Abstract
As emerging non-traditional security issues in global politics such as environmental crises offer new avenues of research on the state-society behaviour in non-western political orders, this study applies an integrated conceptual framework of Copenhagen School’s securitization, constructivism and green theory in international relations theory (IRT). One of the key objectives of the study includes to provide a theoretical explanation on the role of non-state agencies in ameliorating the environmental condition. With the support of an illustrative case study, the researcher argues in line with the finding of Acharya and Buzan (2007) that there is no need to replace Western IRTs, but they should be enriched with more voices from non-western political orders. In other words, the emerging non-traditional issues in global politics are not “noises” to weaken existing IRTs but “voices” to strengthen their theoretical foundation.
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The data collected for this study were during the fieldwork in China from September 2016–December 2016 and September 2017–July 2018 periods, through fieldwork interviews, surveys, participatory observation and library visits. Corresponding author Correspondence to Justin Joseph
Notes
“Post-Western idea in IR is to ensure the transformation of the discipline into something that actually captures and explains the relationships among states and societies in all parts of the world: East, West, North, South. Hence, a global IR perspective on IR theory does not seek to displace existing theories, but challenges them to broaden their horizons and acknowledge the place and role of the non-Western world” (Acharya 2017).
Inter-subjectivity denotes the relation between two or more stakeholders. It is understood in social science as the construction of meanings or identities through the mutual interaction between diverse agents and structures in the given spatiotemporal settings. See Scheff et al. (2015).
Kaplan (1994).
Distinguishing environmentalism and ecologism; Andrew Dobson opines that “ecologism takes seriously the universal condition of the finitude of the planet and asks what kinds of political, economic and social practices are (a) possible and (b) desirable within that framework, while environmentalism severely lacks such a comprehensive outlook” (Dobson 2006).
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I extend my sincere gratitude to all interview sources and others in China who supported this study.
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The fieldwork was carried out during the exchange scholarship (September 2016–December 2016) and during the ‘general scholar visiting programme’ awarded by the ministry of human resources govt. of India and the Ministry of Education, PRC from September 2017 to July 2018.
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Joseph, J. State, Society and Environmental Security in International Relations Theory. Fudan J. Hum. Soc. Sci. 16, 171–190 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-022-00363-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-022-00363-9