The Law and Politics of Sustainability explores efforts to address pressing environmental concerns through legislation, conventions, directives, treaties, and protocols. Many articles explain the mechanics of environmental law as well as the concepts that shape sustainable development. Others discuss case studies and rulings that have set precedents, or consider approaches to sustainable development taken by legal systems around the world. Experts and scholars in the field raise provocative questions about the effectiveness of international law versus national law in protecting the environment, and about the effect of current laws on future generations. They analyze the successes and shortcomings of present legal instruments, corporate and public policies, social movements, and conceptual strategies - offering readers a preview of steps we must take to develop laws and policies that will promote genuine sustainability.