Heat, Greed and Human Need: Climate Change, Capitalism and Sustainable WellbeingGough, IanCheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing (2017), 264 p ., ISBN 978‐1‐785‐36512‐6

Abstract

delegation, for example to national regulatory agencies) and diffusion, Wavre concludes that national regulatory agencies and their transnational networks have played a key role in the diffusion process. However, the causal mechanism linking NRAs and diffusion, although discussed theoretically, is not empirically investigated. Yet, the correlation observed between government openness and diffusion can be interpreted quite differently. Without an empirical analysis of the decision-making process demonstrating that national regulatory agencies did actually play a role in the diffusion process, I was not completely convinced by her conclusions. I also found that Wavre's explanatory framework could have been somewhat more flexible and open. One aspect is the connection between both steps of the analysis. Step one addresses the presence of policy diffusion based on national factors and step two focuses on the mechanism underpinning diffusion based on sectoral factors. The strict analytical distinction between the explanations given in both steps seems counter-intuitive: Why should the diffusion mechanism and its outcome be independent from each other? It rather seems to me that they are very much intertwined in reality. And why should national factors be limited to the explanation of the presence of diffusion, but not mobilized to understand diffusion mechanisms? Could it be that Morocco's governing style has something to do with this country's capacity to engage with learning and competition mechanisms-and that issue salience is not the only explanation? Likewise, if sectoral factors are playing a role in the diffusion mechanism, why should they be absent from the explanation about the presence of diffusion? Whereas I found that Wavre's explanatory framework lacked some flexibility, I must underline its great clarity and parsimony. One cannot have it all. Any explanatory framework is a trade-off between theoretical parsimony and explanatory exhaustiveness. Wavre has the great merit to put forward simple explanations, which are empirically assessed very systematically-and actually found relevant in the empirical analysis. Applying this intellectual clarity on a highly original research topic (policy diffusion and regulation in MENA countries), Wavre produced an excellent and original monograph that I recommend to anyone interested in policy analysis in MENA countries, EU Neighbourhood Policy and regulation in developing countries.