Introduction

This volume brings together perspectives from economics, business management, and political science to produce a critical assessment of the current state of knowledge regarding environmental governance, in contrast to government. In this chapter, I describe recent achievements in this field of study and identify cutting-edge questions for future research. I turn first to the challenge of providing analytic distinctions of governance and those associated with the assessment of the effectiveness of environmental governance as an alternative to government. Next, I examine the various incentive mechanisms at play within alternative environmental governance mechanisms. Finally, I discuss how we can sharpen our understanding of the conditions under which specific types of environmental governance are likely to prove effective.

Analytic distinctions of governance

Our first objective was to identify the principal types or forms of environmental governance. The aim was to develop a set of analytic distinctions that allow us to think systematically about alternative mechanisms for the supply of governance and that provide a common terminology to guide research and discussion in this area.

Actors and governance

The authors of this volume have provided several definitions of governance, which range from general definitions encompassing the entire spectrum of environmental governance to more restrictive definitions focused on specific aspects of environmental governance, or the actors involved in environmental governance. Oran Young defines governance as “a social function centered on efforts to guide or steer societies toward collectively beneficial outcomes and away from outcomes that are collectively harmful” (Young, Chapter 1, this volume).