ABSTRACT
To some degree, seeking environmental management perspectives beyond those peculiar to the specific case studies implies prognostic statements outside the ambit of the social sciences. It is possible, however, to point out relatively probable as well asdue to theoretically known social regularities-certainly impossible developments in environmental management (cf. Mayntz, 1996; Mayntz/Scharpf, 1995). Thus one cannot predict the precise future development path of environmental management, which can vary considerably according to changing contextual conditions, e.g. the occurrence of trade wars as opposed to continuous, fairly well regulated economic competition among Western industrialized countries. But one can derive likely development trends on the basis of certain (explicated) premises and social and economic regularities. In this respect one may well refer to the five-fold analytical framework utilized in the preceding chapter.
