Andrea K. Gerlak

Learning is critical for our capacity to govern the environment and adapt proactively to complex and emerging environmental issues. Yet, underlying barriers can challenge our capacity for learning in environmental governance. As a result, we often fail to adequately understand pressing environmental problems or produce innovative and effective solutions. This Element synthesizes insights from extensive academic and applied research on learning around the world to inform both research and practice. We distill the social and structural features of governance to help researchers and practitioners better understand, diagnose, and support learning and more adaptive responses to environmental problems.

Learning is critical for our capacity to govern the environment and adapt proactively to complex and emerging environmental issues. Yet, underlying barriers can challenge our capacity for learning in environmental governance. As a result, we often fail to adequately understand pressing environmental problems or produce innovative and effective solutions. This Element synthesizes insights from extensive academic and applied research on learning around the world to inform both research and practice. We distill the social and structural features of governance to help researchers and practitioners better understand, diagnose, and support learning and more adaptive responses to environmental problems.

This groundbreaking study maps out and analyzes the development of a global intergovernmental (IGO) institutional architecture in the post World War II era. Systematically traces similarities and differences between the institutional architecture of the Cold War and post-Cold War erasExamines the range of reasons why states join IGOs, identifies patterns of participation within these organizations, and examines the effects of membership on statesConsiders the impact of the EU on other regional organizations and developments outside EuropeProvides a strong contribution to the study of international organization and IGO development combining both quantitative and qualitative methodologies