International environmental regimes: Understanding substantive and procedural changes in the effort to protect the Antarctica and the ozone layer

International regimes help to explain cooperative behavior in an anarchic system composed of actors seeking to maximize their self-interest. Scholars have previously focused on both regime formation (why and how regimes are formed) and regime effectiveness (correlates of success and failure). Both of these research programs are directed at establishing the independent causal effect of regimes. Much less attention has been devoted to the processes of regime change.; This dissertation begins the process of identifying those variable(s) that account for the variation in regime change over time, determining who affects these changes, how, in what directions and to what degree. An interactive model of regime change distinguishes between procedural and substantive change, providing an explanation for how regimes as social institutions affect the ability of states to reach agreement over previously contentious issues.; The general applicability of the framework is examined by comparing the Antarctic treaty system and the ozone regime. These case studies explore the modalities of procedural and substantive change as these shape the cooperative choices that states make. The framework permits us to explain the substantive changes that the adoption of the 1991 Madrid Protocol and the acceptance of a complete phaseout of Chlorofluorocarbons represented.; Regimes provide the arena within which the formation of ideas, identities, and preferences are created. These case studies permit us to understand the direction of change in both the procedural and substantive content of each regime. Ultimately, this dissertation furthers our understanding of how key actors are able to change the ordering of their norms and in doing so adopt new principles upon which to build viable regimes.