9 - Pluralist Constraints

Summary

In Chapter 9, I focus on the pluralist elements of international society and isolate the pluralist logic of international action in relation to environmental issues and values, what I have referred to as Green Westphalia. In a first step, I explore the pluralist logic of coexistence and the extent to which it can give rise of sustained international environmental cooperation. I then move on to consider whether the emergence of the environment as a security threat (e.g. climate change) could translate into a distinctly pluralist response to global environmental problems. In the final section of this chapter, I take this argument one step further and explore whether environmental securitisation could engage great power management, a classic pluralist institution in international society, as the source for international environmental action and leadership.