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)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/15675 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Nyamekye, Stephen Kwasi |
| Contributors | Winham, Gilbert R., Political Science |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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