ABSTRACT
International relations discourse maps an uncomfortable domain. Evident on the one hand is the rock-hard necessity of managing the global commons upon which any healthy present and future ultimately depends. Equally apparent on the other hand is a striking absence of the kinds of universally shared values, theories, and practices that would allow this managerial work to take place as a matter of course. And so, while cooperation seems necessary, competition, conflict, and failures of consensus seem inevitable.
