European and International Environmental Governance. Comparing Implementation Through Temporal Configurational Analysis

In this paper, I analyze the implementation of European and international environmental legal obligations, integrating both judgments from courts and managerial decisions from non-compliance committees through temporal configurational methods. Starting from the observation that damage to the environment is increasing with backlash from populist regimes against protective measures, implementing legal obligations in the absence of specialized environmental courts is crucial to protect the environment. However, systematic insights on the national implementation of legal and managerial decisions beyond the nation state are lacking, creating a gap in the literature. 'Which combination of conditions are sufficient for the effective national implementation of decisions on environmental obligations?' To answer this question, a formalized concept structure is built based on two hypothesized explanations that follow a conjunctural logic: one based on the mechanisms and measures used to solve non-implementation issues, and another relating to the resolution’s legitimacy. Empirically, both a case-multiplying and a multi-stage time-differencing Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) are conducted based on document analysis to account for the temporal dynamics leading to extra-judicial settlements. First, the explanatory conditions are developed based on the management and enforcement approaches from the literature on policy implementation. Second, to highlight their role in translating legal obligations for the implementing parties and to account for the latter's strategic action, I show that courts and committees fulfil the functions of intermediaries by providing expertise, assistance, monitoring, and enforcement measures. Based on these theoretical insights, an empirical analysis is conducted using various temporal set theoretic techniques to recover the dynamics of extra-judicial settlements. Subsequently, some cases are discussed in more detail to highlight the underlying explanatory mechanisms. The results basically confirm the two hypotheses while illustrating the specific temporal mechanisms of cases settled outside of court proceedings. By developing a novel approach to concept formation and set theoretic temporal analysis, this paper enables systematic comparisons across resolution mechanisms while accounting for the intermediation role of courts and committees in facilitating implementation.