ABSTRACT
Jon Rosales Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies, St. Lawrence University, 23 Romoda
The world is ordered; the world is disordered. Depending on how one views the world, this simple distinction can lead to vastly different policy outcomes. Those who hold the worldview that the world of humankind is innately ordered, work for cooperative social arrangements achieved through reasoned negotiation. Those who hold the worldview that the world of humankind is innately disordered, maintain that a hegemonic power is needed to impose order on an otherwise disordered world. The former view is shared by multilateralists, possibly inspired by the ancient Greek notions of civic virtue, and more recently agreeing with the new institutionalists school of political science (Keohane 1984, Haas 1990, and Ostrom et al. 1990). The latter adhere to a line of reasoning put forth by Thomas Hobbes and his successors, such as Garret Hardin with his widely held worldview of the tragedy of the commons (Hardin 1968). The former advocate cooperation, global citizenship, and enlightened exchange; the later security, unilateral control, and material exchange. Climate change challenges both worldviews.
