The transnational corporation and the erosion of domestic environmental regulation: Towards new conceptions of governance in the era of economic globalization

This thesis examines how the phenomenon of economic globalization and the advent of the Transnational Corporation (TNC) have undermined environmental law, potentially resulting in environmental degradation. Traditional methods of regulation are premised on the supremacy of state sovereignty. The TNC calls this assumption into question by eroding the governing capacities of the state. The thesis illustrates how TNCs have impacted on the reform process of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, leading to a significantly weakened piece of legislation. International governance is based on the ideology of state supremacy and thus is at least as limited as the state as an arena for effective environmental regulation. It is argued that a global model of governance, comprising the grassroots voice of civil society and the governing structures of the state, must be embraced to stem the deleterious effects of economic globalization, especially as it pertains to the environment.