Political Participation,Corruption And Environmental Performance:A Cross-National Analysis Of 44 Countries

From the 1960s,researches about the relationship between democracy and environmental performance started to emerge.Decades later,starting from the 21 st century,the focus shifted towards the relationship between corruption and environmental performance.However,It was only from 2006 that researches incorporate both democracy and corruption in order to predict environmental performance.In this current wave of literature there is inconsistency as scholars find different results for the effect of democracy and corruption on environmental performance.This research examines the relationship between political participation(a proxy for democracy),corruption and environmental performance for 44 countries in the period 2008-2018.In order to do so,this research utilizes two different estimation methods;multiple regression regression and panel data regression.This research finds that political participation and corruption do not have an impact on environmental performance.Furthermore,this research finds that there is no statistical evidence that corruption moderates the effect of political participation on environmental performance.These unexpected findings could be explained by the increase of international integration and cooperation in the realm of environmental performance.As a result of international integration and cooperation in the environmental realm,intra-national factors such as political participation and corruption are no longer relevant predictors for environmental performance.Another explanation of these outcomes comprises the national dependence on pollutive industries,which could set the impact of corruption and political participation offside.Nevertheless,taking the current international political landscape into account,this research proposes a two-layered approach towards environmental policy: a direct approach(increasing enforceable and action-based environmental regulations)and an indirect approach(fighting corruption in the environmental realm).These policy suggestions should be carried out in a vertical and integrative approach wherein environmental policies as well as socio-economic policies should be incentive-based.