International Trade, the Environment, and Networks: Building Relational Understandings of Global Environmental Problems
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Date
2024-08-07
Authors
Theis, Nicholas
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
This dissertation uses social network analysis to integrate the relationality of nation-states more fully into quantitative macro-environmental sociology. Specifically, I am interested in the
following questions: How can social network analysis help develop more relational
understandings of global environmental problems? And, how does global trade network position
and integration provide meaningful contexts for better understanding relationships between
domestic economic and technological factors and emissions? I answer these questions by
conducting empirical investigations of case studies such as global end-of-life vessel exchanges;
global crude oil extraction, trade position, and oil-related emissions; and the effects of global
economic integration for renewable energy effectiveness in reducing emissions.
I argue that methodological approaches incorporating network methods have important
substantive implications for macro-environmental sociological questions. For ecologically
unequal exchange theory, use of network simulations shifts the focus from value of commodities
exchange to tie centralization, potentially a useful approach for understanding the global
organization of disposal-side trade relations, which may involve only a few sites. Moreover, and
perhaps more importantly, operationalizing the theory using network methods to classify
countries based on trade position emphasizes extractive sites through trade relationships, more in
line with the underlying theoretical foci relative to conventional approaches emphasizing
national income bifurcations and export intensity to high income nations. For research on the
economy-environment relationship, I depart from the vast majority of work that focuses on
domestic measures, most significantly economic development. By employing network methods,
a relational measure of international trade integration is produced, centering the research design
not on the expansionary tendencies of capital, but rather on national integration into its global
expansion. In this way, a novel conceptualization is applied to the question of the circumstances
or contexts in which renewable energies reduce emissions. The use of network methods
innovates research designs within quantitative macro-environmental sociology, more fully
integrating the relationality of nation-states in the global economy and expanding the research
space to ask questions surrounding how national positionality in trade networks modifies the
effect of social, economic, and technological factors on environmental change.