Ecology and the State: Seductive Theory and Limits to Reality

Abstract

This article examines the potential of environment as a “variable” for theories of international relations, and critiques one of the better-developed attempts to include environmental issues into theories of international politics. Based upon the integrationist rhizome of Deleuze and Guattari and its use by theorists to develop an environmentally oriented critique of sovereignty and the state, this essay investigates the potential of such models to become yet another synthetic a priori assumption in IR. Utilizing Baudrillard and his logics of both simulation and seduction, this paper examines how such a model becomes an attempt to create a reality, a truth that can be mapped even if not seen. The rhizomic model and its numerous applications can seduce the theorist and become a heroic practice. This practice gives both nature and the rhizome an ontology of their own, rather than recognizing them in an alternative format, as a simulation. By recognizing the representational elements of such a model, caution can be exercised against the development of a “new IR” which constrains and contains thought in much the same way as elements of traditional IR.