Abstract
Increasingly, defense specialists have been considering the international security implications of climate change; however, this immense literature is mainly speculative: it focuses less on the lessons of previous periods of international management of climate change than on the immediate fears that fuel the contemporary debate. We argue here not only that this securitization of climate change has weak empirical basis, but it can also mislead policymakers.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
The argument of securitization theory is that security is a speech act fundamentally based on the perceptions of its originators. Ole Weaver explains that “it is by labelling something a security issue that it becomes one” [21].
References
Amery HA (2002) Water wars in the Middle East: a looming threat. Geogr J 168(4):313–323
Barnett J (2000) Destabilizing the environment-conflict thesis. Rev Int Stud 26(2):271–288
BBC News (2006) Climate change ‘hitting Africa, 28 October 2006
Brown O (2007) Weather of mass destruction? The rise of climate change as the “new” security issue. IISD Commentary
Buckland B (2007) A climate of war? Stopping the securitization of global climate change. Working paper, International Peace Bureau
Center for Naval Analyses (2007) National security and the threat of climate change. Center for Naval Analyses, Washington, DC
Elliott L (2011) Climate migration: why it is a human security issue. RSIS Commentary, 25 Feb 2011
Hauge W, Tanya E (1998) The causal pathway to conflict: beyond environmental scarcity. J Peace Res 35(3):299–317
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007) Climate change 2007: synthesis report. IPCC, Geneva
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007) Climate change 2007: assessment report
Mabey N (2008) Delivering climate security: international security responses to a climate changed world, RUSI Whitehall Paper 69
Mazo J (2008) Thinking the unthinkable. Survival 50(3):249–256
Mazo J (2010) Climate conflict: how global warming threatens security and what to do about it, Adelphi paper. Routledge, London
Morton K (2011) Climate change and security at the third pole. Survival 53(1):121–132
Naff T (1992) Water scarcity, resource management, and conflict in the Middle East. In: Elizabeth K (ed), Environmental dimensions of security: proceedings from a AAAS annual meeting symposium, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC
Podesta J, Peter O (2007/2008) The security implications of climate change. Wash Q 31(1):115–138
Postel S, Aaron W (2003) Dehydrating conflict, Foreign Policy
Puget J-L, Blanchet R, Salençon J, Carpentier A (2010) Le changement climatique, Institut de France, Académie des Sciences
Reuters (2010) Climate change poses threat to the Middle East, 14 Nov 2010
Reuveny R (2007) Environmental change, migration and conflict: theoretical analysis and empirical explorations. Polit Geogr 6
Schwartz P, Randall D (2003) An abrupt climate change scenario and its implications for United States National Security. Environmental Media Services, Washington, DC
Wæver O (2011) Aberystwyth, Paris, Copenhagen new schools in security theory and the origins between core and periphery, paper presented at the ISA conference Montreal
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Samaan, J.L. (2011). A Critical Review of the Linkage Between International Security and Climate Change. In: Linkov, I., Bridges, T. (eds) Climate. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1770-1_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1770-1_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-1769-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-1770-1
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)