1. Especially valid empirical evidence can be provided by a number of regional seas regimes that share several basic features with the Caspian case: i.e. large ecosystem, preservation of which requires concerted governance, multiplicity of actors some of whom are at odds (and even in armed conflict) with others or are for different reasons excluded from negotiations, complexity and interconnection of issues.
2. The theory of environmental diplomacy is a relatively new branch of international relations, which has emerged in the last decade in response to an avalanche of international environmental agreements in the 1990s. Several works are of particular interest: Sjöstedt, G., ed. (1993)International Environmental NegotiationSage Publications, Newbury Park (Calif.); Benedick, R. (1991)Ozone Diplomacy: New Directions in Safeguarding the PlanetHarvard University Press, Cambridge (MA.); Susskind, L. (1994)Environmental DiplomacyOxford University Press, New York, Oxford; Tolba, M. with I.Rummel-Bulska (1998)Global Environmental Diplomacy: Negotiating Environmental Agreements for the World,1973–1992The MIT Press, Cambridge (MA.).
3. See Sjöstedt, G. (1993) Special and typical attributes of international environmental negotiations. in: G. Sjöstedt, U. Svedin and B.H. Aniansson (eds.)International Environmental Negotiations: Process Issues and Contexts Utrikespolitiska Institutet and Forskiningsradsnamnden, Stockholm, pp. 26–33; and Rogers, K. (1999) Sowing the seeds of cooperation in environmentally induced conflicts, in Suliman, M. (ed.) Ecology Politics and Violent Conflict. Zed Books Ltd, London and New York, pp. 259–272.
4. Analysis of the role of argument and evidence in policymaking was provided by Majone. G. (1989)Evidence Argument and Persuasion in the Policy Process Yale University Press, New Haven and London. On the role of social learning see Sabatier, P. (1987) Knowledge, policy-oriented learning and policy change,Knowledge: Creation Diffusion Utilization 8 (4), pp. 649–692. The role of scientific perception in shaping policy agenda of Mediterranean countries has been analyzed by Haas, P. (1990)Saving the Mediterranean: The Politics of International Environmental Cooperation Columbia University Press, New York.
5. Young, O. (1989)International CooperationCornell University Press, Ithaca.