Review by Choice Review
McAllister (Univ. of San Diego School of Law) gives an excellent description of the interrelationship among several agencies and branches of federal and state governments in Brazil in their approaches to the enforcement of environmental law. The star of the system is the Ministerio Publico, or public prosecutor. This is a largely independent agency, which exists both at the federal and state levels. The public prosecutor responds to violations of the law, whether committed by private companies or individuals, or by government agencies or individual public servants. McAllister describes the ways by which the prosecutors have achieved independence, including organized lobbying of the 1988 constitutional convention and the advising of legislators in the crafting of statutes. Federal and state agencies specifically created to deal with environmental questions have earned a reputation for ineffectiveness, often because of political interference by the executive. But with a zealous Ministerio Publico at their backs, some have reasserted themselves. McAllister details the relations between these agencies, the Ministerio Publico, and federal and state courts in a clear, interesting manner. The reader may be pleasantly surprised to learn that environmental law enforcement in Brazil now has some teeth. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate, research, and professional collections. D. Schwam-Baird University of North Florida
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
