Water quality protection of the Canada-US Great Lakes: examining the emerging state/nonstate governance approach

This paper explores the growing contribution of nonstate actors (private sector and civil society) in the environmental regulatory governance of the North American Great Lakes. The paper maps the various state and nonstate rule-instruments, institutions, processes and actors (governance arrangements), focusing on arrangements in Ontario, Canada, one Great Lakes jurisdiction. At times, the private sector and nongovernmental organisation (NGO)-initiated governance contributions are collaborative in nature, but in other situations, a rivalrous dynamic is evident. The resultant combination of state and nonstate regulatory arrangements, operating at times in a collaborative manner, and in other cases, in more of an adversarial manner, aligns well with Webb's (2005) concept of sustainable governance. The issue of microbeads pollution in the Great Lakes is highlighted as an illustration of how state and nonstate actors are variously responding to an environmental issue, and provides evidence of how the norm of water quality protection is increasingly addressed and embedded through both state and nonstate mechanisms in the larger social environment.