ABSTRACT
This first chapter aims to situate the study of environmental questions within the broader context of International Relations (IR) theorizing. It then seeks to provide a brief review of the main theoretical strands in IR thinking about the environment, including the institutionalist study of international cooperation and regime formation, the emergence of ideas on global environmental governance, and the radical critique to which they have been subjected. The chapter concludes with a consideration of what may be regarded as the foundational security concerns of IR as a discipline and the ways in which the relationship between security and environmental degradation have been theorized.
