Wi i TranaraWiari nnsun uradai iiori iouTaranue 437example, imagined a transnational revolution that would sweep away the state because
the state’s only function was the use of vio lence to maintain the power of capital over
labor. With their pronounced emphasis on economics over security, radicals may be
able to accommodate such transnational issues as communicable diseases, the environ-
ment, human rights, and transnational crime. A prominent radical interpretation of
both communicable disease and the environment is that economic deprivation and per-
ceived relative economic deprivation are the root causes of disparities in health care
and environmental degradation. Human rights violations, according to radical thought,
are caused by elites and privileged groups trying to maintain their edge over the less
fortunate.
Constructivists have presented a dif er ent approach for analyzing transnational
issues. They have alerted us to the nuances of the changing discourse embedded in
discussions of health, the environment, and human rights. They have illustrated how
both material factors and ideas shape debates over these issues. They have called atten-
tion to the importance of norms in influencing and changing individual and state
be hav ior. More directly than other theorists, constructivists have begun to explore
the varying impacts of these issues on the traditional concepts of the state, national
identity, and sovereignty.
Some feminist international relations theorists make a similar but dif er ent argu-
ment: like constructivists, they interrogate the origins and content of terms like threat.
But feminists go on to ask whether greater participation of women in scientific, aca-
demic, and policy- making pro cesses might not lead to a more productive understanding
not only of threats but also of solutions to transnational challenges. Why, for example,
do “we” tend to respond to threats that are acute and direct but ignore those that are
chronic and indirect, irrespective of the magnitude of potential harm? Why privilege
harm that results in death as opposed to harm that abridges the quality of an afected
person’s life? Why speak of “threats” at all?
As transnational issues assume greater salience in the twenty- first century, all inter-
national relations theories will need modification and reformulation.
Wii TranaraWiari nnsun urad ai
iiori iouTaranue
Recognition of transnational issues and their efects has led some scholars and pundits
to conclude that we need to conceptualize governance pro cesses diferently than we
have in the past. The pro cesses of interaction among the vari ous actors in international
politics are now more frequent and intense, ranging from conventional ad hoc co -
operation and formal orga nizational collaboration to nongovernmental and network