Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Abbas Sarvestani ¹
• Mohammadreza Mohammadi ²

¹ PhD, Department of Regional Studies, Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

² PhD, Department of International Relations, Faculty of Law, Theology and Political Science, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Research Problem and Background
Contemporary environmental crises have precipitated unprecedented primary and secondary threats to humanity, placing these issues at the core of global politics. The devastating impact of these threats on global health, economy, security, and geopolitics—manifesting in intensified unemployment, widening economic inequalities, and associated domestic political challenges such as the rise of populism, authoritarian regimes, the undermining of free trade, regional conflicts, forced migration, violence, organized crime, and the risks of terrorism and fundamentalism—has fundamentally transformed the traditional, military-centric, and zero-sum understanding of peace and security. This evolution has given rise to a new, comprehensive concept of environmental security that encompasses not only military and political dimensions but also economic, social, and environmental components. Given the absence of a supreme international political authority to resolve these issues and the limitations of nation-states in responding to such transnational challenges, the responsibility for ensuring environmental security is increasingly shifting towards a vast, transnational, multilateral, and multi-level network of global governance.
This article is situated within the scholarly debates on environmental security and global governance. While traditional security studies focused on state-centric military threats, the post-Cold War era expanded the security agenda to include environmental dimensions. Concurrently, the literature on global governance emerged to describe the complex systems of rule-making and implementation involving both state and non-state actors at multiple levels. This research bridges these two discourses, examining how global governance structures are being shaped to address environmental security challenges and, crucially, what role nation-states retain within this evolving framework.
Research Objective: This study aims to elucidate the meaning and conceptualization of environmental security and to analyze the phenomenon of global governance in this domain. Its primary objective is to critically examine the position and role of nation-states within this novel architecture of global politics and international relations, specifically concerning environmental security.
Research Methodology
This qualitative research employs an analytical-descriptive methodology, grounded in a critical review of existing literature. It synthesizes theories from international relations, security studies, and global environmental politics. The analysis involves conceptual investigation to define core terms like environmental security and global governance. Furthermore, it examines empirical evidence, including case studies of international environmental agreements (e.g., the Paris Agreement), statistical data trends on environmental degradation and cooperation, and comparative analysis of different countries' experiences with ecological crises. This multi-faceted approach allows for a comprehensive assessment of the dynamics between state sovereignty and transnational governance mechanisms.
Findings and Discussion: The analysis reveals that global governance, whether viewed positively as a novel mechanism to tackle globalization's problems or critically as a political project of global dominance, has instigated three fundamental shifts in world politics concerning environmental security. First, it describes global policies that are no longer the exclusive domain of national governments but are shaped by a network of transnational and sub-national non-state actors. Second, global governance policies are formulated through new forms of cooperation within networks involving both states and non-institutions, extending beyond traditional state-negotiated binding legal instruments. Finally, global governance has created diverse networks and clusters of rule-making and implementation, where authority is distributed both horizontally among various actors and vertically across transnational, national, and sub-national levels.
Regarding the future of global governance for environmental security, several scenarios emerge from the findings. Some theorists, citing the borderless nature of environmental problems and declining trust in the capacity of nation-states, posit that transnational actors will increasingly collaborate to fill the void, potentially leading to a global governance system that gradually supplants state-centric governance. The examined data, including the role of agreements like the Paris Accord in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, supports the significant positive impact that international cooperation and global governance can have on enhancing environmental security.
Conversely, the findings also highlight a countervailing trend. The rise of nationalism and geopolitical tensions threatens to erode the space that fostered transnational governance in recent decades. This shift towards nationalist and authoritarian domestic politics constrains the ability of sub-state and non-state actors to operate across borders, suggesting a potential overall contraction in civil society space and non-governmental activism within global governance for environmental security.
Conclusion
This article argues that the ultimate trajectory likely lies between these two extremes. It predicts a continued coexistence of multiple levels of global governance for environmental security. As expanding environmental threats like resource scarcity and natural disasters elevate ecological issues to high politics and increase their weight in domestic political discourse and electoral agendas internationally, the accumulation of environmental crises will likely pressure the global governance regime. This pressure may drive a shift from soft, normative laws towards harder, more binding and restrictive international environmental regulations, imposing greater constraints on nation-states. Therefore, while the state's monopoly in governing environmental security is being challenged and transformed, it is not rendered obsolete. Instead, states are compelled to navigate and negotiate their role within an increasingly complex, multi-actor global governance landscape aimed at securing a fragile planetary environment.

Keywords

• Environmental Security
• Global Governance
• Nation-State
• Transnational Actors
• International Relations
• Environmental Politics
• Multilateralism
• Non-State Actors
• Paris Agreement
• Ecological Crisis

Main Subjects

• Development and Security