This text connects two important subfields in international relations: global environmental politics and the study of sovereignty - the state’s exclusive authority within its territorial boundaries. The authors argue that the relationship between environmental practices and sovereignty is by no means straightforward and in fact elucidates some of the core issues and challenges in world politics at the end of the 20th century. Although a number of international relations scholars have assumed that transnational environmental organizations and institutions are eroding sovereignty, this book makes the case that ecological integrity and state sovereignty are not necessarily in opposition. It shows that the norms of sovereignty are now shifting in the face of attempts to cope with ecological destruction, but that this greening of sovereignty is a socially constructed institution that varies according to time and place, with multiple meanings and changing practices. This text illuminates the complexity of the relationship between sovereignty and environmental matters.