With law the product of a shifting pattern of policies and powers at the international and domest... more With law the product of a shifting pattern of policies and powers at the international and domestic levels, an understanding is required that transcends mere legal formalism. Before turning to a legal analysis of the IWC, a few conclusions and recommendations concerning its political underpinnings at the international and national levels should be highlighted. At the national government level, we have seen how economic interests have motivated states in their attitudes toward whales and whaling. Initially, the lure of new national income and employment, combined with pressure exerted by fisheries interests, encourages entry into the business and exploitation of the "resource." Many whale populations are so depleted that they no longer provide this lure, although it still exists for some coastal cetacean populations and is also a serious enticement in the Antarctic for those nations anxious to harvest krill.37 2 After the investment has been made, government policy emanates from the desire to protect that investment. This concern is heightened by the resulting dependence of benefited groups. Since scientific certainty lags behind the economic pressures, the only safe course is to control exploitation in advance. The issue that has been at the heart of the history of the IWC is the need to redress at a structural level the imbalance between economic and environmental considerations in decisionmaking. At the international level, a restructuring of the IWC is desirable. But such a development will not take place unless basic changes first occur within states. The foregoing study of the problems in whale conservation points to a number of changes that would be beneficial. First, a successful program of economic and environmental control demands that the present process of representative government be redesigned to be more open and accessible to representatives of noneconomic interests. A simple yet effective way to remedy the current economic-environmental imbalance is to enact legislation facilitating public input into decisions wherever the public interest is affected.373 The objective of such legislation should be to redirect economic and bureaucratic management towards participatory and demo372. See text accompanying notes 431-40 infra. 373. By legislating to improve popular involvement in decisionmaking, the government could help transform "pressure group" activity into a more broadly based form of participation-indeed into a new structure of government. This strategy would allow for gradual generation of alternatives through democratic debate, rather than the imposition by government of a rigid concept of an alternative society. Unfortunately, faith in technocratic competence has not yet been shaken by events that point to its weaknesses. Even so, as popular demands for self-determination in the face of centralized economic and bureaucratic decisionmaking grow, so does the possibility of confrontation. The author urges legal scholars to consider the legal and political mechanics of an "ecological transition." If decentralized participatory structures can be accepted as one path to a stable polity, issues which must be addressed include accountability, funding, administra19801 ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY cratic decisionmaking. Not only would this change increase bureaucratic accountability at all levels but it would aid government leaders in resisting the narrow, short-term pressures of economic interests. Access to information, participation in bureaucratic decisions, rights of legislators to demand hearings, public participation on international delegations-these are a few areas where the national governments are greatly underdeveloped. This failure is most evident in the regulation of whaling, about which only the United States has demonstrated any degree of openness. Even in those countries with a parliamentary system, the centralized, hierarchical nature of that system has made democratic control of bureaucratic actors and participation in governmental policymaking difficult. In still other IWC nations, no process for public participation in decisions concerning the whale issue
This book introduces readers to the discipline of ecological political economy, an approach that ... more This book introduces readers to the discipline of ecological political economy, an approach that aims at a theoretical synthesis of nature, production and power relations. At its heart is a critical appreciation of the social institutions and organizations that can provide the basis for strong environmental sustainability.
This paper is being written as the implications of September 11 continue to reverberate worldwide... more This paper is being written as the implications of September 11 continue to reverberate worldwide, its consequences going who knows where. Nothing, we are told, will be the same again. One aspect of this change will be how we think about international society, including its legal character. In this quest to understand international law in this changing, and uncertain, context, this paper posits a different sort of analysis, one that addresses the dialectical tension between globalism and territorialism. Globalism describes the emerging globally comprehensive legal (and political and economic) regime organized around expanding forms of centralized power. In contrast, territorialism describes an incipient movement to support a diversity of social and physical realms of authority rooted in a geographic tapestry of self-maintaining forms of place-based power. Both terms describe competing forces of social organization such as customary versus bureaucratic forms of regulation. These forc...
Introduction ................................................... 234 A Note on Method .............. more Introduction ................................................... 234 A Note on Method ....................................... 237 I. The Foundations of the Market/Legal State ............... 240 A. The Rational Consciousness in a Disenchanted World. 242 B. Positivism: The Philosophy of Technique ............. 243 C. The New Alchemy: Society and Nature as Commodities ......................................... 245 D. Economics: Abstraction from the Real World ........ 246 E. The Centralization of Control ......................... 248 II. The Structure of the Market/Legal State .................. 250 A. The Macro Structure: The Power Economy Emerges.. 250 B. The Micro Structure: The World of the Professionals . 253 C. The Momentum of Power: Growth and Regulation ... 254 III. The Crises of the Market/Legal State ...................... 258 A. Wealth: Its Sources and Costs ........................ 259 B. Energy, Agriculture, and the Prodigal Society ......... 260 C. Centralization and Alie...
Commentary: Patricia Marchak Commentary: Michael Church Reply: Cheri Burda, Fred Gale, and Michae... more Commentary: Patricia Marchak Commentary: Michael Church Reply: Cheri Burda, Fred Gale, and Michael M'Gonigle
Green thinking has been established both in theory and practice in Europe for decades, far ahead ... more Green thinking has been established both in theory and practice in Europe for decades, far ahead of North America. Few on the western side of the Atlantic understand that "green” is much more than just progressive public policy. It is about a new social framework.
Canadian Yearbook of international Law/Annuaire canadien de droit international, 1990
SommaireBien que la pollution marine d'origine tellurique soit de loin la plus importante sou... more SommaireBien que la pollution marine d'origine tellurique soit de loin la plus importante source de pollution marine, ce problème n'occupe pas une place dominante dans la réglementation internationale en matière d'environnement. Cet article examine les tentatives de réglementation de la pollution d'origine tellurique et fait des propositions pour son élaboration future. Il soutient principalement que la réglementation de la pollution d'origine tellurique a un impact direct d'une telle importance sur les objectifs économiques nationaux qu'il nous faut concevoir une nouvelle forme d'intégration du droit international de l'environnement et du développement économique international, si l'on veut réussir à contrôler cette forme de pollution. La Conférence des Nations Unies sur l'environnement et le développement ayant lieu bientôt, le temps est propice à l'action innovatrice.L'article étudie en premier lieu le droit coutumier applicable...
review of cases concerning the relationship between the Bill of Rights and the Indian Act shows j... more review of cases concerning the relationship between the Bill of Rights and the Indian Act shows judicial confusion. The author analyzes the three major Supreme Court of Canada decisions and shows how "equality before the law" has been defined. He then applies the American "reasonable classification" test to the relationship by identifying the purpose of the above Acts to see if they apply to all persons who are similarly situated with respect to the said purpose. Mr. M'Gonigle concludes that the test is applicable to distinguish between discriminatory exercise of statutory power and one which reflects concern for the Indians, and further suggests the manner in which the three cases and all future cases should be judicially approached.
Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 2007
More than a decade ago, the avant-garde American composer, Philip Glass, released a film that fea... more More than a decade ago, the avant-garde American composer, Philip Glass, released a film that featured a lengthy barrage of dizzying, frenetic images—cars racing along congested freeways, buildings being constructed and demolished, assembly lines spewing out new products. An elegy to a society run amok, the film was entitled, Koyaanisquatsi, a Native American Hopi term meaning ‘life out of balance’. The theme of society both out of balance and out of control is omnipresent today. It is especially apt in describing our relations with the natural world which call for a fundamental shift in our values and institutions.
Abstract Many Canadian communities are facing resource depletion and high unemployment as a resul... more Abstract Many Canadian communities are facing resource depletion and high unemployment as a result of a model of economic development which has consistently promoted large capital‐intensive, resource‐based companies. A new model of sustainable community development is required which incorporates ecological, economic and social concerns. One aspect of sustainable community development is the use and promotion of locally‐based and controlled financing mechanisms, including community loan funds, community bonds, and peer lending circles providing micro‐credit. Widely successful across the USA and Canada, these ‘alternative’ financing mechanisms use local control and a proximity to local ecosystems to foster small businesses which are less resource‐intensive and create long‐term jobs within communities. Improving these financing tools through broader government facilitation of them as innovative public policy instruments, and the incorporation of specific ecological lending and investment screens, could drama...
With law the product of a shifting pattern of policies and powers at the international and domest... more With law the product of a shifting pattern of policies and powers at the international and domestic levels, an understanding is required that transcends mere legal formalism. Before turning to a legal analysis of the IWC, a few conclusions and recommendations concerning its political underpinnings at the international and national levels should be highlighted. At the national government level, we have seen how economic interests have motivated states in their attitudes toward whales and whaling. Initially, the lure of new national income and employment, combined with pressure exerted by fisheries interests, encourages entry into the business and exploitation of the "resource." Many whale populations are so depleted that they no longer provide this lure, although it still exists for some coastal cetacean populations and is also a serious enticement in the Antarctic for those nations anxious to harvest krill.37 2 After the investment has been made, government policy emanates from the desire to protect that investment. This concern is heightened by the resulting dependence of benefited groups. Since scientific certainty lags behind the economic pressures, the only safe course is to control exploitation in advance. The issue that has been at the heart of the history of the IWC is the need to redress at a structural level the imbalance between economic and environmental considerations in decisionmaking. At the international level, a restructuring of the IWC is desirable. But such a development will not take place unless basic changes first occur within states. The foregoing study of the problems in whale conservation points to a number of changes that would be beneficial. First, a successful program of economic and environmental control demands that the present process of representative government be redesigned to be more open and accessible to representatives of noneconomic interests. A simple yet effective way to remedy the current economic-environmental imbalance is to enact legislation facilitating public input into decisions wherever the public interest is affected.373 The objective of such legislation should be to redirect economic and bureaucratic management towards participatory and demo372. See text accompanying notes 431-40 infra. 373. By legislating to improve popular involvement in decisionmaking, the government could help transform "pressure group" activity into a more broadly based form of participation-indeed into a new structure of government. This strategy would allow for gradual generation of alternatives through democratic debate, rather than the imposition by government of a rigid concept of an alternative society. Unfortunately, faith in technocratic competence has not yet been shaken by events that point to its weaknesses. Even so, as popular demands for self-determination in the face of centralized economic and bureaucratic decisionmaking grow, so does the possibility of confrontation. The author urges legal scholars to consider the legal and political mechanics of an "ecological transition." If decentralized participatory structures can be accepted as one path to a stable polity, issues which must be addressed include accountability, funding, administra19801 ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY cratic decisionmaking. Not only would this change increase bureaucratic accountability at all levels but it would aid government leaders in resisting the narrow, short-term pressures of economic interests. Access to information, participation in bureaucratic decisions, rights of legislators to demand hearings, public participation on international delegations-these are a few areas where the national governments are greatly underdeveloped. This failure is most evident in the regulation of whaling, about which only the United States has demonstrated any degree of openness. Even in those countries with a parliamentary system, the centralized, hierarchical nature of that system has made democratic control of bureaucratic actors and participation in governmental policymaking difficult. In still other IWC nations, no process for public participation in decisions concerning the whale issue
This book introduces readers to the discipline of ecological political economy, an approach that ... more This book introduces readers to the discipline of ecological political economy, an approach that aims at a theoretical synthesis of nature, production and power relations. At its heart is a critical appreciation of the social institutions and organizations that can provide the basis for strong environmental sustainability.
This paper is being written as the implications of September 11 continue to reverberate worldwide... more This paper is being written as the implications of September 11 continue to reverberate worldwide, its consequences going who knows where. Nothing, we are told, will be the same again. One aspect of this change will be how we think about international society, including its legal character. In this quest to understand international law in this changing, and uncertain, context, this paper posits a different sort of analysis, one that addresses the dialectical tension between globalism and territorialism. Globalism describes the emerging globally comprehensive legal (and political and economic) regime organized around expanding forms of centralized power. In contrast, territorialism describes an incipient movement to support a diversity of social and physical realms of authority rooted in a geographic tapestry of self-maintaining forms of place-based power. Both terms describe competing forces of social organization such as customary versus bureaucratic forms of regulation. These forc...
Introduction ................................................... 234 A Note on Method .............. more Introduction ................................................... 234 A Note on Method ....................................... 237 I. The Foundations of the Market/Legal State ............... 240 A. The Rational Consciousness in a Disenchanted World. 242 B. Positivism: The Philosophy of Technique ............. 243 C. The New Alchemy: Society and Nature as Commodities ......................................... 245 D. Economics: Abstraction from the Real World ........ 246 E. The Centralization of Control ......................... 248 II. The Structure of the Market/Legal State .................. 250 A. The Macro Structure: The Power Economy Emerges.. 250 B. The Micro Structure: The World of the Professionals . 253 C. The Momentum of Power: Growth and Regulation ... 254 III. The Crises of the Market/Legal State ...................... 258 A. Wealth: Its Sources and Costs ........................ 259 B. Energy, Agriculture, and the Prodigal Society ......... 260 C. Centralization and Alie...
Commentary: Patricia Marchak Commentary: Michael Church Reply: Cheri Burda, Fred Gale, and Michae... more Commentary: Patricia Marchak Commentary: Michael Church Reply: Cheri Burda, Fred Gale, and Michael M'Gonigle
Green thinking has been established both in theory and practice in Europe for decades, far ahead ... more Green thinking has been established both in theory and practice in Europe for decades, far ahead of North America. Few on the western side of the Atlantic understand that "green” is much more than just progressive public policy. It is about a new social framework.
Canadian Yearbook of international Law/Annuaire canadien de droit international, 1990
SommaireBien que la pollution marine d'origine tellurique soit de loin la plus importante sou... more SommaireBien que la pollution marine d'origine tellurique soit de loin la plus importante source de pollution marine, ce problème n'occupe pas une place dominante dans la réglementation internationale en matière d'environnement. Cet article examine les tentatives de réglementation de la pollution d'origine tellurique et fait des propositions pour son élaboration future. Il soutient principalement que la réglementation de la pollution d'origine tellurique a un impact direct d'une telle importance sur les objectifs économiques nationaux qu'il nous faut concevoir une nouvelle forme d'intégration du droit international de l'environnement et du développement économique international, si l'on veut réussir à contrôler cette forme de pollution. La Conférence des Nations Unies sur l'environnement et le développement ayant lieu bientôt, le temps est propice à l'action innovatrice.L'article étudie en premier lieu le droit coutumier applicable...
review of cases concerning the relationship between the Bill of Rights and the Indian Act shows j... more review of cases concerning the relationship between the Bill of Rights and the Indian Act shows judicial confusion. The author analyzes the three major Supreme Court of Canada decisions and shows how "equality before the law" has been defined. He then applies the American "reasonable classification" test to the relationship by identifying the purpose of the above Acts to see if they apply to all persons who are similarly situated with respect to the said purpose. Mr. M'Gonigle concludes that the test is applicable to distinguish between discriminatory exercise of statutory power and one which reflects concern for the Indians, and further suggests the manner in which the three cases and all future cases should be judicially approached.
Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 2007
More than a decade ago, the avant-garde American composer, Philip Glass, released a film that fea... more More than a decade ago, the avant-garde American composer, Philip Glass, released a film that featured a lengthy barrage of dizzying, frenetic images—cars racing along congested freeways, buildings being constructed and demolished, assembly lines spewing out new products. An elegy to a society run amok, the film was entitled, Koyaanisquatsi, a Native American Hopi term meaning ‘life out of balance’. The theme of society both out of balance and out of control is omnipresent today. It is especially apt in describing our relations with the natural world which call for a fundamental shift in our values and institutions.
Abstract Many Canadian communities are facing resource depletion and high unemployment as a resul... more Abstract Many Canadian communities are facing resource depletion and high unemployment as a result of a model of economic development which has consistently promoted large capital‐intensive, resource‐based companies. A new model of sustainable community development is required which incorporates ecological, economic and social concerns. One aspect of sustainable community development is the use and promotion of locally‐based and controlled financing mechanisms, including community loan funds, community bonds, and peer lending circles providing micro‐credit. Widely successful across the USA and Canada, these ‘alternative’ financing mechanisms use local control and a proximity to local ecosystems to foster small businesses which are less resource‐intensive and create long‐term jobs within communities. Improving these financing tools through broader government facilitation of them as innovative public policy instruments, and the incorporation of specific ecological lending and investment screens, could drama...
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