International Environmental Regimes: Environmental Protection as a Means of State Making?

Abstract

The de-colonization process of the second half of the twentieth century has created states with ‘split sovereignty’. Their juridical and empirical sovereignties do not match. International environmental regimes constitute a means of strengthening a state’s juridical sovereignty, and, in certain cases, they may even become a means of state making, contributing to a state’s empirical sovereignty. This argument is developed and illustrated by analyzing Kenya’s involvement in international environmental regimes related to game protection.