Title: Freedom, governance and questions of global environmental control

Authors: Sarah Blandy, David Parsons

Addresses: School of Environment and Development, Sheffield Hallam University, UK ' School of Environment and Development, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

Abstract: If we accept the necessity of some level of control over our activities in order to protect the environment, how extensive should those controls be and which areas of our lives should be the valid concern of governance? Philosophical and political theories from the western tradition are analysed and applied to two examples, on differing scales, of how the balance between individual freedom and collective interests are worked out in practice. This paper explores issues of governance over individuals, nations and international corporations and asks how control could be exercised in the interests of wider environmental concerns.

Keywords: individual freedom; collective interests; governance; environmental control; environmental protection.

DOI: 10.1504/IER.2001.054013

Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, 2001 Vol.3 No.1, pp.58 - 74

Published online: 14 May 2013 *

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