ItÂ’s a Problem of CapacityÂ…Or Is It? Political Will or Capacity for Environmental Protection in Developing and Transitional Countries: Will and Capacity for Environment in Armenia.

This paper develops a theoretical framework for analyzing the barriers to domestic environmental policy making and protection in developing and transition countries, whether they stem from the lack of political will, capacity constraints in the state or civil society, or both. Until now, most attention has focused on whether or not developing and transitional countries have capacity to address global problems. Therefore, the paper argues that there is a need to further examine the capacity of these countries to protect national or regional environmental issues. Second, the paper argues that there is a need to examine whether countries have the capacity to engage in the full spectrum of the policy making process, from problem identification, to policymaking and evaluation. Finally, the paper posits that there is a critical relationship in all countries between capacity and political will to address environmental concerns – not all environmental failures stem from a lack of capacity; many failures result primarily from a lack of political will, or from a combination of both factors. Therefore, capacity building programs that only focus on a perceived lack of capacity and do not address the lack of political willingness to protect the environment, will not be effective. While both political will and capacity to protect the environment are necessary factors to protect the local and regional environment in developing and transitional countries, political will is the determining factor. If developing or transitional countries have the political will to protect the environment, but lack capacity, state agencies and NGOs will work to build capacity. A key constraint that limits political and action to protect the environment is the existence of powerful interests that are benefiting from environmental exploitation, and the government's lack of willingness to take effective action against these interests. Here, strong societal capacity and well-developed NGOs play an important role in putting pressure on the Government to change its position and address a certain issue. The paper primarily draws on insights from environmental policy making in the transitional Republic of Armenia, but it contends that the theory could apply well to the situation in other developing and transitional countries. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]