174 Book Reviews
environmental policy is now a strategic aspect of the EU of its own merit. He ex-
plains how the environmental acquis (ie the body of EU environmental law, legal
acts and associated court decisions), has strengthened, particularly following EU en-
largement. He goes on to examine how the recent key EU agendas and strategies on
better regulation, governance and fitness checks can strengthen environmental
protection.
Overall, four central elements draw the book together and distinguish itself from
competing titles: the level of technicality and precision in the thematic chapters; the
in-depth coverage of EU environmental policies and principles; the practicalities of
making EU law collaboratively and implementing it at Member State level; and the
reflective writing underpinning each chapter. These four elements are complemen-
tary and allow the reader to approach the book from different perspectives to
investigate global and regional environmental problems and assess how the EU
adopted strategies to respond to these challenges.
Ludivine Petetin
Cardiff School of Law and Politics
doi:10.1093/jel/eqy002
Advance Access Publication Date: 12 February 2018
Environmental Law: A Very Short Introduction. By ELIZABETH FISHER [Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2017, ISBN 978-0-19-879418-9, Paperback, 147pp, £7.99]
This is the final ‘traditional-style’ book review in the Journal of Environmental Law.1
As such, we, as Reviews Editors, thought it would be nice to do a very short goodbye
with a Very Short Introduction. The ‘Very Short Introduction Series’ (VSI) was
launched by Oxford University Press in 1995 to provide an engaging distillation of
complex subjects. The authors are chosen for their talent at working broadly and
deeply within tight word constraints, covering a whole field in just 35,000 words.
The nature of the task of authorship is expressed by Andrea Keegan (lead commis-
sioning editor) as follows:2
The books are not primers or surveys, but sophisticated ‘takes’ on a topic, and
we allow the authors to express a point of view, while giving readers a really
good way into a subject they may never have encountered before.
1 The Board has taken the view to move towards Review Articles over traditional book reviews. Review
Articles offer authors more space in which to situate critical commentary and reflection upon newly pub-
lished books and other significant publications. See <https://academic.oup.com/jel/pages/General_
Instructions> accessed 15 January 2018.
2 See <https://www.thebookseller.com/news/oup-hits-300-very-short-introductions> accessed 15 January 2018.
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jel/article-abstract/30/1/174/4915919
by guest
on 28 March 2018
environmental policy is now a strategic aspect of the EU of its own merit. He ex-
plains how the environmental acquis (ie the body of EU environmental law, legal
acts and associated court decisions), has strengthened, particularly following EU en-
largement. He goes on to examine how the recent key EU agendas and strategies on
better regulation, governance and fitness checks can strengthen environmental
protection.
Overall, four central elements draw the book together and distinguish itself from
competing titles: the level of technicality and precision in the thematic chapters; the
in-depth coverage of EU environmental policies and principles; the practicalities of
making EU law collaboratively and implementing it at Member State level; and the
reflective writing underpinning each chapter. These four elements are complemen-
tary and allow the reader to approach the book from different perspectives to
investigate global and regional environmental problems and assess how the EU
adopted strategies to respond to these challenges.
Ludivine Petetin
Cardiff School of Law and Politics
doi:10.1093/jel/eqy002
Advance Access Publication Date: 12 February 2018
Environmental Law: A Very Short Introduction. By ELIZABETH FISHER [Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2017, ISBN 978-0-19-879418-9, Paperback, 147pp, £7.99]
This is the final ‘traditional-style’ book review in the Journal of Environmental Law.1
As such, we, as Reviews Editors, thought it would be nice to do a very short goodbye
with a Very Short Introduction. The ‘Very Short Introduction Series’ (VSI) was
launched by Oxford University Press in 1995 to provide an engaging distillation of
complex subjects. The authors are chosen for their talent at working broadly and
deeply within tight word constraints, covering a whole field in just 35,000 words.
The nature of the task of authorship is expressed by Andrea Keegan (lead commis-
sioning editor) as follows:2
The books are not primers or surveys, but sophisticated ‘takes’ on a topic, and
we allow the authors to express a point of view, while giving readers a really
good way into a subject they may never have encountered before.
1 The Board has taken the view to move towards Review Articles over traditional book reviews. Review
Articles offer authors more space in which to situate critical commentary and reflection upon newly pub-
lished books and other significant publications. See <https://academic.oup.com/jel/pages/General_
Instructions> accessed 15 January 2018.
2 See <https://www.thebookseller.com/news/oup-hits-300-very-short-introductions> accessed 15 January 2018.
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jel/article-abstract/30/1/174/4915919
by guest
on 28 March 2018
