Environment & Security Nexus
- NINT 5286 - Environment & Security Nexus (Fall 2008)
What is the meaning of security on an increasingly crowded planet, with humanity confronting unprecedented environmental and resource challenges? Traditional definitions and concepts increasingly fail to capture or explain the complex problems of the 21st century. With the help of specific examples and cases, this course will explore the connections between environment, resources, security, conflict, and peacemaking-factors that are heavily mediated by social and economic factors including poverty and inequality. The literature has widened beyond traditional national security precepts to include notions of global security as well as security within nations. Terms like "human security" and "environmental security" have become shorthand for a range of non-traditional security concerns-including incidents of violent conflict as well as broader issues of human safety, livelihoods, and wellbeing. Among other aspects, the course will focus on the following dimensions: 1) the impact of environmental degradation and depletion on conflict formation; 2) conflicts arising out of a context of contested resource wealth; 3) environmental impacts of armed conflicts and the war system; 4) opportunities for "environmental peacemaking" among different communities and countries based on a recognition of shared interests and vulnerabilities. The aim is to familiarize students with relevant issues and connections, and to enhance their ability to think in interdisciplinary ways.
Concentrations:Conflict and Security, Development