In April 1997 a group of social scientists in Germany came together to form a task force on institutional dimensions of global environmental change. At the time they were all engaged in research projects funded by the German Research Council (DFG) within its Priority Programme "Global Environmental Change - Social and Behavioural Dimensions". Coming initially from the fields of political science and sociology they were motivated by a common interest in advancing knowledge on processes of institutional change relevant to major environmental problems. By exploring the capacity of diverse disci­ plinary approaches to explain institutional change and by exchanging knowledge on environmental institutions in various social, cultural and political settings they aimed to shed fresh light on the complex dynamics of institu­ tions. By 1999 the task force had grown in numbers and scope to include geographers, cultural anthropologists and cultural psychologists, reflecting a unique and broad spectrum of social science research into institutions and the environment. The new members brought not only new disciplinary perspectives to the group, but also an interest in a wider range of institutions func­ tioning at different societal levels and in new cultural settings, including de­ veloping countries. This book is the principal product of the task force.