Date of Award

3-2011

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Political Science

First Advisor

Patrick Donnay

Abstract

This study incorporates and analyzes several theories in regards to what causes countries to perform in an environmentally sustainable manner. This has been and is becoming an increasingly important and debated topic due to the ever increasing interest and concern about global environmental challenges. This issue has been examined through a variety of different lenses including economic, socio-political, and geographical perspectives and they have an assortment of results. One such existing finding suggests that the best way to improve a country’s environmental sustainability is to first focus on improving the gross domestic product which will eventually allow changes to take place through economic force and purchasing power. Using the Environmental Performance Index, which measures how well a country is performing environmentally on an interval level as the dependent variable, my preliminary results suggest to the contrary. The findings show that major factors include education, the effectiveness of the government, and geography.

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