The Global South and the Environment: Essays in Memory of Marian A.L.Miller

Abstract

I always looked up to Marian Miller as a role model in my own academic work. Marian was just that much further along in her career and was working on similar issues as myself. She was one of the arst scholars to effectively merge studies in international development, international relations, political economy, and the environment. She was blazing an interdisciplinary path that a number of us were to follow. Marian’s background was in international relations and international political economy. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and she was a tenured Associate Professor of political science at the University of Akron, in Ohio, teaching courses on international development and global environmental politics. I was fortunate to get to know Marian in the mid-1990s through discussions we had following panels on global environmental issues and the Global South at the International Studies Association annual meetings. As a relatively new faculty member myself in 1997, I invited Marian to come to speak at my university. Her book, The Third World in Global Environmental Politics,1 had just won the Sprout Award for the best book in international environmental affairs. I was very proud to have had Marian address students and faculty at my university, and she drew a huge crowd. I continued my friendship with Marian, sharing research ideas and sources on topics we were both researching. I also had the privilege of working with Marian on the Global Development Section of the ISA, which she chaired in 1998–99. Marian was also part of the founding editorial team of Global Environmental Politics, along with Peter Dauvergne as Editor, and Marian, myself, and Paul Wapner as Associate Editors. Marian was very dedicated to her work in these endeavors.