2021

Dennis Kolcava: Green Economy Politics

In five papers, my dissertation contributes novel insights on two core questions in green economy politics. First, how are policymakers, whose de jure power reaches only as far as their country’s borders, going to deal with the geographic diffusion of environmental externalities from economic activity via trade and corporate supply chains? Second, to what extent are they going to restrict the activities of firms and other private-sector actors in the process?

The first paper investigates whether trade liberalisation through preferential trade agreements affects the environmental impacts of traded goods between countries. As an entry point to the dissertation it, thus, provides a macro perspective on the geographic diffusion of environmental impacts of economic activity. To get a better understanding of the scope and shape of the political mandates for democratic policymakers to actually reduce those environmental impacts, a closer look at opinions of citizens in the ‘consumer’ economies of the Global North is essential.

Along these lines, the second paper zooms in on citizens’ preferences on regulation of corporate business conduct in Switzerland. Thus, it serves as an entry point to the debate on what combination of government intervention and voluntary environmental action by firms constitutes a politically feasible strategy to green the economy. In particular, the second paper examines how beliefs about corporate behaviour shape citizens’ perceptions of state-private sector relations and regulatory preferences. Consequently, the third paper assesses what modes of environmental governance combining private-sector self-regulation and government oversight citizens are willing to support. Thereby, the paper speaks to recent developments away from ‘either government- or firm-led policy’ towards more synergistic and inclusive (i.e. multi- stakeholder) forms of environmental governance. The fourth paper, examines if public opinion constitutes a societal accountability mechanism of corporate voluntary environmental action. Specifically, the paper investigates whether allegations of greenwashing affect citizens’ attitudes towards voluntary measures by firms, and citizens’ demand for stronger government regulation. Finally, the fifth paper looks into whether voluntary measures by firms can reduce public pressure for the regulation of global corporate supply chains. Thereby, the paper exploits the context of a real-world referendum in Switzerland.

In short, my dissertation highlights the global scope of the challenge to design effective green economy policies (Paper 1). In order to make policies both politically feasible and environmentally effective, governments and private-sector actors will need to cooperate. Accordingly, the dissertation further evaluates the political feasibility of cooperation between firms’ voluntary environmental action and government intervention from a public opinion perspective (Paper 2 and Paper 3). Finally, the dissertation assesses political risks of relying heavily on voluntary environmental action by firms in green economy strategies (Paper 4 and Paper 5).