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Magnetic law: Designing environmental enforcement laws to encourage us to go further

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  • Suzanne Kingston
  • Edwin Alblas
  • Mícheál Callaghan
  • Julie Foulon

Abstract

The European Union has some of the world's most ambitious and highly developed environmental laws on its books, but their effectiveness is severely compromised by non‐compliance. With the UNECE Aarhus Convention (1998), Europe launched an innovative legal experiment, democratizing environmental enforcement by conferring third party citizens and environmental non‐governmental organizations (ENGOs) with legal rights of access to environmental information, public participation, and access to justice in environmental matters. Based on some 2000 surveys and over 150 interviews with stakeholders from three Member States – France, Ireland, and the Netherlands – we adopt a holistic, 360° perspective, capturing the views of regulated parties, NGOs, and the general public on this private governance experiment. Our data provide important new insights into the practical effectiveness of Europe's laws enabling private environmental enforcement, its (intended and unintended) effects on farmers' compliance decisions in the vital area of nature conservation, and how law might be used to stimulate pro‐environmental predispositions.

Suggested Citation

  • Suzanne Kingston & Edwin Alblas & Mícheál Callaghan & Julie Foulon, 2021. "Magnetic law: Designing environmental enforcement laws to encourage us to go further," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(S1), pages 143-162, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:reggov:v:15:y:2021:i:s1:p:s143-s162
    DOI: 10.1111/rego.12416
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Alblas, Edwin & van Zeben, Josephine, 2023. "Public participation for a greener Europe: The potential of farmers in biodiversity monitoring," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    2. Suzanne Kingston & Zizhen Wang & Edwin Alblas & Mícheál Callaghan & Julie Foulon & Clodagh Daly & Deirdre Norris, 2022. "Europe’s nature governance revolution: harnessing the shadow of heterarchy," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 793-824, December.
    3. Talia Goren & Itai Beeri & Dana R. Vashdi, 2023. "Framing policies to mobilize citizens' behavior during a crisis: Examining the effects of positive and negative vaccination incentivizing policies," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 570-591, April.
    4. Krivogorsky, Victoria, 2024. "Sustainability reporting with two different voices: The European Union and the International Sustainability Standards Board," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    5. Kingston, Suzanne & Wang, Zizhen, 2023. "How do nature governance rules affect compliance decisions? An experimental analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).

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