The Environment— Protecting
the Global Commons
The environment powerfully affects the quality of our individual and collective lives.
Every person, regardless of age, national origin, culture, or level of education, needs access
to clean air and water, and beyond these needs, access to physical space in which to live
and prosper. Wherever they live, human beings convert some portion of the natu ral world
to energy or objects. Many of these natu ral resources, such as timber, are renewable, and
In this chapter, we introduce three representative transnational issues: the envi
ronment, global health, and transnational crime. For each issue, we highlight inter
connectedness, the interactions among vari ous international actors, and the impacts
of these changes on core concepts and the study of international relations. What is
new is that these are now global interests, and they often demand global responses.
How can we think conceptually about transnational issues? How do these issues inter
sect with traditional conceptions of sovereignty, security, and economics? Who are
the vari ous actors with interests in these issues? How would a realist, a liberal, a
radical, and a constructivist address these issues?
LEarninG ObjECTivEs■ Explain what makes the environment, health, and crime transnational
issues.
■ Analyze how the concepts of collective goods and sustainability help us
think about environmental issues.
■ Analyze how environmental issues might lead to armed conflict.
■ Identify the factors that make communicable diseases a particularly
difficult transnational issue to manage.
■ Describe what technologies facilitate the spread of transnational or ga
nized crime.
■ Explain what prescriptions international relations theories might offer to
possibly reverse the detrimental consequences of transnational threats.398 CHAPTER ElEvEn ■ T ransnaTiOnaL issuEs