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Explaining Transatlantic Policy Divergence: The Role of Domestic Politics and Policy Styles in Nanotechnology Risk Regulation

Author

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  • Ronit Justo-Hanani

    (University of California, Berkeley)

  • Tamar Dayan

    (Tel Aviv University)

Abstract

In this study, we seek to explain a growing divergence between the US and EU regulatory policies over nanotechnology environmental, health, and safety risks. Faced with significant scientific and regulatory uncertainties, incremental approaches have been taken in both regulatory systems, but substantial differences are evident in terms of both policy processes and stringency. While the EU exhibits a regulatory integration process with stringent adjustments of existing legislative frameworks, the US is far less engaged in regulatory adaptations. We have carried out a comparative analysis of the EU and US regulatory policies. We suggest that literature perspectives that focus on differing public attitudes, economic interests, and advocacy pressure groups do not suffice to explain the regulatory policy divergence. We argue that a combined effect of domestic politics and policy styles provides the most powerful explanation of why the US and EU currently differ with respect to their regulatory responses to nanotechnology risks and uncertainties.

Suggested Citation

  • Ronit Justo-Hanani & Tamar Dayan, 2016. "Explaining Transatlantic Policy Divergence: The Role of Domestic Politics and Policy Styles in Nanotechnology Risk Regulation," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 16(1), pages 79-98, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:glenvp:v:16:y:2016:i:1:p:79-98
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Vogel, David, 2003. "The Hare and the Tortoise Revisited: The New Politics of Consumer and Environmental Regulation in Europe," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 33(4), pages 557-580, October.
    2. Hannes R. Stephan, 2012. "Revisiting the Transatlantic Divergence over GMOs: Toward a Cultural-Political Analysis," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 12(4), pages 104-124, November.
    3. Justo-Hanani, Ronit & Dayan, Tamar, 2014. "The role of the state in regulatory policy for nanomaterials risk: Analyzing the expansion of state-centric rulemaking in EU and US chemicals policies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 169-178.
    4. Robert Falkner & Nico Jaspers, 2012. "Regulating Nanotechnologies: Risk, Uncertainty and the Global Governance Gap," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 12(1), pages 30-55, February.
    5. G. Kristin Rosendal, 2005. "Governing GMOs in the EU: A Deviant Case of Environmental Policy-making?," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 5(1), pages 82-104, February.
    6. Justo-Hanani, Ronit & Dayan, Tamar, 2015. "European risk governance of nanotechnology: Explaining the emerging regulatory policy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(8), pages 1527-1536.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alan Kennedy & Jonathon Brame & Taylor Rycroft & Matthew Wood & Valerie Zemba & Charles Weiss & Matthew Hull & Cary Hill & Charles Geraci & Igor Linkov, 2019. "A Definition and Categorization System for Advanced Materials: The Foundation for Risk‐Informed Environmental Health and Safety Testing," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(8), pages 1783-1795, August.
    2. Ronit Justo-Hanani & Tamar Dayan, 2021. "Risk regulation and precaution in Europe and the United States: the case of bioinvasion," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 54(1), pages 3-20, March.
    3. Ronit Justo-Hanani, 2022. "The politics of Artificial Intelligence regulation and governance reform in the European Union," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 55(1), pages 137-159, March.
    4. Kirsten Rodine-Hardy, 2016. "Nanotechnology and Global Environmental Politics: Transatlantic Divergence," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 16(3), pages 89-105, August.
    5. Steinar Andresen & G. Kristin Rosendal & Jon Birger Skjærseth, 2018. "Regulating the invisible: interaction between the EU and Norway in managing nano-risks," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 513-528, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    economics; environment; politics; policy; regulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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