Rooted in legal theory and environmental studies, this thesis aims to (re)define the ‘population problem’ and related regulatory resolutions in constructive and clear terms, within a broad concept of 'law’. Green legal theory, wicked problem theory, and legal pluralism viewed from a wide-angle, first-person perspective, are applied together. To control birth rates and consumption demands in Canada/America, state-made laws are not central. We are ruled by rules: Certain law-like non-state rules aim to prod procreation and consumption ever-upward. Materially speaking, Can-American population numbers and consumption/waste form one inseparable factor relevant to global ecological degradation, and ‘legally’ speaking, specific religious doctrine amounts to 'population-UP control' and specific economic dogma 'consumption-UP control'. Together, these material and ‘legal’ factors form a wicked problem called ‘population demands.’ This problem formulation points away from state-made resolutions. Instead, the author recommends deconstructing degrading rules from the bottom-up and, in relation to consumption-UP control, reforming social norms. / Graduate / 0398 / 0768 / 0938

This paper is a law thesis that is based on a combined theoretical framework of Green Legal Theory (GLT) and Theories of International Regimes (TIR). GLT has a broad conception of ‘law’. It is based on the argument that ‘laws’ exist at different levels and in different forms, and that ‘legal laws’ are themselves manifestations of regulatory dynamics that are embedded in institutions and processes; and cultural logics that generate and support those laws. TIR examines the negotiation, development, formation, and sustenance of international regimes. The paper is a critical analysis of, especially, the combined effects of capitalist laws and the liberal democratic system of state-based governance. This allows me to highlight the underlying factors/dynamics that are responsible for the continuing inability to address climate change because of the mandated pursuit of energy security (i.e. the regulatory imperative). The analysis revolves around four key global actors, which are the multinational corporations (MNCs), the state, civil society (Non-governmental Organizations), and global institutions. First, I discuss the growing economic and political powers of MNCs in a liberalized and deregulated system, and establish the need for a better regulatory system. Second, I criticize the territorial sovereignty principle and deconstruct the contemporary system of national governance, while highlighting the need to relax the Westphalian system for global constitutionalism. Third, I analyze two approaches to globalization, and make a case against ‘globalization from above’ while arguing for ‘globalization from below’. I also highlighted the crucial role non-governmental organizations have begun to play in global governance. Fourth, I make a critical analysis of inter-state relations in global institutions to show the underlying factors that have compromised the level of cooperation needed to address the conundrum. Finally, based on all of the issues that I analyze in the paper, I propose some foundational principles, and a specific strategy, that would help to propel the needed re-form in global governance, to help to restore its ability to address global problems / Graduate / 0398 / 0616 / ikulasi@yahoo.com