The limited influence of global civil society: international environmental non-governmental organisations and the Methyl Bromide Controversy in the Montreal Protocol

Abstract

Governance scholars have demonstrated that the agendas, discourses, and actions of global civil society groups are affected by powerful states. In neoliberal globalisation, powerful states push for market-based schemes to resolve global environmental problems, and civil society groups often contribute to that agenda. Through the lens of governmentality, scholars have shown how civil society acts in ways that relegitimise and sustain state power/influence at the global scale. This study illustrates how international environmental non-governmental organisations operating in the Montreal Protocol contribute to the neoliberalisation of ozone governance, in some cases changing tactics to fit the neoliberal discourse of the treaty. Consequently, some international environmental non-governmental organisations have recently abandoned discourses of global environmental health, global security, and general welfare to address neoliberal concerns of individualism, competition, and transparency in ozone politics.

Keywords:

• discourse
• global civil society
• governmentality
• methyl bromide
• Montreal Protocol
• neoliberalism
• international environmental NGOs

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to the anonymous reviewers and Julie Schor for their insightful comments. Completion of the manuscript was made possible by the Boston College Faculty Research Incentive Grant. This is a revised version of the paper that received 1st Place in the 2008 Graduate Student Paper Competition of the Global Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP). The usual disclaimers apply.

Notes

1. Tape-recorded notes, first ExMOP, 2004.

2. Ibid.

3. Dec. XVII/17 of the Montreal Protocol (UNEP 2006).

4. Tape-recorded notes, second ExMOP, 2005.

5. Tape-recorded notes, 15th Meeting of the Parties, Dakar, 2005.

6. The NRDC explained that, under the Clean Air Act (how the United States implements the Montreal Protocol), any private or personal information (a ‘section 114 request’) on issues related to international treaties may be requested. When NRDC asked for stockpile data, the US EPA said it would disclose it, but two companies (Ameribrom and Hendrix & Dail) filed a lawsuit to keep the data confidential. Observations at the EIA/NRDC small group session, 29 June 2005, 25th OEWG, Montreal.

7. Tape-recorded notes 17th MOP, Dakar, 2005.

8. Ibid.

9. Tape-recorded notes and personal observations at the open-ended contact groupheld to discuss critical use exemption nominations, 17th MOP, Dakar, 2005.