Essay Review SVERKER SO ¨ RLIN EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN APPROACHES TO THE ENVIRONMENT Norman J. Vig and Michael G. Faure (eds.), Green Giants? Envi- ronmental Policies of the United States and the European Union (Cambridge, MA, and London: MIT Press, 2004), xiii + 398 pp., ISBN: 0-262-22068-7 (hb) Liliana B. Andonova, Transnational Politics of the Environment: The European Union and Environmental Policy in Central and East- ern Europe (Cambridge, MA, and London: MIT Press, 2004), x + 253 pp., ISBN: 0-262-51179-7 (pb) Environmental policy was undoubtedly one of the most construc- tive inventions of the twentieth century. However, in the United States of America and the European Union, its development has shown marked differences. The USA regularly takes a more scepti- cal stance to environmental regulation than does the EU. In fact, this divergence has steadily increased over the past two decades, and shows no sign of abating. US environmental policy had its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, when all levels of government responded to growing ecological awareness and worsening pollution crises. The Environmental Protection Act (EPA), enacted under President Nixon, became an exemplar to the world. During the Carter administration, America’s environmental ambitions were even higher. However, environmental issues were not important enough to the electorate or Congress to enable the progressive Clinton–Gore administration much room for manoeuvre. Since then, progress has been modest. Environmental regulation has been almost anathema to Republican presidents. In Europe, provision for the environment was absent from the Treaty of Rome, signed in 1957. Although beginnings were made in the first decades of the European Community, environmental Minerva (2006) 44:433–438 Ó Springer 2006 DOI 10.1007/s11024-006-9012-0