CHAPTER FOURTEEN: World Environment
Study
Chapter 14 examines environmental issues like population growth, resource use, pollution, and pandemics, using the perspectives to parse out different opinions on these subjects. Identity perspectives, for example, see environmental problems as the result of ideational factors, such as how humans think about the Earth and its resources. According to these perspectives, people need to think of themselves less as citizens of a particular state and more as members of the entire human race. While liberal perspectives do not necessarily reject this approach, they are more inclined to trust international institutions to manage collective goods like water resources and clean air. Realist perspectives, finally, extend their emphasis on competition to the environmental realm, pointing out that resources can be scarce and humans will struggle over them. To best manage this conflict, they argue, environmental issues should be decentralized and treated like a competitive market.
Study Questions
- How do the identity perspectives view environmental problems? What type of solutions are they likely to suggest?
- Which diseases are associated with pandemics? What effect have diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria had on development in Africa?
- What was the goal of the Montreal Protocol? Kyoto Protocol? How do the two issues and solutions differ?