Exporting Environmentalism: U.S. Multinational Chemical Corporations in Brazil and Mexico. By Ronie Garcia-Johnson. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000. 282p. $20.00.

Abstract

As toxic pollutants and hazardous production emerged across the twentieth century, first-world states came to play a guardian role, imposing constraints on capital to safeguard their workers, communities, and environments. As we enter the new century, vigorous protest and debate over the character and conditions of neoliberal globalization center on whether or how to reaffirm or extend such protections in an era of free trade, capital mobility, privatization, and deregu- lation. From Rio to Seattle, Kyoto to Prague, controversy arises over where the locus of authority for codes of corpo- rate conduct might rest. Can states be redeemed as guardians and still avert a destructive "race to the bottom"? Can existing supranational bodies or regimes be charged with design and enforcement of global standards, or are new international institutions imperative? Dare we trust multina- tional corporations (MNCs) to police themselves? What is the proper role of advocacy networks and civic organiza- tions?