Book Review

by Paul Ganderton

Hanf K. and Jansen A-I. 1998. eds. Governance and Environment in Western Europe. Longman. pp vi + 334. ISBN 0 582 36820 0.

The integration of EU policy often seems to assume a common tradition amongst EU nations. This, as the book clearly demonstrates, is not the case. What seems to be happening is that rather than a continuation there is more of a gradual convergence of thinking. The editors start with an overview of the development of policy and provide us with a framework for considering the national reviews that follow. From this mixture of theory and practice the authors put forward their own national reviews covering most of the EU nations: UK, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden. A penultimate chapter summarises the growth of EU policy whilst the concluding chapter seeks to draw some theoretical strands from the cases presented.

This book is useful because of the brief overviews it presents. More accessible than the OECD series of environmental reviews it attempts to show how policy has been derived and how the existing strands could be woven together as a regional initiative. Although more advanced students of environmental politics would need more data, his book allows the beginner a chance to gain some understanding of the process. Given the range of senior school courses emphasising environmental issues (from science to foreign languages) this book could be a useful addition to the library.