The chapter continues the analysis of social structure in the transition from the CAPE to the modern era, but looking at the institutions that emerged within the transition period itself. It looks at the synergies and contradictions within the unfolding institutional structure of modernity, and contrasts this turbulence with the relative harmony in the institutional structure of the CAPE era. Each institution is analysed for how it works across the three domains: interhuman, transnational and interpolity/state.

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.