Global Environment Politics

Global Environment Politics

The modern world is more unpredictable and complex than ever before.  Most people speculate that we are living in a global disorder and a chaotic international system. There still lacks a world government, and the USA cannot rule the global environment as it did in the 1990s because of the emergence of new players in the international markets, which makes it much more complex to identify current power relations. Globalization is encouraging the reemergence of nationalism since new emerging powers are seeking to gain political powers by national (re) affirmation. Western powers, especially in Europe, are trying to curb the rise of racist, xenophobic, and racist forces due to their inability to deal with the financial crisis effectively. The international community is faced with diverse problems that are having some relation to the environment, and unless there is cooperation, this chaos might become worse than ever seen before (Pereira, 2015). Different tools can be useful in studying global environmental politics. The various sub-themes in the study are global governance, civil society; or, climate changes, which will be discussed detail and their effects on international relations.

In simple terms, global governance encourages some to enquire about how the world is organized and how authority and power are exercised, and the significance of adjustments, whether wholesale and incremental, can make the world better. The line dividing politics, society, and economy has become increasingly blurred as social factors begin to take up more political relevance (Pereira, 2015). However, globalization processes have lessened the distinction between international and domestic politics. In this framework, civil societies that were once ennobled by national borders are now stretched beyond state boundaries. All organizations that are defined as transnational or global have been experiencing an increase in numbers as well as influence. Civil societies are becoming significant players in global governance. Lastly, the environmental issues cut across substantial problems such as economics and security and have thus become a worldwide concern with the UN Security Council commencing discussions on climate change in 2007 and have since become a recurring theme in G20 summits. Drug wars, water wars, oil wars, climate change, and deforestation have all become standard terms in international relations. The environment, in particular, natural resources have become increasingly linked with security, which is now a controversial issue in international politics (Pereira, 2015).

Literature Review

The industrial revolution was driven by agriculture, urbanization, and technological development as population growth rose as a result of the increase in capita demand and the consumption of goods that need learning resources to manufacture.  Climate change for the past 60 years worsened the situation as water usage across all continents as increased as twice as fast as the population. This, coupled with other factors such as an increase in GDP and demand for energy, has led to the scarcity of water in different regions around the world.  Security and economic development are, therefore, under threat due to climatic changes (Jordan et al., 2015).  It is a fact that humans are finding it hard to be in control of climate change despite the resources invested in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Emissions are continuously increasing, which reduces the probability of remaining 2 degrees over preindustrial temperatures (Jordan et al., 2015). Emission reductions need new and more aggressive forms of governance to be achieved through mechanisms and modes to direct society.  Most analysts assume that innovative uprisings would come from an inclusive global climate regime. The 2009 Copenhagen conference was a failure, and some scholars had already changed their perceptive on the plan of a single monocentric administration that would put into consideration different interlocking”regime complexes” focussing on energy, climate, and trade (Jordan et al., 2015).

Environmental threats are mostly international and indirect manufacturers in and outside states. The protection of the environment involves a fresh perception of the relationship between societies, markets, and States. These perceptions with nature and extent of uncertainties, long term sales, and the unfair distribution of costs and impacts make it to asses and solve environmental issues. These issues are integral to human security as they are sensitive issues of environmental and social injustices that have links with unequal power relations and a possible route to emancipation, which is connected with developing nations and already developed countries. However, developing nations are the first ones to experience more significant environmental problems (Methmann,2014).  Human-made security hazards pass through national borders. Protection of the environment and poverty are the most challenging hurdles of the century, so if there is a failure in solving any of these problems, there is the probability the other factor will be undermined. Challenges in the environment have the potential to affect most countries in Africa as well as other regions in Asia and Latin America where poverty is a reemerging social problem, which is sometimes synonymous with increased instability and insecurity. This uncertainty is causing an increase in failed states since most developing countries are dependent on natural resources.  Halts in food production, scarcity in natural resources, and spread of disease may weaken the political powers of governments, which in turn leads to civil and international conflicts. These conflicts may fuel the spread of autocratic movements and radical ideologies. Developing countries will thus be under considerable risk of trying to survive different challenges, including disasters, immigrants which threaten borders in the US and Europe.  This pressures the economy and raises queries on citizenship, sovereignty, and citizenship (Pereira, 2015). The environment is likely the most multidimensional topic in international relationships and international relations. In the 21^st century, the world is faced with diverse geopolitical challenges, and the need for cooperation across all borders is emerging as a critical factor. For instance, on water issues, there is a need to associate global governance and water management with improving the governance of different factors leading to pressures on the water like population growth and climatic change (Pereira, 2015).

Civil Society.

In the Aristotelian idea, ‘politike koinonia,’ there was no involvement of separation of state and society or community and society. During the enlightenment, civil society became a helm different from the state (Perret, 2016). Civil society is a medium where people with similar self-interests interact as they attempt to satisfy their desires and provide a realm where people’s interests are structured and provided an institutional form (Perret, 2016).  Since the beginning of the 18^th century, the definition of civil society has had a complicated history. However, there can be the identification of three concepts that are:  Marxist, liberal, and Kantian. Classical liberalism describes civil society as a private entity of freedom that is free from the state provided by the economy, markets, and property. Civil societies cannot replace traditional bodies of political representation (Lietzmann, 2017). Over the years, these societies have represented opinions struggling to reach political agendas.

Lispschuz described that in International relations, civil society is becoming a functional response to the reduced willingness and ability of the government system to provide essential welfare services to the people (Klinke, 2018). This concept has been utilized by pioneering studies to describe how governance has been overthrown by governments, with globalization contributing positively to the disaggregation of authority in states in the formation of new and more flexible methods of social control (Klinke, 2018). This shift was analyzed as being a transition period to governance from governments without governments in which nations have less grip on coercion, and they have to share authority with other sectors such as NGO’S,  international organizations, and social movements. There is a combination of both decentralization and privatization ideologies that results in regulation that is multilevel held together by private and public networks. Governments are becoming less capable of meeting governance demands. Currently, Gramscian theoretical insights provide a better perceptive on the uncertain role of civil society’s play in globalization (Lietzmann, 2017).

Global Governance

During early 2000, scholars initiated the study of fresh ideas from neoliberal globalization to transnational resistance, which also included efforts to resist global governance. There is an argument that contemporary globalization makes conditions less difficult for movements to test neoliberal governance. Different scholars argue that these hurdles amount to only “small perturbations” when adjusting to capitalism. Under this broad debate are opportunities and challenges faced by various networks of the alienated and their allies as they make efforts to change neoliberal global governance (Ciplet, 2019). Around fifteen million individuals globally are dependent on the informal sector. Most of these people in the informal sector fight for their rights through cooperatives who are sometimes contracted by municipalities. Numerous studies have made a case for all workers highlighting struggles they face in different nations as counter-movements against neoliberal policies. This also includes policies that are related to monopolization and privatization of different businesses (Ciplet, 2019). Environmental problems are now shared globally, but global governance institutions mostly have few effects caused by political compromises innate to negotiations, which generally translates that suggested solutions tend not to be effective ecologically. Successful institutions have done so because of the unexpected pattern of conditions and events, especially among critical political groups.  While more inclusive and equitable representation would provide legitimacy, it would be more desirable to create more effective policies.  Transnational neopluralism contributes to this debate by explanatory. The analytical focus has to change to understand authentic world political operations, especially those that are transnational. Transnational processes are not only processes that cross borders but also involve multimodal interactions that create patterns that are quasi regularized, filtering input, and turning them to negative and positive outputs(Ciplet, 2019).

Methods

The paper was to determine the tools that International relations provide to study global environmental politics. Three subthemes were discussed, including global governance, civil society, and climatic change. Three methods of collection of data were utilized: first, a search was conducted to establish relevant studies, relevance appraisal, and evaluation. Lastly, relevant data was determined. The chosen appropriate sampling technique selected for the study was systematic sampling, as data required for the study was based on IR tools that facilitate the study of global environmental politics. The advantage of using this sampling technique is that it is easy to implement and understand. This is particularly useful in studies that are characterized by budget constraints. Inclusion criteria were all articles describing International relations and its different tools and published their results online on the impact of these tools in studying global environmental politics. Five specific items on the various tools of international relations were analyzed. Five articles were picked to summarize the tools that IR provides to study global environmental politics. Three of the studies were from North America, while 2 of the case studies were from Europe and The Asia Pacific region.

When looking for original and relevant studies, there was the creation of specifications on how to identify keywords. A survey began to study proper research published since 2011 on international relations and appropriate tools to study global environmental politics. The keywords used in the hunt for relevant data was “International relations” and “environmental politics.” Papers that were relevant and related were filtered after the first results. Once keywords were determined, online databases were used to find relevant studies. The databases include Google Scholar, ProQuest, and Springer.  The search phrases were used to search for pertinent papers of many databases

Results

Throughout the article, it has been established that ambiguous ways characterized globalization, and those environmental factors are essential effects accompanying globalization. Different aspects of International relations affect global environmental politics. Environmental topics touch on diverse issues and how these issues can cause global insecurity as well as providing opportunities for global cooperation.  This establishes the notion that globalization and geopolitics are compatible and complement each other and are essential in understanding current complexities being experienced in the world. The environment is a critical tool for international relations and shapes social interactions, especially in politics (Pereira, 2015). The world is increasingly becoming multipolar, and thus there is the emergence of other powers, thus eliminating the possibility of hegemonic powers. There is a balance of power that is interdependent. However, the multipolar world will function solely if political forces commit to establishing governance institutions. Economic activity is identified as an essential attribute of civil society, which enables one to identify the neoliberal vision of the role of non-state factors in global governance. Marxist ideologies identify civil societies as sites where social inequalities are reproduced and can shed light on different issues, including the purpose of non-state elements within Neoliberalism (Lietzmann, 2017). The neoliberal conception on the role of non-state actors implies that the incorporation of these actors can be a potential challenge to democracy in both substantive and formal dimensions. On the official side, it poses enormous problems to the accountability and legitimacy of the players involved.

In contrast, on the practical side, state participants are included in the implementation and elaboration of policies that are more likely to erode the government’s capacity to provide essential services and lessen the gap between poor and rich countries. The key to describing global environmental politics and policymaking in politics and the development of effective policies is not in neo-institutional structures or strengthening of global governance. It is, however, found in describing the never-ending power struggles, which include exercising an influence on interest groups and the potential of value groups whether they are opposing and supporting environmental policies to lead critical debates.

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References

Ciplet, D. (2019). Means of the Marginalized: Embedded Transnational Advocacy Networks and the Transformation of Neoliberal Global Governance. International Studies Quarterly, 63(2), 296-309.

International Relations in promoting a concerted international system. Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional,

Jordan, A. J., Huitema, D., Hildén, M., Van Asselt, H., Rayner, T. J., Schoenefeld, J. J., … & Boasson, E. L. (2015). Emergence of polycentric climate governance and its future prospects. Nature Climate Change, 5(11), 977-982.

Klinke, A., Renn, O., & Lehners, J. P. (2018). Ethnic conflicts and civil society: proposals for a new era in Eastern Europe. Routledge.

Lietzmann, H. J. (2017). Citizenship, Democracy, and the Iconology of Political Representation: A Plea for an Iconological Turn in Democratic Theory. In Shaping Citizenship (pp. 55-70). Routledge.

Methmann, C. (2014). Visualizing climate-refugees: race, vulnerability, and resilience in global liberal politics. International Political Sociology, 8(4), 416-435.

Perret, V. (2006). Civil society in international relations: a typology of roles and political functions.