The World Polity and Deforestation

Over the past decade, there has been a growth in international organizations concerned with environmental matters. These organizations include international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), and treaties. This article presents cross-national models examining the effects of these variables on deforestation. In doing so, I use data for up to 73 nations to examine the determinants of deforestation from 1990 to 2000. I fi nd substantial support for world polity hypotheses that all these organizations reduce deforestation. I also fi nd support for world system arguments that economic dependency relationships based upon commodity concentration increase deforestation. Finally, I fi nd that economic growth decreases deforestation and population growth increases deforestation. I conclude with some brief policy recommendations and directions for future research.

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