| Description |
This paper is entitled, A New Realism: Global Environmentalism As Challenge to Traditional Notions of International Security. It blends my two major fields of study, political science and geography. The fundamental assumption of the paper is that globally, environmental degradations and crises are known and arising and that the magnitude and scope of these problems is so great that no nation of the world, especially the so-called "Leader of the Free World,"-- the United States-- can afford to ignore them or bury them under the guise of "continued research." The time for action is now. Historically (at least since the Treaty of Westphalia) with few exceptions, the dominant methodology of political scientists has been Realist. This school of thought, founded on the writings of Niccolo Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, E.H. Carr, and others, contends that the world in which nation-states live and operate is an anarchic world of power. This view, I counter, is inapplicable to environmental crises. Within the paper I discuss several "founding fathers" of the modern environmental movement, including Aldo Leopold, Garrett Hardin, Barry Commoner, and others. I then detail what I believe to be the two most overriding, almost-ali-inclusive, environmental concerns-- the population explosion and global warming. Within the latter portion of the paper, I explain how the Realist paradigm has failed and will continue to fail relative to halting or changing dangerous, most likely lethal, enviro-trends. In lieu of this model, a most appropriate one in post-WWII American-European history up until 1988 (or so), I present various alternatives, among them interdependence, integration, and grassroots activism. The problems facing humanity and the rest of the Earth are pressing. The Realist model is old news. Let us let it rest in peace and get on with the business of changing our ways. |
