Concepts and Cases
- New Horizons in Environmental Economics series
Edited by Matthias Ruth and María E. Ibarrarán
Chapter 9: The Security Challenges of Climate Change: Who is at Risk and Why?
9. The security challenges of climate change: who is at risk and why? Timothy Gulden INTRODUCTION This chapter focuses on identifying the potential security problems posed by climate change. Where the security challenges of the twentieth century were largely defined in terms of large-scale interstate conflicts (for example, World War II and the Cold War), the challenges of the twenty-first century have been typified by civil conflicts (for example, the genocide in Rwanda), and asymmetric conflicts (for example, the ‘Global War on Terror’). The drivers and dynamics of such civil conflicts cannot be explained by extensions of theories developed in an interstate context (Steinbruner and Forrester 2004). Because climate change is a fundamentally disruptive force, it is important to think carefully about the implications of these disruptions for different forms of armed conflict and for human security in general. Like the direct impacts of climate change, many of the associated conflict-related risks are likely to fall most heavily upon the poor. This fact is acknowledged in studies of resource scarcity as a driver of conflict. Still, there are other important, but less direct, connections between climate change and human conflict that add another aspect to the distributional analysis. Civil conflicts in the less developed parts of the world can pose real threats to wealthy nations. Technological responses, if not handled adequately, may threaten the wealthiest citizens of the most powerful countries. The security challenges of climate change can be broken down into two overarching categories: (1) those which stem from...
You are not authenticated to view the full text of this chapter or article.
Elgaronline requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books or journals. Please login through your library system or with your personal username and password on the homepage.
Non-subscribers can freely search the site, view abstracts/ extracts and download selected front matter and introductory chapters for personal use.
Your library may not have purchased all subject areas. If you are authenticated and think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.