This is a unit in environmental politics. It divides into three parts. Part 1 explores the connection between politics and environmental resources (dependency, scarcity and plenty). Part 2 looks at how these general connections have manifested themselves in particular political forms, paying special attention to the formative role of technology and economics in this process. Part 3 looks at politics and the environment today. It considers the major issues - resource security, climate change, population growth - and the capacity of contemporary politics in its neo-liberal and neo-conservative forms to generate adequate responses to such challenges.