Destabilizing the environment-conflict thesis

Review of International Studies

Volumn 26, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 271-288

  Barnett, Jon ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0034397225     PISSN: 02602105     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0260210500002710     Document Type: Article

References (83)

1. Jon Barnett, 'Environmental Security and US Foreign Policy', forthcoming in Paul Harris (ed.), Environmental Issues in American Foreign Policy. Geoff Dabelko and P. J. Simmons, 'Environment and Security: Core Ideas and US Government Initiatives', SAIS Review, 17 (1997), pp. 127-46.
2. Jon Barnett, 'Environmental Security and US Foreign Policy', forthcoming in Paul Harris (ed.), Environmental Issues in American Foreign Policy. Geoff Dabelko and P. J. Simmons, 'Environment and Security: Core Ideas and US Government Initiatives', SAIS Review, 17 (1997), pp. 127-46.
3. Sceptical reviews are provided by: Lorraine Elliott, 'Environmental Conflict: Reviewing the Arguments', Journal of Environment and Development, 5 (1996), pp. 149-67; and Nils Gleditsch, 'Armed Conflict and the Environment', Journal of Peace Research, 35 (1998), pp. 381-400. See also Simon Dalby, 'The Environment as Geopolitical Threat: Reading Robert Kaplan's "Coming Anarchy"', Ecumene (1996) 3: pp. 471-96;
4. Sceptical reviews are provided by: Lorraine Elliott, 'Environmental Conflict: Reviewing the Arguments', Journal of Environment and Development, 5 (1996), pp. 149-67; and Nils Gleditsch, 'Armed Conflict and the Environment', Journal of Peace Research, 35 (1998), pp. 381-400. See also Simon Dalby, 'The Environment as Geopolitical Threat: Reading Robert Kaplan's "Coming Anarchy"', Ecumene (1996) 3: pp. 471-96;
5. Sceptical reviews are provided by: Lorraine Elliott, 'Environmental Conflict: Reviewing the Arguments', Journal of Environment and Development, 5 (1996), pp. 149-67; and Nils Gleditsch, 'Armed Conflict and the Environment', Journal of Peace Research, 35 (1998), pp. 381-400. See also Simon Dalby, 'The Environment as Geopolitical Threat: Reading Robert Kaplan's "Coming Anarchy"', Ecumene (1996) 3: pp. 471-96;
6. and Jon Barnett, The Meaning of Environmental Security (London and New York: Zed Books, forthcoming).
7. Peter Gleick, 'Environment, Resources, and International Security and Politics', in Eric Arnett (ed.), Science and International Security (Washington: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1990), pp. 501-23; p. 507.
8. Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jorgen Randers, and William Behrens, The Limits to Growth (New York: Universe Books, 1972).
9. With respect to the question of scarcity it should be noted that scarcity is a relative phenomena. The problem of scarcity is in most cases the problem that comes from the expectation of abundance which is denied for structural economic reasons rather than natural ones; see Murray Bookchin, The Ecology of Freedom (Palo Alto, CA: Cheshire Books, 1982), p. 71.
10. Francisco Magno, 'Environmental Security in the South China Sea', Security Dialogue 28 (1997), pp. 97-112; p. 100.
11. Robert Mandel, The Changing Face of National Security: A Conceptual Analysis (Westport, Greenwood Press, 1994), p. 77.
12. Peter Gleick, 'Environment and Security: The Clear Connections', The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, 47 (1991), pp. 17-21; and Peter Gleick, 'Water and Conflict: Fresh Water Resources and International Security', International Security, 18 (1993), pp. 79-112.
13. Peter Gleick, 'Environment and Security: The Clear Connections', The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, 47 (1991), pp. 17-21; and Peter Gleick, 'Water and Conflict: Fresh Water Resources and International Security', International Security, 18 (1993), pp. 79-112.
14. Gleick, 'The Clear Connections'.
15. Julian Simon, The Ultimate Resource (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981).
16. A clear discussion of this can be found on p. 47 of Anthony McMichael, Planetary Overload: Global Environmental Change and the Health of the Human Species (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
17. On environmental insecurity see Barnett, 'The Meaning of Environmental Security'.
18. Ronnie Lipschutz and John Holdren, 'Crossing Borders: Resource Flows, the Global Environment and International Stability', Bulletin of Peace Proposals, 21 (1990), pp. 121-33.
19. Lipschutz and Holdren, ibid., p. 126.
20. Peter Gleick, 'Environment, Resources, and International Security and Politics': p. 518.
21. Gleick, ibid., p. 519.
22. A selection includes: John Cooley, 'The War Over Water', Foreign Policy, 54 (1984), pp. 3-26; Peter Gleick, 'Water and Conflict'; Norman Myers, Ultimate Security: The Environmental Basis of Political Stability (Washington: Island Press, 1996); Joyce Starr, 'Water Wars', Foreign Policy, 82 (1991), pp. 17-36.
23. A selection includes: John Cooley, 'The War Over Water', Foreign Policy, 54 (1984), pp. 3-26; Peter Gleick, 'Water and Conflict'; Norman Myers, Ultimate Security: The Environmental Basis of Political Stability (Washington: Island Press, 1996); Joyce Starr, 'Water Wars', Foreign Policy, 82 (1991), pp. 17-36.
24. A selection includes: John Cooley, 'The War Over Water', Foreign Policy, 54 (1984), pp. 3-26; Peter Gleick, 'Water and Conflict'; Norman Myers, Ultimate Security: The Environmental Basis of Political Stability (Washington: Island Press, 1996); Joyce Starr, 'Water Wars', Foreign Policy, 82 (1991), pp. 17-36.
25. A selection includes: John Cooley, 'The War Over Water', Foreign Policy, 54 (1984), pp. 3-26; Peter Gleick, 'Water and Conflict'; Norman Myers, Ultimate Security: The Environmental Basis of Political Stability (Washington: Island Press, 1996); Joyce Starr, 'Water Wars', Foreign Policy, 82 (1991), pp. 17-36.
26. Starr, 'Water Wars', p. 19; Barry Buzan, People, States and Fear: An Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era (Hertfordshire: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1991), p. 132.
27. Starr, 'Water Wars', p. 19; Barry Buzan, People, States and Fear: An Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era (Hertfordshire: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1991), p. 132.
28. Michael Renner, Fighting for Survival: Environmental Decline, Social Conflict and the New Age of Insecurity (London: Earthscan, 1997), p. 60.
29. Thomas Naff, 'Water Scarcity, Resource Management, and Conflict in the Middle East', in Elizabeth Kirk (ed.), Environmental Dimensions of Security: Proceedings From a AAAS Annual Meeting Symposium (Washington: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1992), pp. 25-30 at p. 25.
30. On 'practical geopolitical reasoning' see Geraoid O'Tuathail and John Agnew, 'Geopolitics and Discourse: Practical Geopolitical Reasoning in American Foreign Policy', Political Geography, 11 (1992), pp. 190-204.
31. Peter Gleick is a notable proponent of this view. See also James Winnefeld and Mary Morris, Where Environmental Concerns and Security Strategies Meet: Green Conflict in Asia and the Middle East (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1994). An exemplar is John Bulloch and Adel Darwish, Water Wars: Coming Conflicts in the Middle East (London: Victor Gollancz, 1993).
32. Peter Gleick is a notable proponent of this view. See also James Winnefeld and Mary Morris, Where Environmental Concerns and Security Strategies Meet: Green Conflict in Asia and the Middle East (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1994). An exemplar is John Bulloch and Adel Darwish, Water Wars: Coming Conflicts in the Middle East (London: Victor Gollancz, 1993).
33. Ronnie Lipschutz, 'What Resource will Matter? Environmental Degradation as a Security Issue', in Elizabeth Kirk (ed.), Environmental Dimensions of Security: Proceedings From a AAAS Annual Meeting Symposium (Washington: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1992), pp. 1-8.
34. Miriam Lowi, 'Water Disputes in the Middle East', in P. J. Simmons (ed.), Environmental Change and Security Project Report 2 (Washington: Woodrow Wilson Center, 1996), pp. 5-8.
35. For a summary see Thomas Homer-Dixon and Valerie Percival, Environmental Scarcity and Violent Conflict: Briefing Book (Toronto: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1996).
36. Cooley, 'The War over Water', p. 3.
37. Cited on p. 20 of Peter Gleick, 'Environment and Security: The Clear Connections', The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, 47 (1991), pp. 17-21.
38. It is interesting to note that predictions of water wars come mostly from Northern commentators.
39. Peter Beaumont, 'Water and Armed Conflict in the Middle East - Fantasy or Reality?', in Nils Gleditsch (ed.), Conflict and the Environment (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997), pp. 355-74. Steve Lonergan, 'Water Resources and Conflict: Examples from the Middle East', in Nils Gleditsch (ed.), Conflict and the Environment (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997), pp. 375-84.
40. Peter Beaumont, 'Water and Armed Conflict in the Middle East - Fantasy or Reality?', in Nils Gleditsch (ed.), Conflict and the Environment (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997), pp. 355-74. Steve Lonergan, 'Water Resources and Conflict: Examples from the Middle East', in Nils Gleditsch (ed.), Conflict and the Environment (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997), pp. 375-84.
41. I recognise that this is peaceful in so far as there has not been conflict between states. Certain development projects, like all modernization projects, may involve displacement of people or disruption of livelihoods, and these could be said to be violent. There is minimal literature on this subject, but see the Okavango River Basin Commission's website: http://www.iwwn.com.na/namibianet/okacom/main.html
42. Two important exceptions are: Francisco Correia and Joaquim da Silva, 'Transboundary Issues in Water Resources', in Nils Gleditsch (ed.), Conflict and the Environment (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997), pp. 315-34; and Manuel-Ramon Llamas, 'Transboundary Water Resources in the Iberian Peninsula', in Nils Gleditsch (ed.), Conflict and the Environment, pp. 335-54.
43. Two important exceptions are: Francisco Correia and Joaquim da Silva, 'Transboundary Issues in Water Resources', in Nils Gleditsch (ed.), Conflict and the Environment (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997), pp. 315-34; and Manuel-Ramon Llamas, 'Transboundary Water Resources in the Iberian Peninsula', in Nils Gleditsch (ed.), Conflict and the Environment, pp. 335-54.
44. Daniel Deudney, 'Environment and Security: Muddled Thinking', The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, 47 (1991), pp. 23-8.
45. Stephan Libiszewski, 'Integrating Political and Technical Approaches: Lessons from the Israeli-Jordanian Water Negotiations', in Nils Gleditsch (ed.), Conflict and the Environment, pp. 385-402.
46. Deudney, 'Environment and Security: Muddled Thinking', p. 26. This view is supported by Beaumont in 'Water and Armed Conflict in the Middle East', who has argued that the costs of a conflict over water far outweigh the benefits of potential victory.
47. John Bennett and Kenneth Dahlberg, 'Institutions, Social Organisations, and Cultural Values', in Brian Turner (ed.), The Earth as Transformed by Human Action: Global and Regional Changes in the Biosphere over the Past 300 Years (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp. 69-86.
48. On history and culture as it applies to the management of environmental problems see Stephen Boyden, Western Civilization in Biohistorical Perspective: Patterns in Biohistory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987).
49. Norman Myers, 'Population, Environment, and Conflict', Environmental Conservation, 7 (1987), pp. 15-22: p. 16.
50. Myers, ibid., p. 16.
51. Stephen Dovers, 'Sustainability: Demands on Policy', Journal of Public Policy 16, pp. 303-18.
52. Cited in Myers 'Population, Environment, and Conflict', p. 15.
53. Simon Dalby, 'The Threat From the South: Geopolitics, Equity and Environmental Security', in Dan Deudney and Richard Matthew (eds.), Contested Grounds: Security and Conflict in the New Environmental Politics (Albany: State University of New York Press, forthcoming).
54. These figures are derived from The United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 1996 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996); and from George Miller, Living in the Environment (8th edn.) (Belmont: Wadsworth, 1994).
55. These figures are derived from The United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 1996 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996); and from George Miller, Living in the Environment (8th edn.) (Belmont: Wadsworth, 1994).
56. For a discussion of the way Malthusian principles underwrite much of the environmental security literature, see Dalby, 'The Environment as Geopolitical Threat'.
57. Thomas Homer-Dixon, 'On the Threshold: Environmental Changes as Causes of Acute Conflict', International Security 16 (1991), pp. 76-116.
58. See also: Thomas Homer Dixon, 'Population Growth and Conflict', in Elizabeth Kirk (ed.), Environmental Dimensions of Security: Proceedings From a AAAS Annual Meeting Symposium (Washington: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1992), pp. 9-16; and Thomas Homer-Dixon, Strategies for Studying Causation in Complex Ecological-Political Systems (Toronto: American Association for the Advancement of Science in conjunction with University College, University of Toronto, 1995).
59. See also: Thomas Homer Dixon, 'Population Growth and Conflict', in Elizabeth Kirk (ed.), Environmental Dimensions of Security: Proceedings From a AAAS Annual Meeting Symposium (Washington: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1992), pp. 9-16; and Thomas Homer-Dixon, Strategies for Studying Causation in Complex Ecological-Political Systems (Toronto: American Association for the Advancement of Science in conjunction with University College, University of Toronto, 1995).
60. Vaclav Smil, 'China's Environment and Security: Simple Myths and Complex Realities', SAIS Review, (1997) 17, pp. 107-26: at 109.
61. Myers is less consistent here, his Ultimate Security is remarkable for its diverse and at times contradictory theoretical positions.
62. A list of these case studies can be found in the back of Homer-Dixon and Percival, 'Briefing Book'.
63. This analysis has largely avoided the aforementioned confusion over resources by talking about renewable environmental resources.
64. Homer-Dixon and Percival, 'Briefing Book', p. 7.
65. Ibid., p. 8-9.
66. Ibid., p. 9.
67. The core of this debate can be seen in the 1996 Environmental Change and Security Project Report, ed. P. J. Simmons (Washington: The Woodrow Wilson Centre, 1996).
68. Levy makes his argument in two places: in Marc Levy, 'Is the Environment a National Security Issue?', International Security, 20 (1995), pp. 35-62; and Marc Levy, 'Time for a Third Wave of Environment and Security Scholarship?', in P. J. Simmons (ed.), Environmental Change and Security Project Report 2 (Washington: The Woodrow Wilson Centre, 1995), pp. 44-46.
69. Levy makes his argument in two places: in Marc Levy, 'Is the Environment a National Security Issue?', International Security, 20 (1995), pp. 35-62; and Marc Levy, 'Time for a Third Wave of Environment and Security Scholarship?', in P. J. Simmons (ed.), Environmental Change and Security Project Report 2 (Washington: The Woodrow Wilson Centre, 1995), pp. 44-46.
70. 'Conflict' actually seems to be the preferred word.
71. Levy 'Is the Environment a Security Issue?', p. 55.
72. Homer-Dixon and Percival, 'Briefing Book', p. 4.
73. Levy, 'Is the Environment a Security Issue?', p. 57.
74. Smil, 'China's Environment and Security', p. 107.
75. Mahatma Gandhi, 1951, Satyagraha (Ahmedabad: Navajivan, 1951).
76. Kaplan's term. Robert Kaplan, 'The Corning Anarchy', Atlantic Monthly, 271 (1994), pp. 44-76.
77. This is not to say that this is a bad thing. Interdisciplinary work is required. It is to say, however, that integrative approaches require taking each discipline seriously. In this respect the political scientists for the most part have made the transition better. The biological scientists tend to rush into political analysis without any care for metatheory.
78. Kaplan, 'The Coming Anarchy'.
79. Elliott, 'Environmental Conflict', p. 165.
80. Barnett, The Meaning of Environmental Security.
81. William Clinton. A National Security Strategy for a New Century (Washington: The White House, 1997), p. 24. Available at ≪http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/NSC/Strategy/≪
82. Clinton, ibid., p. 8.
83. United Nations Environment Programme, Global Environmental Outlook-1: Global State of the Environment Report 1997,