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Evolving Environmental Norms in the European Union
Author(s) -
Usui Yoichiro
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
european law journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.351
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1468-0386
pISSN - 1351-5993
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0386.00170
Subject(s) - normative , european union , environmental law , frame (networking) , order (exchange) , law and economics , process (computing) , political science , conceptual framework , power (physics) , sociology , law , environmental ethics , economic system , social science , economics , international trade , computer science , philosophy , telecommunications , physics , finance , quantum mechanics , operating system
The EU has demonstrated interesting institutional practices with regard to the evolution of environmental norms. The paper illuminates a role of law in the institutional practices in terms of the discursive power of law, drawing on the fact that law catalyses discourses and individual laws in and of themselves are also discourses. In order to elucidate this discursive viewpoint, the paper offers a conceptual framework, referring to the concepts of frame and regime. Building on this conceptual framework, the paper understands the development of EU environmental law as an example of normative evolution in a re´gime and describes the evolutionary process from pre– to post–Single European Act.