This year’s Harold and Margaret Sprout Award of the International Studies Association (ISA) for the best book in international environmental affairs is awarded to our Research Fellow Sikina Jinnah, American University’s School of International Service, for her book Post-treaty Politics: Secretariat Influence in Global Environmental Governance. This book is published by The MIT Press in 2014, in the book series on earth system governance.
In Post-treaty Politics: Secretariat Influence in Global Environmental Governance Jinnah examines the role of international bureaucracies in managing the politics of overlapping international regimes in the areas of biodiversity, climate change and international trade. Jinnah argues that secretariats can play an important role in world politics. On paper, secretariats collect information, communicate with state actors, and coordinate diplomatic activity. In practice, they do much more. As Jinnah shows, they can influence the allocation of resources, structures of interstate cooperation, and the power relationships between states.
The Harold and Margaret Sprout Award ceremony took place at the ISA Environmental Studies Section (ESS) Reception on 17 March. The reception is co-hosted by the Earth System Governance Project.
The Harold and Margaret Sprout Award was established in 1972 and named in honor of two pioneers in the study of international environmental problems. The award is sponsored by the Environmental Studies Section (ESS), and is given annually to the best book in the field – one that makes a contribution to theory and interdisciplinarity, shows rigor and coherence in research and writing, and offers accessibility and practical relevance.
The book series on earth system governance by The MIT Press is designed to address the research challenge of earth system governance, and will further one common aim: analyzing current systems of earth system governance with a view to increased understanding and possible improvements and reform. Books in this series will be of interest to the academic community but will also inform practitioners and at times contribute to policy debates.
Recent books in the earth system governance series include:
¾ Nicholson, Simon, and Sikina Jinnah (editors). 2016. New Earth Politics: Essays from the Anthropocene. Earth System Governance Series. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 2016.
¾ Ciplet, David, J. Timmons Roberts, and Mizan R. Khan. 2015. Power in a Warming World: The New Global Politics of Climate Change and the Remaking of Environmental Inequality. Earth System Governance Series. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 2015.
¾ Torney, Diarmuid. 2015. European Climate Leadership in Question. Policies toward China and India. Earth System Governance Series. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
¾ Baber, Walter F, Robert V. Bartlett. 2015. Consensus and Global Environmental Governance: Deliberative Democracy in Nature’s Regime. Earth System Governance Series. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
