Monograph

Authors list: Breitmeier, H; Young, OR; Zürn, M

Publication year: 2006

ISBN: 9780262026024

eISBN: 9780262254717

Abstract: 

Regime
theory has become an increasingly influential approach to the analysis of
international relations, particularly in the areas of international political
economy and international environmental politics. The conceptual appeal of the
idea of "governance without government" - in which a combination of
different organizations and institutions supply governance to address specific
problems - reflects a world in which the demand for governance is great but the
familiar mechanisms for supplying it are weak. Most research on international
regimes employs qualitative methods, often using case studies to develop larger
theoretical arguments; but a lack of standardization makes comparative analysis
difficult. Analyzing International Environmental Regimes introduces the
International Regimes Database (IRD), an important methodological innovation
that allows scholars to adopt a quantitative approach to the study of
international regimes.

The IRD is a
relational database that makes it possible to compare records on specific
aspects of a number of international environmental regimes that are coded using
a single, well-defined set of concepts, definitions, and scales. The book first
describes the database and discusses a number of methodological, technical, and
architectural issues. It then illustrates the use of the IRD as an analytic
tool, drawing on the database for descriptive statistics to evaluate
theoretical ideas about compliance, decision rules, and the role of knowledge.
A CD containing the full IRD data protocol and all the data currently in the
database accompanies the book.

Harvard Citation style: Breitmeier, H., Young, O. and Zürn, M. (2006) Analyzing International Environmental Regimes. From Case Study to Database. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press

APA Citation style: Breitmeier, H., Young, O., & Zürn, M. (2006). Analyzing International Environmental Regimes. From Case Study to Database. The MIT Press.