This forum traces the emergence of international negotiations as study sites in the field of global environmental politics, from its early days until the present. It sets the scene for the research articles in this special section, outlining why their contributions are timely, and takes advantage of advances in methods and conceptual analysis. The articles in this special section suggest the value of direct observation and ethnography in driving conceptual innovation and understanding how power and influence are exercised in such settings (including by the traditionally powerless). In doing so, they encourage debate over and offer new insights into processes the GEP field has been studying for close to fifty years.

There is mounting concern about a global governance deficit for managing international environmental problems and sustainable development. This article reviews the proposals and justifications for reform, and suggests an alternative model of global governance based on diffuse networks of diverse actors performing multiple and overlapping functions. Some reform proposals are offered to improve the prospects of network-based global governance.

This essay reviews Malthusian themes in current discourses about resource scarcity and environmental security. It argues that these themes are unjustifiably dominant in current discussions, and suggests that increased attention should be to paid to discourses revolving around Sustainable Development, as well as on institutional designs that can influence patterns of resource consumption and collective responses to perceptions of resource scarcity