| In this dissertation I use qualitative methods and comparative historical analysis to explore the emergence of neoliberal environmental governance, which emphasizes harnessing market efficiencies and public-private partnerships with a particular emphasis on non-governmental organizations (NGOs). I draw on my analysis of three decades of remediation activities under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) in the Detroit River and Buffalo River Areas of Concern (AOCs), including 22 interviews with current and past participants, attendance at local meetings and regional conferences, and thousands of pages of government documents and reports, to argue that contemporary forms of governance mark a sharp break from an earlier Fordist industrial era in which the ultimate responsibility for protecting the environment rested with the welfare state and civil society's participation came through the vehicle of social movements. Key to my analysis is the distinction between NGOs, which engage in governance activities and within institution channels, and social movements, which are collective actions for change operating outside of existing institutional channels.;I draw on social movement theory to explore how the social composition of citizen participants shaped the form of civil society's involvement in each AOC. I argue that the framework of grassroots social movements best explains the initial trajectory of citizen participation in Detroit. The racially and economically diverse citizen participants encountered significant opposition from state regulators and industry, which eventually led, in 1996, to the collapse of this round of remediation actions. Initial citizen participation in the Buffalo River AOC followed the logic of professional social movement organizations as middle class professionals worked closely with state employees and industrial representatives in a process notable for its relative harmony. Remedial activities in the Buffalo River AOC, and the Great Lakes Basin as a whole, stalled.;In the early 2000s, both AOCs converged on a neoliberal model of governance in which a local NGO became the lead agency responsible for implementing the GLWQA. I conclude that this resulted in a "democratic paradox" as a more formal role for civil society resulted in narrower forms of participation, marginalizing the voices of the working class and people of color. |
