Security and Climate Change: International Relations and the Limits of Realism (Environmental Politi

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Maybe because of its considerable newness, it may be easier for IR to embrace experimentation and transform itself in light of the new challenges and conditions of the 21 st century.

Moreover, this path is fundamental for IR to embrace the new geological conditions that confront humanity. Nothing challenges traditional disciplines more than the Anthropocene concept. The emergence of a new geological epoch entirely dominated by human activity, i. The Anthropocene concept transcends the simple idea of human environmental impact and draws attention to the role of humans in the subversion of the global system. Humanity is reshaping the planet Dalby a , and climate change is perhaps the primary indicator of this post-Holocene world Crutzen and Stoermer According to Zalasiewicz and Vidas cited in Arighostiles , we are on the edge of still-greater changes.

Biermann draws attention to the political essence of this new geological epoch, highlighting that it creates, modifies, and enhances multiple relationships of interdependence among human societies and generations. Bousquets goes further and highlights not only the possibility of the extinction of the human species if environmental problems are not properly addressed but also the need for a radical reinvention of our societies. Actually, ecologists and biologists are discussing whether the Earth is entering a sixth great extinction phase Kolbert Therefore, human interactions are transforming the global environment, and by doing so, they are shaping the future conditions for international relations.

This means that IR scholars and policymakers will have to discuss political issues in geological language because the traditional premises of a stable environment are no longer valid. This also means that we collectively must consider the type of planet that humanity is creating Dalby Moreover, IR scholars must remember that geopolitics is no longer exclusively about how the environment shapes humanity; increasingly, it is also about how humanity is shaping its environment Dalby b.

This is the Anthropocene in action. Although developing responses to the new conditions of the Anthropocene requires much more than the study of interstate political negotiations, the study of such negotiations is an important part of the question. The world of the Anthropocene is very different from the one in which IR was constructed as a discipline.

First, as we have seen, the Anthropocene world is one of open systems and although order may not be rejected, disorder assumes a very important role.

IR is unaccustomed to being open to uncertainty, preparing for failure, and thinking the unthinkable Rosenau , which assumes an environment of chaos Mayer IR traditionally seeks to explain phenomena by assuming linearity, using a small number of variables, and aspiring to predict international developments. In the Anthropocene, the ability to imagine multiple alternatives and devise unconventional strategies is mandatory Morin , thus requiring a holistic perspective.

Security and Climate Change: International Relations and the Limits of Realism

The Anthropocene epoch is also a world in which states cannot be the only objects of analysis and in which the environment cannot be perceived as a stable scenario for states to pursue their interests. Nevertheless, as Bousquet notes, IR remains deeply anthropocentric in its analysis, and this observation generally has not been criticized. This may explain why, as we shall see below, IR scholars have been overlooking global environmental issues and are scarcely discussing the Anthropocene.

To test whether the environment is overlooked in IR, I believe that it is important to ask two questions: Answering question 1 first required a definition of which and how many journals would be analysed, along with the timeframe to be considered. For the difficult task of selecting the most influential IR journals - and seeking the broadest possible analysis - I based my selection on three aspects: Regarding the timeframe, considering that the world since has witnessed many relevant natural and international events 3 which increased international awareness of environmental issues, a decade-long analysis between and was chosen.

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Based on the time spent in the first analysis, a review of 20 journals table 2 was considered as an achievable goal so that this study could be concluded in a timely fashion. It should be noted that a for the journal selection, it was useful to divide the timeframe into two parts as two TRIP surveys were given on different occasions and due to the distinct essence of the impact measures considered, which have different time periods 4 ; b Google Scholar was considered for the second timeframe because of its recently emerging importance; and c the WoS database has a dedicated category for IR, but as IR also is considered a subfield of PS, the journals in the PS category were also included.

Based on reading the title, abstract and keywords of all of the research articles published in those 20 journals between and 9, articles , I identified those with content that undoubtedly was focused on environmental issues. A summary of the results of this analysis can be found in Figure 1. Elaborated by the author Looking at Figure 1 , one can see an outlier in related to the existence of two special issues on the environment: If one omits these two special issues, it is clear that the number of articles on environmental issues published in the selected journals was fairly constant throughout the 10 years studied.

These results reveal a low prevalence of environmental articles in major IR journals, a trend that did not change for 10 years. To answer question 2, I used the results of the TRIP survey of , namely, the list of 20 scholars who were considered by the respondents as having had the greatest influence on IR in the past 20 years Table 3. The summary of these results seems to corroborate the empirical perception that the environment is an overlooked subject in IR. This is very odd for at least two reasons: Nevertheless, there is another important aspect that should be assessed: To assess impact, one question needs to be answered: In fact, as confirmed by their sustainable appearance in the ranking of the most-cited articles each year in an evident correlation with the data presented in Figure 1 , they were widely cited, even though they competed with a much larger number of articles on several other IR-related subjects.

WoS and Scopus as for September 13, To this end, I focused on the year when the two special issues on environmental issues were published and compared the performance of a the 25 articles of the two special issues on the environment - 17 in JPR and 8 in IA; and b the other articles published in the same journals that same year.

This analysis was conducted exclusively with the data from the WoS. These results were perhaps the most impressive of all Figures 3 and 4. WoS as for November 25, Comparing the 17 articles in the special issue of JPR with the 17 most-cited articles in published in that same journal, only 3 of the 17 most-cited articles are not from the special issue on the environment. If one examines the 24 most-cited articles of that year, one finds all 17 articles from the special issue.

The 17 most-cited articles of JPR in , excluding the 17 from the special issue, accounted for citations; the 17 articles of the special issue accounted for citations approximately 2. The 17 most-cited articles of JPR in , when the 17 from the special issue are excluded, accounted for 50 citations, whereas the 17 articles of the special issue accounted for citations approximately 5 times as many. An examination of the 19 most-cited articles of that year reveals that all 8 articles of the special issue are included in that group.

Is IR less insulated when it devotes itself to environmental matters? Is this because IR deviates from archaic disciplinary structures when it analyses global environmental issues? I cannot say for sure, but this would be an interesting analysis to conduct. Past actions, experiences, and institutional designs are not a valid guide for a no-analogue future. Conversely, IR will be encouraged to identify and prepare for various alternative futures.

As Godet cited in Godet and Durance , assertively observes,.

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This is exactly what IR should be doing: In the Anthropocene, no science will survive in isolation or through a selfish search for elements that suit its own disciplinary interests. Just as humanity will need to engage in unprecedented cooperation if it is to preserve the planet and its own survival as a species, the various sciences will likewise have to join to counter challenges with unforeseen force. The Anthropocene reveals how the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences are all linked.

This teaches IR that there is an unbreakable link between the social and natural spheres, an understanding that is fundamental if IR is to guide informed action in an epoch in which human actions are the dominant force driving global environmental change.

Climate change and security: towards ecological security? | International Theory | Cambridge Core

Hence, IR will have to abandon one of the central organizing logics upon which much of its security discourse is built, i. Humanity is now a geological agent, so our security and survival depend on our own actions. Threats to security are no longer limited to outside agents, because the human development paradigm, that is, the dominant capitalist modes of production and consumption, are transforming nature into the greatest enemy humanity has ever faced. Consequently, the environment was merely considered the scenario in which human events and conflicts took place.

Besides, it is very likely that extreme environmental events that have the capacity to destabilize the entire international system take place. Threats such as climate change, water scarcity, ocean acidification, and biodiversity loss and extinctions put the security and survival of the human species at risk Viola and Basso A turn that breaks with disciplinary self-censorship and encourages creativity will be essential.

However, for IR to take advantage of the Anthropocene, it will have to abandon its distant attitude towards the environment. The discipline seems to be deeply abstract, having little relevance and failing to respond to real-world threats Erskine and Booth ; Sylvester The articles published in Global Environmental Politics also corroborate this fact: For a discipline that is explicitly devoted to security and survival on a global scale, this is a huge limitation.

To be relevant under the new planetary conditions, IR will have to abandon many of its key beliefs. In writing this article my aim was to provide numbers that would raise awareness among IR scholars, highlighting that they should be paying more attention to global environmental issues and the Anthropocene because of its potentially positive impact on IR development. Four Degrees of Global Warming: Australia in a Hot World. Corner , Adam , and Pidgeon , Nick. Environmental Security Beyond Neo-Liberalism. Cudworth , Erika , and Hobden , Stephen.

Complexity, Ecologism and Global Politics. Security and Environmental Change. John Wiley and Sons. The Next Era of Geopolitics? The Securitization of Climate Change. The Politics of the Earth: Environmentalism and Political Theory.

Problems and Future Prospects for Nature Advocacy. Eroukhmanoff , Clara , and Harker , Matt , eds.

Climate change and security: towards ecological security?

Reflections on the Posthuman in International Relations. Evans , Brad , and Reid , Julian. The Art of Living Dangerously. A Case of Institutional and Ideational Fragmentation. Gardiner , Stephen M. Essential Readings , edited by Stephen Gardiner, et al. The Ethics of Climate Change. Gleick , Peter H. Freshwater Resources and International Security.

From Transformation to Subversion. The Politics of Environmental Discourse. The Dawn of the Age of Climate Engineering. Hardt , Judith Nora. Environmental Security in the Anthropocene. Harrington , Cameron , and Shearing , Clifford. Security in the Anthropocene. Implications for Development Assistance.

Hayes , Jarrod , and Knox-Hayes , Janelle. Environmental Changes as Causes of Acute Conflict. Environment, Scarcity, and Violence.

Marzec , Robert P. University of Minnesota Press. Security, the Environment and Emancipation: Contestation Over Environmental Change. A Worldly Approach to Security. Moon , Ban Ki.

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Home Security and Climate Change: International Relations and the Limits of Realism. Security and Climate Change: Add to Wish List. Toggle navigation Additional Book Information. Description Table of Contents Author s Bio. Summary This new book explains why the international community has responded with a sense of fatalistic passivity to climate change.

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