ABSTRACT
The central aim of this chapter is to introduce students of IR to several of the key themes delineating the more popular lines of ecological thought. It should be clearly stated from the outset that what, exactly, constitutes ecological thinking may be understood either quite narrowly or very broadly. The restrictive view focuses on theoretical developments following the birth of ecology as a natural science, in the nineteenth century; from this perspective, ecological thought is construed as a naturalist philosophy emphasizing the homeostatic character of nature (Hayward 1994:33), from which ethical and social prescriptions can be derived.
