Theories of International Relations

1
Theories of International Relations

• Week 20 Global Governance IV Environmentalists
  and Greens

2
Reminders

• A reminder that this class resumes in Term 3 with
  two lectures on IPE, a break for the Bank Holiday
  and a final class on revision.
• Those of you doing the assessed essay should note
  that the deadline, as listed in the PAIS
  undergraduate handbook 2008-2009, is 28 April at
  noon.
• Past exam papers are now posted on the module
  webpage.

3
Introduction

• International Relations and IR theory have never
  considered environmental issues or perspectives
  central.
• From the 1970s, with perception of increased
  transboundary ecological problems, a dedicated
  sub-field in IR focused on common pool resources
  (e.g. fishing, atmosphere) emerges.
• This work has grown with concerns about climate
  change, ozone depletion, and biodiversity
  compromise.
• Most of this work has focused on regimes, largely
  from perspective of Neoliberal Institutionalism.
• But by the end of last decade an alternative
  green IR theory had started to emerge. This
  challenged assumptions, things to study, values
  and analytical claims of IR.
• Emergence is similar to feminist theory, but here
  concern is not gender blindness but ecological
  blindness of IR theory.

4
Outline

• Introduction
• Rise of Green Political Theory
• Internationalization
• Green IR Theory
• Tensions
• Falkner US Hegemony
• Main Points and Next Time

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Rise of Green Theory 1 of 3

• Overall, green theory has emerged through
• increasing global economic and ecological
  interdependence
• the emergence of global ecological problems
• climate change
• the thinning of the ozone layer
• the erosion of the Earths biodiversity
• Some historical developments
• 1960s side-effects of rapid economic growth
• 1970s limits to growth debate
• 1980s Emergence of green parties
• 1990s Challenge to liberalism and socialism

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Rise of Green Theory 2 of 3

• Green theory offered critique of capitalism and
  state socialism. Both regarded as versions of
  industrialism.
• Both assumed Earths resources could support
  unlimited growth, and that growth and technology
  were desirable and inevitable.
• Green theorists have highlighted the costs of
  these assumptions, disputing this vision of
  progress.
• Green thinkers have attacked instrumental
  relationship to non-human nature.
• See this as anthropocentrism or human chauvinism,
  which assumes humans are apex of evolution and
  have the only worth.
• Green theorys critique of instrumental thinking
  is also found in some neo-Marxist thinkers such
  as Habermas (his critique of strategic
  rationality privileged at the expense of
  communicative rationality)
• As noted, for Marx, instrumental reasoning was
  not an issue as long as exploitation in the
  labour process was eliminated.

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Rise of Green Theory 3 of 3

• Greens suggested new ecology-centred or
  ecocentric philosophy.
• This seeks to respect all life forms in their
  distinctiveness, not just as instrumental to
  humans.
• Greens assume we have only partial knowledge of
  the natural world and may never have full
  knowledge.
• For ecocentrics, global governance should
  certainly protect humans, including future
  generations, but it must also include the larger
  ecosystem in all its diversity.

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Internationalization 1 of 3

• Initially, green theory focused on problems of
  state and market, and values of democracy and
  sustainable community.
• More recently, green theory has become more
  transnational and cosmopolitan in its
  orientation.
• It has started to think globally and engage with
  IR theory on global justice, human rights, global
  civil society, and global governance.
• Global environmental justice has become key
  concern.
• Key understanding is that injustices arise when
  environmental costs of flowing from the
  activities and decisions of some actors are
  burdens to innocent third parties (externalities).

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Internationalization 2 of 3

• Environmental injustice can also occur when the
  privileged (classes and nations) take more than
  their share.
• Green theory seeks to reduce both ecological
  challenges/risks, and the unfair burden of them
  experienced by third parties.
• Greens think several things are needed for
  environmental justice.

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Internationalization 3 of 3

• Recognition of greater group affected by
  ecological problems future generations,
  non-human lifeforms.
• Questions related to how to think about concepts
  of inter-general justice and duties to non-human
  lifeforms.
• Policy-making taking the interests of these
  groups above in account.
• Precautionary principles
• where there is a likelihood of environmental
  damage, banning an activity should not require
  full and definitive scientific proof.
• Ensuring fair distribution of risk across the
  different groups being affected.
• Compensation for third parties.

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Green IR Theory 1 of 3

• Green IR theory shares many things with the
  alternative approaches considered last term
• critical, interdisciplinary, explicitly
  normative.
• A number of approaches can be identified
• an IPE wing that provides critical account of
  regimes analysed by Neoliberalism and
• green cosmopolitan wing that suggests new norms
  of environmental justice and green democracy.
• Neorealism and Neoliberalism have absorbed the
  environmental issue area into their pre-given
  approach and have not identified a new analytical
  or normative challenge in green issues.
• Here, the question is, what incentives do states
  have to cooperate or cheat in environmental
  regimes?

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Green IR Theory 2 of 3

• Green IR theory challenged regime analysis on
  five counts
• Conservative or problem-solving purposes served
  by regime theory want to expose how existing
  institutions thwart more ecologically aware
  governance of environmental issues.
• Despite Realist scepticism, environmental regimes
  and cooperation are growing and, contrary to
  Neoliberals, moral norms about environment
  increasingly developing.
• Green approaches generally critical of
  state-centric focus of regime theory, embracing
  wider concern with global capitalism and
  consumerism.

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Green IR Theory 3 of 3

• Green theorists have focused on those actors and
  structures that block or subvert ecologically
  driven regimes.
• E.g. how the global trade regime may undermine
  environmental regimes
• Green theorists have focused on NGOs and
  governance without government institutions.
  Unlike regime analysis, greens also concerned
  with new, hybrid authority (more
  deterritorialised forms of governance).

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Tensions

• However, there are also some tensions within
  Green IR theory with regards to
• Understandings of the role of the state (problem
  vs. solution), and the extent to which the state
  can be greened
• Cosmopolitan vs. communitarian values in the
  protection of the environment and
• Linkages between ecological concerns and
  security.
• Environment as the object of conflict (e.g. oil,
  water)
• Environmental change as a cause of conflict (e.g.
  climate change, desertification etc. contributes
  to the incidence of both internal conflict and
  even inter-state war)
• Idea of security being re-defined to include
  environmental threats (e.g. the securitisation of
  climate change)

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Falkner US Hegemony 1 of 2

• Falkner argues that the US has gone from global
  innovator to a global laggard on environmental
  matters from 1980s to today.
• This is usually explained in terms of post-cold
  war unipolarity and a more unilateral US
  asserting its hegemony.
• Falkner argues that US has always used unilateral
  and multilateral means.
• Theory does not offer a specific link between
  hegemony and policy line in environmental
  governance.

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Falkner US Hegemony 2 of 2

• Given that hegemony does not determine policy,
  Falkner argues that we have to look at US
  domestic politics.
• He suggests much of US foreign environmental
  policy can be seen as an attempt to
  internationalize domestic objectives (or as
  economic protectionism).
• Falkners findings serve to qualify the pessimism
  of green IR theorists with regards to e.g. US
  leadership on climate change and the prospects
  for international cooperation on climate change.

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Main Things Next Time

• The environment has become an increasingly
  important context for discussing global
  governance.
• Most discussions of environment in International
  Relations focus on international regime
  negotiations.
• A distinctive Green IR theory is emerging that
  rejects the views of much of this work.
• Next time we start our discussion of
  International Political Economy.