ABSTRACT

For as long as humans have existed on planet Earth, they have sought to alter it to suit their purposes (Goudie 2005). In its most basic sense, environmental policy seeks to govern the relationship between humans and their natural environment. A relatively new area of state activity, it has grown enormously, particularly since the 1960s. Indeed, its spectacular rate and extent of growth has been such that it is no longer a small and fairly discrete area of policy, but one which increasingly intrudes into virtually all other policy areas. At its core is an identifiable ‘environmental state’ comprising specific ministries, agencies and organisations whose mandate is to secure environmental improvements.

Underpinning environmental politics is the tense relationship between this state and its opposite numbers representing the social and economic realms. As the sections show, this inherent tension can be better understood first through tracing the historical evolution of environmental policy, then outlining its distinctive characteristics and finally, by identifying its underlying rationales. While this overview would suggest that environmental policy development has resulted in a great deal of state-building, the overall impacts on the state of the environment are not so clear.