The prevailing assumption among scholars and policymakers alike is that developing countries have a poor track record when it comes to environmental protection. Dara O'Rourke challenges this assumption through the lens of six extremely well researched case studies of environmental regulation in Vietnam. Specifically, his book is motivated by the puzzle that despite Vietnam's rapid integration into the global economy, weak state capacities, and the promotion of industrialization over environmental protection, effective environmental regulation has emerged. O'Rourke argues that local communities are spearheading environmental protection in Vietnam, and precisely because environmental protection has emerged as a bottom-up effort, which he terms “community-driven regulation” (CDR), Vietnam may be better posed to balance development with environmental concerns.

Those interested in comparative environmental policymaking should read the book. It offers an original argument about environmental policymaking in developing countries that challenges conventional theories of state-driven and market-induced environmental protection. Moreover, O'Rourke's CDR model offers concrete policy prescriptions for shoring up regulations and public participation in developing countries.

According to O'Rourke's CDR model, effective environmental regulation is derived from “local mobilization” rather than “top-down prescriptions” (p. 51). Chapter 7, which could have easily been placed earlier in the book, offers a succinct summary of effective community-driven regulations in which communities that are directly affected by local industrial pollution demand such regulations from state agencies and firms. In brief, a community initiates a regulatory policy process by writing complaint letters to local government agencies and/or carrying out small-scale protests. In response to community demands, local environmental agencies then carry out investigations, gather data, analyze the performance of firms, and perhaps also issue fines or demand technological improvements. If the community believes that state action has not resulted in any visible change for the better, the community elicits the assistance of extralocal actors, such as the media or nongovernmental organizations, to place additional pressure on the firm. Ultimately, a community's ability to achieve environmental regulations depends upon its mobilizing strategies, internal cohesion, and external linkages. This model, unlike other theories of state or public participation, captures the complex web of interactions among communities, state environmental agencies, extralocal actors, and firms in bringing about effective environmental regulations.

The six case studies presented to illuminate the CDR model draw upon impressive research carried out throughout Vietnam and across urban and rural communities. These case studies also examine four types of firms, including centrally managed state-owned enterprises, a locally managed state-owned enterprise, a foreign-owned firm, and a joint-venture firm, in order to understand what motivates different types of firms to respond to community demands and hence comply with environmental regulations. The most well known case addressed in the book concerns a Korean-owned firm that produces Nike shoes. The Nike case (Chapter 6) provides a stark contrast with the state-owned and joint-venture firms because local pressure alone was insufficient to change environmental and labor practices; rather, a network of NGOs and activists outside of Vietnam was also necessary to force the sneaker plant to introduce improvements in its working conditions.

The main lesson that emerges from the CDR model is that communities can take action and work to improve their immediate environmental situation. This book provides several powerful stories about “thinking locally, acting locally.” Less convincing, however, is O'Rourke's claim that the CDR model holds promise for balancing environmental concerns with development more broadly. Most of the cases are really about NIMBY (i.e., Not in My Backyard) issues and not about generating a more environmentally sustainable approach to economic development or promoting effective environmental regulation at the national level. In fact, a very traditional definition of sustainable development is employed that does not call into question the economic growth paradigm, which has been at the heart of many of the antiglobalization protests. The book also fails to demonstrate how pervasive CDR is beyond these select cases within and outside of Vietnam.

O'Rourke's CDR model gives primary agency to the role of communities in bringing about effective environmental regulations and in increasing the capacity of state regulatory agencies. State-centered explanations that deal with the command-and-control approach, in which the state promulgates regulations and then is able to enforce them, are dismissed. As a result, the book does not consider alternative state-centered explanations that focus on the role of the state in creating the appropriate institutional context. Such explanations might suggest that before communities can act locally, the state must provide the appropriate “rules of the game” to empower these communities. In fact, O'Rourke's analysis inadvertently shows that communities were only able to initiate a regulatory process because of state-directed institutional change. In the 1990s, the state introduced a set of new environmental laws (e.g., 1993 Law on Environmental Protection) and procedures for monitoring and enforcement that created favorable conditions for the public to complain about industrial pollution and for compensation to be provided to those who suffered economic hardship from the pollution.

The book concludes with a clear set of policy prescriptions for policymakers concerning how to strengthen CDR-like processes in Vietnam and in other developing countries. These conclusions focus on devising mechanisms for community input and strengthening the role of NGOs, along with improving state capacity of the regulatory agencies and developing incentives for firms to engage in pollution prevention. Yet, while CDR is depicted as a bottom-up process, the conclusion takes an abrupt turn and promotes top-down “intentional” policy prescriptions to broaden community participation in the decision-making process on environmental issues and to strengthen state capacity. What remains ambiguous is whether communities first need to mobilize before international organizations can intervene or whether international organizations can also initiate a community-driven process.

Overall, O'Rourke's claim that communities are vibrant is persuasive. More so, the book provides a refreshing reminder that researchers and policymakers should not overlook the power and commitment of communities for promoting effective environmental policy in developing countries. Given the growing awareness for improving state capacity in developing countries, O'Rourke should also be commended for providing an additional mechanism (i.e., CDR) for strengthening the administrative capacity of state agencies responsible for regulating industrial activities and thus enforcing environmental regulations.