Water Over the Bridge: Examining Transnational Municipal Networks of American and Canadian Local Governments in the Context of Canada-U.S. Bilateral Environmental Relations within the Great Lakes Basin

Abstract

Bilateral environmental relations between Canada and the United States have been studied from the perspective of federal, state, and provincial governments including non-state actors. However, the role local governments play in this mesh of cross-border relations remains poorly understood because they have long been considered insignificant actors, unable to break the bounds of their tight constitutional constraints, and thus largely ignored. This dissertation analyzes the increasing policy repertoire of American and Canadian local governments engaged in cross-border environmental policy-making around the Great Lakes basin, focusing in particular on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, which is the only example of a transnational municipal network operating across the border between Canada and the United States.