Policy Diffusion and Regional Environmental Cooperation in the Global South

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_75How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Policy Diffusion; Regional Environmental Cooperation; Global South; ASEAN; African Union; UNASUR

Abstract

This study explores how policy diffusion mechanisms—namely learning, competition, and socialization—shape regional environmental cooperation across the Global South. By conducting a comparative analysis of ASEAN, the African Union (AU), and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the research identifies distinct patterns of policy transfer that reflect varying institutional structures, development levels, and geopolitical contexts. The findings show that ASEAN promotes gradual learning through informal mechanisms, AU integrates environmental goals with development strategies via competitive and socialized learning, while UNASUR emphasizes resource-based cooperation driven by shared best practices and South-South collaboration. The study further identifies six key factors influencing the effectiveness of policy diffusion: institutional design, developmental disparity, geopolitical stability, sociocultural norms, external environmental pressures, and resource endowments. By integrating policy diffusion theory into the context of Global South cooperation, this paper extends traditional models to better reflect the realities of developing regions. The results offer both theoretical contributions and practical recommendations for enhancing cross-border environmental governance, emphasizing the importance of local adaptation, institutional capacity-building, and sustained regional collaboration. This research provides a timely perspective on how policy innovation can facilitate sustainable development and environmental resilience in the Global South.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Jiajun Tang
AU  - Qingyuan Zhu
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/09/12
TI  - Policy Diffusion and Regional Environmental Cooperation in the Global South
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 9th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 670
EP  - 676
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_75
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_75
ID  - Tang2025
ER  -