The Resurgence of Sovereignty: Environmental Implications and Pathways for Future Research
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2025
Abstract
From the Publisher
After decades of multilateralism and free trade, economic nationalism is on the rise. Causes include anti-immigrant populism, of the sort that led to Brexit and Trump; geopolitical instability, epitomized by conflict over Ukraine and the South China Sea; and COVID-19’s revelations about supply chain fragility. This retreat from globalization has various implications for environmental law. Decarbonizing economies are ‘reshoring’ industries previously offshored and expanding domestic production of critical technologies and natural resources. Carbon trade measures are being deployed to protect domestic industry and prevent carbon leakage. Subsidy programs for home-produced green technology, like the US Inflation Reduction Act, have prompted governments to seek exemptions from trade arrangements. Scholars of environmental law must evaluate what these developments signify for their field. To assess whether green protectionism will better enable a ‘just transition’, or instead increase cost and conflict, analysts will need to move beyond existing analytical approaches, and specifically to look beyond economic efficiency as the touchstone of effective environmental policy.
Recommended Citation
Huber, Bruce R., "The Resurgence of Sovereignty: Environmental Implications and Pathways for Future Research" (2025). Book Chapters. 183.
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/book_chapters/183
Publication Information
in A Research Agenda for Environmental Law 117 (Josephin van Zeben & Chris Hilson eds., 2025).