Kate O'Neill
Assistant Professor
Division of Resource Institutions, Policy, and Management
129 Giannini Hall    642-3747
koneill@nature.berkeley.edu

Research Interests

My research can be broadly situated in the fields of global and comparative environmental politics. I am interested in the ways different environmental political cultures produce differing policy outputs, and in how these subsequently affect and are affected by the international arena. My research so far has addressed the international trade in hazardous wastes, especially among OECD countries, developing an institutional theory of regulatory differences to explain why some countries (e.g. Britain, France) legally import more hazardous wastes than others (such as Germany, Australia and Japan).

The sorts of factors that I examine in the comparative context include: how and why relations among different stakeholders in environmental debates are shaped from country to country; how administrative structures and relations between national and sub-national governments affect policy; the changing roles and strategies of environmental movements in broader political contexts; and the factors driving environmental policy change in advanced industrialized countries (in particular focusing on ecological modernization theory). However, none of these factors can be viewed in isolation from the international, or transnational sphere of politics. Here, in addition to concerns about the formation and implementation of international environmental agreements, it is important to address the growing role of international actors, both governmental (such as the European Union and the UNEP) and non-governmental (e.g. NGO networks), and the increased importance of the globalized economy.

Current Projects

Current projects include:

1. Further research on international hazardous and nuclear waste management and the waste trade, focusing on national constraints on waste management, extending analysis to the US and to emerging and transitional economies. I am also working on international cooperation over the management of spent nuclear reactor fuel.

2. Environmental policy change in advanced industrialized countries: looking at how policy change, while still following distinctive national lines, has been influenced by changes in international and domestic political contexts, in particular, the growing permeability of international borders, and the growing role across many countries of the private sector in environmental management, integrating insights from across different disciplines and comparing two theoretical frameworks - ecological modernization theory and regulatory harmonization theory to see how they help us understand these issues. Some of the pertinent questions are: Is environmental policy becoming more or less participatory across countries? How can we understand the diffusion of policy ideas across countries and their re-adaptation in different national contexts? How can we reintegrate the different scholarly and policy debates that are occurring in the US and in Europe?

Selected Publications

"Waste Trading Among Rich Nations: Building a New Theory of Environmental Regulation",  Cambridge: MIT Press (2000)

"International Nuclear Waste Transportation: Flashpoints, Lessons and Controversies", Environment 41.4:12-15, 34-39 (1999)

"Out of the Backyard: Managing Hazardous Wastes on a Global Scale", Journal of Environment and Development 7:2, pp.138-163 (June 1998)

"Regulations as Arbiters of Risk: Great Britain, Germany, and the Hazardous Waste Trade in Western Europe", International Studies Quarterly 41:7, pp.687-718 (December 1997)
 

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