Rethinking global environmental policy: From global governance to transnational neopluralism

Originally focused on seeking policy solutions through international cooperation, transnational administration, and global governance, the study of global environmental policy has become increasingly diverse and fragmented. Complex, crosscutting variables ranging from a wider constellation of non-state actors to diverse critical perspectives, along with a focus on narrower sub-fields and the changing nature of environmental challenges themselves, have left the field in a state of flux. A broader, more process-oriented explanatory framework is needed. Institutionalist, global governance and civil society approaches, as well as middle-range concepts such as policy networks, are insufficient, while critical analyses, although a step in the right direction, are overly deterministic. Transnational neopluralism, which focuses on struggles for power and influence among material interest groups, social movements, and political actors in diverse issue-areas, provides a more robust framework for developing a more insightful research agenda and more constructive policy-making strategies in an increasingly complex and interdependent world.