In this chapter, I seek to develop a theoretical account of how various elements of the NAFTA regime may affect domestic policy processes and outcomes in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, with a particular focus on the environment as an illustrative issue area. To this end, I draw...

The existing approach of states to the global objective of sustainable development evinces a clear failure to address acts and conduct that are unsustainable in fundamental ways. Populations around the world are experiencing the contamination of their freshwater sources and critical ecosystems,...

For over a generation, government, business, and non-governmental organizations have been increasingly turning to “market mechanisms” to promote sustainable forestry around the world. In contrast to traditional “command and control” approaches in which governments require and enforce a...

Since 2013, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been urging countries around the world to adopt ambitious climate change policies so as to avoid a global temperature increase of more than 2oC during this century. Answering this call, we formed the Sustainable Canada Dialogues, an...

This introduction situates the contributions to this special issue within the broader legal and scholarly developments that concern the relationship between public participation and climate governance. It begins by discussing the origins and scope of the principle of public participation in...

Sustainable development is a contested concept in international law. There is a general consensus on its core features, but disagreement remains as to its nature and status as a principle of international law. Such debates raise fundamental issues in legal theory that can be examined afresh in...

Since the mid-2000s, a growing number of governments, international bodies and experts, and courts have increasingly recognized the importance of a rights-based approach to climate decision-making. By focusing on the impacts of climate change on the rights of individuals, communities, and...

In this essay, the author examines the question of the legitimacy of the Security Council. The author defines legitimacy as the justification of authority and focuses on legitimacy of Council procedure. He scrutinizes three influential normative theories of international legitimation present in...