ABSTRACT
Explanations for the environmental foreign policies of states are necessary for a full understanding of global environmental politics. States make the critical decisions on the entire range of environmental issues, from protecting endangered species to regulating the trade in toxic wastes to addressing global climate change. Yet, significant gaps remain in the scholarly research on how and why states decide their foreign policies on the environment. The vast literature on global environmental politics pertains primarily to international relations rather than to the state-level variables that determine foreign policy behavior. This chapter identifies some of the areas of inquiry that have not been fully explored and suggests directions for further research on environmental foreign policy.1
