The Globalization of Side Effects

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tiveness, and their desirability. The two alternative political models will be
elaborated in more detail in chapter 5; in the remainder of this chapter, I will
pay particular attention to the critics of the two alternatives.
Sub-Statist Institutions as Solution?
Sub-statist answers to the shortcomings and failures in environmental management and control by nation-states hinge on bringing together the various parties and interests involved in environmental breakdown at the
sub-national level. The basic idea behind sub-statism is that the structures
and institutions that alienate people from their natural environment as well
as from their fellow citizens can only be overcome by downscaling the interdependent relationships to sub-national levels. The majority of sub-statist
ideas have their roots at least partly in the pre-globalization era, and it seems
that globalizing tendencies have not made them much stronger. Largely in
line with earlier analyses, such as Frankels (1987), Wapner (1995) identifies five objections to sub-statism:
If these solutions work they will take considerable time to become effective, and it is doubtful whether sufficient time is available.
Sub-statist models will create opportunities for small areas of the land or
territory, but it remains unclear who will be responsible for the relationship
between the parts, the whole, and the entire planet.
Human activity is becoming more global rather than more local in scope,
which sheds doubt on the adequacy of local solutions.
It seems highly unlikely that nation-states will relinquish their authority
to sub-statist organizations and/or authorities.
Sub-statist ideas and models assume that people are essentially cooperative and ecologically mindful but that global (capitalist) structures and institutions alienate them. (This assumption is questionable according to Wapner.)
The concept of sub-politics is of rather recent origin and its emergence is
often attributed to the failures of the traditional political (and scientific) institutions in the face of globalization. We have argued before (Hogenboom et
al. 2000) that state involvementespecially but not only in the field of the
environmentis criticized and bypassed by environmental sub-politics
outside the traditional institutions in those cases where governmental environmental policies remain restricted to natural science definitions of environmental problems and risks, leaving questions of public perceptions, norms
and values unaddressed, are immobilized by internal conflicts of interest and
legitimization or by stagnating international engagements, remain restricted