The Battle of Montreal: Neo-Conservative vs Regulatory Nationalism

Abstract

The essay discusses the negotiations of the Montreal Protocol of 1987 by the Reagan administration, arguing that the protocol served as a tool to export and impose a level of environmental protection on the world that was already enforced in the US. The analysis of the domestic debates surrounding the treaty shows that the negotiations became a contest of strength between a dying “New-Dealist” regulatory nationalism and a thriving neo-conservative nationalism. The former won the battle in Montreal, but lost the war; the agreement represented its last flicker of life before the final rise of the latter.