HAAS, PETER M., “DO REGIMES MATTER? EPISTEMIC COMMUNITIES AND MEDITERRANEAN POLLUTION CONTROL,” INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION, 43, SUMMER 1989

Peter Haas discusses why some regimes are successful while others are not. He makes the case that the regime for marine pollution control in the Mediterranean Sea “played a key role in altering the balance of power within the Mediterranean governments by empowering a group of experts, who then contribute to the development of convergent state policies in compliance with the regime” (Haas 377). “Regimes are not simply static summaries of rules and norms” (Haas 377). In other words, the author believes that the key to success is the presence of an epistemic community.

In his article, Haas uses the Mediterranean Action Plan (Med Plan), “a regime for marine pollution control in the Mediterranean Sea” (Haas 377), as a case study to explain why and how the epistemic communities are the reason for the success of the Med Plan. In the case study of the Med Plan he looks at individual countries and compares whether the epistemic community has been successful in getting the policies of national governments to converge, as in Algeria and Egypt, or whether it has not, as in France.

Work Cited: Haas, Peter M., “Do Regimes Matter? Epistemic Communities and Mediterranean Pollution Control,” International Organizations, 43, Summer 1989