Security,environment, and global governance

Abstract

Security, though an admirable objective, remains forever elusive. In common with all other forms of life, the human species is subject to the inherently chaotic behaviour of the earth system in which it exists. The idea of international security is rooted in a world in which cooperative communities of nation states are run by governments in broad control of their populations. But the relationship between these networks of states and the guarantee of security is made less certain by the continuing changes in the ways power and information are distributed. Perhaps even greater threats to security are posed by environmental degradation, whether deliberate or unwitting. This review discusses these threats and suggests that they will only be overcome by increasingly global systems of governance.