Beginning in the inter-war years and ending in the early 1970s, this thesis explains how and why the 'environment' came to play a significant role in mainstream British politics. During this period, a range of rural and urban problems became conceptualised as 'environmental', and governments came to understand their responsibilities not simply in terms of providing basic standards of public health, but also in terms of improving the broader 'quality of life' of all citizens. Chapter two explores rural preservation in the inter-war period, and the passage of town and country planning and National Parks legislation in the 1940s. Chapter three examines air pollution, focusing on the London smog of 1952 and the passage of the 1956 Clean Air Act. Chapter four explores Britain's early nuclear power programme, and shifting attitudes towards modernisation, risk and the countryside in the 1950s and 1960s. Chapter five examines the growth of political interest in 'environmental' problems during the 1960s, and the eventual formation of the Department of the Environment in 1970. Finally, chapter six focuses upon the challenge of traffic in towns, exploring proposals for the construction of a motorway network in London in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The thesis concludes that the 'environment' was established as a field of public policy by the early 1970s. Whereas many existing accounts have emphasised the importance of radical critiques of human interaction with the environment, it is the contention of this thesis that environmental politics in Britain developed in the political mainstream, taking shape amid efforts to address new challenges of governance. The rejection of modernity, in the form of industrialisation, urban life, consumer culture and economic growth, was never more than a minority position within British politics, and successful arguments for environmental protection had to be framed in line with dominant social and economic priorities.

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In a world that is increasingly growing in awareness on the detrimental effects that global warming may have on nature and human population in the short and long run, it seems reasonable to have a look at how the country which is going to be more affected by it in the EU is tackling it. Spain is going to be the country more affected by the increase of global surface temperatures but is going to be the one lagging behind in regards to CO2 reduction as established by the Kyoto Protocol. In order to know the reasons why Spain is at the bottom of the list against global warming among western European countries we have carried out a comparative study with one of the more successful member states on environmental protection in the EU, Germany. By comparing them we wanted to highlight how their different historical past combined with the political choices of their different leaders and participation of their citizens means a lot in their environmental outcome. We have made a research on their historical economic background since after WWII and also had a look at the different government approaches towards the environment and global warming. We have also looked at the evolution of green parties and how the civil society, media and NGOs had a say on this matter. The results we found is that after WWII...

The thesis presented here analyzes the role of the less developed countries in the environmental issues in the United Nations, evaluates their influence, and analyzes the determinants of this influence. Our study assumes certain goal orientations of spokesmen for the less developed countries. These goal orientations are derived from the underdeveloped condition of most of these countries and their continuing political and economic dependence. They attempt to reduce this dependence through demands for radical transformations in the international political economy. This is done through negotiations with spokesmen for the developed countries. The attainment of their objectives constitutes an exercise of influence over their counterparts from the developed countries. The outcomes themselves, for our study, are less important than the interactions, styles,and conversion of political resources into influence. Therefore, it is on the dynamics of the North-South set of international relations that this study focuses. \~ile the environmental negotiations confirm the persistence of a certain stable pattern of demands on the part of the less developed countries, behavioral discontinuities,in terms of methods or style of negotiation, are evident in a review of the negotiations. Spokesmen for the less developed countries seemed to prefer negotiated settlements to majority voting, which is a significant departure from their past negotiating style. Bloc politics, therefore, need not always be incompatible with negotiations. Spokesmen for most of the developed countries were also unusually more accommodating in their responses to the demands of the less developed countries. The dispositions and interests of the former, the latter's preference for bargaining over majority voting, as well as the transnational character of most of the environmental issues, partly made possible the unusual negotiating behavior of both groups of countries. Another significant finding is that the less developed countries (the weak} have some influance on the developed countries (the strong} in negotiations. The determinants of this influence must be sought in factors other than economic, military, scientific-technological, and communication capabilities on the one hand, or majority voting on the other. This corroborates Professor Zartman's suggestion that the role of power must be analyzed in the context of negotiations. Finally, the study presented here indicates that the concept of environmental quality is broader and more complex than the desire to prevent planetary collapse. There is more to be learn~d about environmental politics in the UN than can be gathered from popular literature. Scientists and advocates of environmental control tend to treat the world globally and ignore essential political differences. As much as the durability of planet Earth is being challenged by the ecological issues, a scientific solution which is divorced from the political context of the issues is not likely to be a realistic response to the pressures in the contemporary international political system. The success of the UN environmental program substantially depends on the attitudes and policies of the developed countries. Unless they are prepared to assume additional moral, economic, and financial responsibilities for making the simultaneous pursuit of development and environmental protection goals possible in the less developed parts of the world, a lingering disagreement is more likely to characterize North-South dialogue on the environment. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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At the heart of liberal political theory is a formula for enabling diverse groups to coexist peacefully in spite of their differences. This formula involves seeking broad consensus on certain key political institutions as well as on moral norms against imposing views on others. In recent centuries, this formula has been highly successful. However, it is now under attack from green theorists who claim liberal societies will systematically fail to protect the environment, precipitating a global ecological crisis. The radical societal transformations advocated by these greens diverge from traditional liberal arrangements and seek to entrench green ideas in the foundations of the political order. In this dissertation, I examine how liberals can rebut such proposals without simply dismissing greens and their beliefs. I argue that the most promising route to a satisfactory liberal response is pragmatic in nature, showing that greens have little to gain from radicalism and more to gain from a continued commitment to liberalism. I develop this argument in two complementary ways, demonstrating first that greens have overestimated the likely benefits of their transformational proposals and second that a conciliatory approach in the spirit of liberalism offers great promise for achieving green goals. Ultimately, I contend that even for those who see a crisis on the horizon and worry that liberal societies will not respond appropriately, liberalism remains the best available approach to political life.