Ruth Jebe, the Hansberger Chair of Business Ethics and associate professor, and Susan Park, associate professor, both in the Department of Management, published their article, “The U.N. Global Plastics Treaty: How Narrative Shapes Global Environmental Policy,” in the North Carolina Journal of International Law (volume 50, issue 1). The article discusses attempts to improve international regulation of plastic pollution by closely examining the United Nations’ recent negotiations for a global plastics treaty.
The article uses a policy concept called narrative policy analysis to deconstruct the negotiations. Through in-depth analysis of statements submitted by countries during the negotiations, Jebe and Park categorize different approaches to the regulation of plastics as reflected in different narrative types. The authors used the categorization to accurately predict the ultimate stalemate of the negotiations and to recommend options for overcoming that stalemate and for improving global plastic regulation.
