IR Theory for the 21st Century (Or How to Take Nature Seriously

The fact that we are facing irreversible climate change in the twenty-first century -- not to mention our collective experience with the COVID-19 pandemic -- has woken International Relations (IR) up to the realisation that the subfield has not paid enough attention such matters. As a result, IR is much more concerned about nature now. Recent years have seen the rise of the desirability of scholarship connecting climate or other natural shocks to instability or disruption to supply chains and more interest in domestic and international climate change governance and regimes in general (see e.g., Beeson 2021; Busby 2022; Dalby 2020, 2022; Elliot 2021, 2015; Voeten 2022 etc.; Kwong 2023; McDonald 2021; Sikorsy 2024 Krampe 2019; Depledge 2023). As overdue as such research is, however, much of it is policy focused, viewing these challenges as security problems and/or issues to be addressed by institutions of global governance rather than dynamics that fundamentally challenge the way we have theorised world politics.