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Environmental assessment (EA) is now institutionalized in over 100 countries but is widely criticized by practitioners and analysts for failing to convince decision-makers. Environmental sustainability is still not placed high on the list of criteria influencing project and programme approvals. This paper suggests that the failure of EA reflects the politically contested domain of EA. A framework for the analysis of public participation in EA based on the study of contentious politics is introduced. Public participation is a crucially important condition for influencing decision makers to pursue sustainability objectives, but the effectiveness of public participation is conditional upon characteristics of the coalitions created by diverse stakeholders. The importance of coalitions between local stakeholders and intellectuals is highlighted and exemplified through four cases in the Philippines, Brazil, South Africa and Taiwan where public participation in EA processes is associated with the blockage of large-scale development projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the issue of sustainable development and the newly industrialized countries (NICs). It was argued that economic growth and environmental sustainability can be jointly pursued, but there will have to be fundamental reconfigurations of economic institutions and policy regimes in order to achieve developmental and environmental objectives. The case of Taiwan and South Korea was taken into consideration. It was suggested that the lessons of the NICs are significantly misunderstood and the environmental costs of their development trajectory have been high. Taiwan and South Korea expanded their productive capacity and they have significantly improved their living standards. Although Environmental Protection Agencies operate in each country they are understaffed and enforcement is weak.