Environmental Politics

Interest Groups, the Media, and the Making of Policy

At every stage, environmental policy is the result of the combat of stakeholders interested in, and affected by, the problem being addressed and the range of possible solutions. The combatants include any or all of the following: the federal government, environmental advocacy groups, and business, the media, the scientific community, think tanks, NGOs of every stripe, trade associations and professional organizations, and even state and local governments, each of whom have their own interests in the resulting policy.

Environmental Politics: Interest Groups, the Media, and the Making of Policy discusses political battles over the environment from ground level - as they are fought in legislative chambers, the daily newspaper, on television, and, increasingly, on the Internet. The text explores environmental politics as a clash of interests, not ideologies, and environmental policy as a result of the reconciliation of those interests.

The author covers not only the conventional aspects of the policymaking process but more recent and less recognized elements and developments such as:

Proliferation of legislative riders and monument designations as major environmental strategies

Evolving role of the media, from science popularizer to agenda setter

Growing influence on both Congress and the public of conservative and libertarian foundations and think tanks

Devolution of environmental power from the Federal to state governments

Metamorphosis of EPA in a business-driven regulatory revolution

Effect of globalization on US environmental policy

Newly emerging role of the precautionary principle in marrying science and politics

Increasing role of the Internet in promoting populist issues and promoting the decentralization of the environmental power structure

No other book covers the politics of the environment the way this one does. Written by an expert with 25 years of experience in environmental policymaking, Environmental Politics: Interest Groups, the Media, and the Making of Policy gives you an insider's view of how policies are forged. By examining these issues through an interest group lens, this book not only accounts for what policies have been adopted but also shows how you can influence policy and effect change.