Date of Defense
7-18-2024
Date of Graduation
6-2024
Department
Economics
First Advisor
Gunther Hega
Second Advisor
Thomas Kostrzewa
Abstract
When it comes to the protection of water sources, the relationships between stakeholders around the Great Lakes region and the Lake Constance region differ remarkably. This is due to a variety of different reasons, the biggest reason being the major differences between the political norms of these two areas. During the 1960’s and 1970’s the relations between America and Canada and their respective ecological coalition groups were very different from those between Germany, Switzerland, Austria and their coalition groups. These differences resulted in a distinct evolution in the formation and handling of Transnational Advocacy Coalitions, or parapublic institutions, in the two regions. This paper tries to focus on what those differences are, and to better understand why they lead to different outcomes in these two areas. This will be accomplished mainly through literature reviews of legal documents, cultural documents, and other various sources of context and information about these two specific areas. The largest findings from my literature analysis is that of networks, and these Transnational Advocacy Coalitions, and how they are dealt with by government bodies. Overall, Germany, Austria and Switzerland are much more receptive to the singular Transnational Advocacy Coalition of the Lake Constance area, allowing for much more efficient messaging and policymaking in this area. Canada and the United States struggle to a certain extent to create a strong relationship with the Transnational Advocacy Coalitions around the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes region is also much more difficult to understand and to work with due to the fact that there is no singular coalition in the area, but rather a massive plurality comprised of both massive and miniature groups. The institutions around the Great Lakes region struggle to interact with one another, and the two national governments that oversee the stewardship of this area caused by various problems of institution building and political norms.
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Thomas, "American and German Environmental Policy: Differences in Institution Building between the Great Lakes and Lake Constance" (2024). Honors Theses. 3873.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses/3873
Access Setting
Honors Thesis-Open Access
Defense Presentation