

The International Criminal Court ( icc ) aims to promote not only justice, but also peace. It has been widely criticised for doing neither, yet it has to contend with some severe structural and political difficulties: it has limited resources, it faces institutional restrictions, it is manipulated by states, and it is criticised for an alleged selectivity in the way it dispenses justice. However, the icc could contribute significantly to the promotion of international justice and peace, and have a major impact on the prevention of crime, since its prosecutions represent a clear threat to highly placed individuals who commit serious crimes. While this article concentrates on the work of the icc in Africa, the only continent where it has issued indictments against suspected criminals, it also looks at its efforts on other continents. It argues that, in the larger international context, the contribution of the icc to international justice and peace depends on its institutional power and the support it receives from states, on its own impartial work, and on the way it is perceived by potential criminals and victims in the world.     

What is Restorative Justice? Fresh Answers to a Vexed Question

Abstract

It has become commonplace to say that restorative justice cannot be defined. I argue that restorative justice can and must be defined concretely as a justice mechanism. I develop this argument with four points: (1) restorative justice is not a type of justice, it is a justice mechanism; (2) retributive justice is not a type of justice or a justice mechanism; (3) restorative justice is one of many justice mechanisms under an innovative justice umbrella; and (4) restorative justice can be defined. The way forward is to assess and compare a variety of justice mechanisms, which reside on a continuum from conventional to innovative. In time, the justice mechanisms studied may come to matter more than the concept of restorative justice.     

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND THE EIS: LOW-LEVEL MILITARY FLIGHTS IN CANADA

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the environmental justice of the Canadian military proposal to expand low-level training flights over lands traditionally occupied by the Innu and other aboriginal peoples who practice the last semi-nomadic hunting existence in North America. It reviews the implementation of the EIS process and the environmental justice of the decision. The fairness of the decision depended on how the EIS review was implemented: whether the reviewers and the procedures they followed were fair to the Innu, and whether they acted ethically in deciding to expand low-level military flights. This paper examines the history of the proposal, its two EIS reviews, the actions of the implementing agency, and the justice of the review process.     

Inclusive partners? Internationalising South Korea’s chaebol through corporate social responsibility-linked development cooperation

Abstract

In recent years, non-traditional or ‘emerging’ donors such as South Korea have organised their development cooperation models in a manner that seeks to complement the capacities of the private sector by extending the overseas activities of domestic businesses. To better understand this process, this article examines the role of South Korea’s large, family-led conglomerates (chaebol) in its growing international development sector. In particular, we focus on how the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been used to link the role of its large, and frequently scandal-ridden, private companies to international development, and, by extension, how it has helped to internationalise state–business networks long associated with the Korean developmental state. We examine two strategies through which this has been carried out. The first is by extending the logic of creating shared value (CSV, a derivative of CSR) to aid and infrastructure projects in which chaebol and other state-linked businesses have participated. The second is by directly embedding CSR-based aid initiatives in the value chains of the specific chaebol themselves.     

MOLECULAR BIOMARKERS AS MEASURES OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: A PROPOSED HEALTH-ASSESSMENT PARADIGM

ABSTRACT

Environmental equity and justice is a debate about everyone having equal access to environmental protection. Thus, the goal of environmental justice is to administer the protections afforded by our legal and political systems justly and equally to all individuals and communities, not to distribute pollution. The administration of these protections calls for the measurement of alleged inequitable distributions. The purpose of this article is to review and assess the current methodologies for measuring environmental justice and put forth an argument for a new health-based measurement paradigm. This new paradigm would use the relatively new approach of molecular epidemiology designed to incorporate human dosimetry data into environmental epidemiological studies.     

ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSES TO ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

ABSTRACT

The environmental justice movement challenges public administrators to develop appropriate administrative and policy responses to environmental racism claims. Public administration scholarship has focused little attention on claims of environmental racism and the environmental justice movement, in part as a result of a too narrow conceptualization of racism. The theoretical and empirical literature on racism would be useful in guiding research on environmental racism and contribute to developing effective administrative responses by local, state and federal government.     

The Global South in Environmental Negotiations: the politics of coalitions in redd+

During international environmental negotiations developing countries have commonly employed a unified strategy through the G-77 and China (G-77/China). Compared with other negotiations, such as those on trade and security, this strategy has been relatively successful in securing financial and technical benefits. Unity among developing states is not, however, a characteristic of all environmental negotiations. This paper analyses the case of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation plus conservation ( redd +), where unity has been absent. It argues that the negotiation positions, strategies and coalition politics from 2005 to 2013 have been a result of identifiable power asymmetries among developing states (shifting over time). Some states with vast forest resources have held an effective veto, while others have had considerable moral influence and expert authority. Coalitions have courted such relevant and reputational leaders. At the same time some developing states have had enough diplomatic capacity and economic power to stand alone in negotiations. Taking a broad, historical view of the diverse forest interests and power asymmetries among developing states helps to explain the recent stagnation in negotiations to establish an international redd+ mechanism to mitigate climate change.