Mar 13, 2012 - Claremont, Calif. - Harvey Mudd College professor Paul F. Steinberg has a new book on environmental politics published this month by MIT Press.

Steinberg contributed four chapters to the volume and served as co-editor along with Stacy D. VanDeveer of the University of New Hampshire.

Entitled “Comparative Environmental Politics: Theory, Practice and Prospects,” the book is designed to catalyze the creation of a new field within the environmental social sciences that explores how different societies respond politically to environmental problems around the globe.

Bridging the fields of comparative politics and environmental studies, the book shows how the quest for sustainability intersects with such topics as the evolution of modern nation-states, the rise of social movements and green parties, European Union expansion, corporate social responsibility, federalism, political instability, management of local commons, and policymaking under democratic and authoritarian regimes. It offers insights into environmental problems ranging from climate change to water scarcity and the disappearance of tropical forests.

Steinberg is an associate professor of political science and environmental policy at HMC. Before joining the faculty in 2003, he was a visiting scholar at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C.  He also served as founding director of a new policy program at RARE Conservation and as a research consultant to The World Bank and Conservation International. His previous book, “Environmental Leadership in Developing Countries” (MIT Press, 2001) received the Harold and Margaret Sprout Award for the year's best book in international environmental affairs.