|
|
Publications
|
ECSP Report 13
As the Obama administration takes over, the 13th issue of the Environmental Change and Security Program Report details the non-traditional security threats—and opportunities—it faces. “Environmental security is making a comeback,” says ECSP Director Geoff Dabelko, “notably in the United States, where signs indicate that the next administration will tackle environment, population, health, and development challenges that impact security.” In a special feature entitled “New Directions in Demographic Security,” seven demographic experts analyze the links connecting population and environmental dynamics to conflict. The report also features articles on the population-climate change nexus and the UN Environment Programme's peacebuilding work in conflict zones.
Watch video interviews with Report 13 authors
- "Flash Points and Tipping Points: Security
Implications of Global Population Changes"
“Population distortions—in which populations grow too young, or too fast, or too urbanized—make it difficult for prevailing economic and administrative institutions to maintain stable socialization and labor-force absorption,” says Jack A. Goldstone. “The most logical way to overcome the population distortions in varied regions will be to ease the barriers to movement across borders.”
Download File
(pdf)
|
- "Half a Chance: Youth Bulges and
Transitions to Liberal Democracy"
“The dissipation of a large youth bulge tends to yield relative political calm,” says Richard Cincotta. On the other hand, democratic gains under youth-bulge conditions “face unfavorable odds.” Using age-structure data, he assesses the fragility of existing liberal democracies and forecasts when new ones will emerge.
Download File
(pdf)
|
- "Population in Defense Policy Planning"
U.S. defense policymakers should watch four demographic trends, says Jennifer Dabbs Sciubba: youthful populations, changes in military personnel, international migration, and urbanization. “The military does not always have the tools to address these population and development issues, but by drawing on a wider community for support, they lessen the chances that they will have to deal with the consequences,” she says.
Download File
(pdf)
|
- "Climate Change, Demography, Environmental
Degradation, and Armed Conflict"
Using geo-referenced data, Clionadh Raleigh and Henrik Urdal find that population growth and density are related to increased civil conflict, but that demographic and environmental factors are generally outweighed by political and economic ones. Therefore, they call for “paying greater attention to how resources are distributed and how political institutions create vulnerability to climate change.”
Download File
(pdf)
|
- "Migration as the Demographic Wild Card
in Civil Conflict: Mauritius and Fiji"
Analyzing demographic trends on the small-island nations of Mauritius and Fiji, Christian Leuprecht argues that “the impact of migration on conflict is a man-made problem; the way migration is managed (or not) can determine its potential for mitigating or escalating a conflict.”
Download File
(pdf)
|
- "Beginning the Demographic Transition:
Very Young and Youthful Age Structures"
From 1970-2000, “only 13 percent of countries with a very young age structure had fully democratic governments, compared with 83 percent of countries with a mature age structure,” points out Elizabeth Leahy, who compares and contrasts age structures’ connection to conflict in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Iran, and Pakistan.
Download File
(pdf)
|
From Conflict to Peacebuilding: UNEP’s Role in
Environmental Assessment and Recovery
“If people cannot find clean water for drinking, wood for shelter and energy, or land for crops, what are the chances that peace will be successful and durable? Very slim,” says David Jensen of the UN Environment Program (UNEP), who describes UNEP’s activities in Afghanistan, Sudan, and other areas of conflict. “UNEP seeks to ensure that countries rebuilding from conflict identify the sustainable use of natural resources as a fundamental prerequisite and guiding principle of their reconstruction and recovery.”
Download File
(pdf)
|
An Ethical Approach to Population and
Climate Change
As interest in the relationship between global population growth and climate change grows, Suzanne Petroni calls for “a thoughtful and deliberative dialogue around voluntary family planning’s contribution to mitigating climate change,” which could “increase awareness not only of the outsized contribution of developed nations to global emissions, but also of their appropriate role in the global community.”
Download File
(pdf)
|
Navigating Peace Initiative: Water Conflict and Cooperation
Four policy briefs identify the current and emerging trends in water conflict and cooperation.
Download File
(pdf)
|
Best of the Beat: Highlights From the First Year
Read some of the best blog posts from the New Security Beat's first year. Georgetown University's Colin Kahl analyzes Kenya's history of demographically and environmentally induced ethnic land strife, while ECSP Director Geoff Dabelko offers a word of caution on "climate change refugees."
Download File
(pdf)
|
On the Record @ the Wilson Center
"On the Record," a compendium of quotations from the past year of ECSP meetings, features many candid assessments of global environmental, population, and security issues.
Download File
(pdf)
|
Reviews of New Publications (Complete)
Leaf through expert reviews of 20 recent books and reports at the nexus of population, environment, and security, including The Greening of the U.S. Military, Return of the Population Growth Factor, and Peace Parks: Conservation and Conflict Resolution.
Download File
(pdf)
|
- Beyond Disasters: Creating Opportunities for Peace
Reviewed by Nichola D. Minott
Download File
(pdf)
|
- Bridges Over Water: Understanding Transboundary Water Conflict, Negotiation and Cooperation
Reviewed by Annika Kramer
Download File
(pdf)
|
- The Environmental Dimension of Asian Security: Conflict and Cooperation Over Energy, Resources, and Pollution
Reviewed by Paul G. Harris
Download File
(pdf)
|
- Gaia’s Revenge: Climate Change and Humanity’s Loss
Reviewed by David M. Catarious, Jr., and Ronald Filadelfo
Download File
(pdf)
|
- The Global Family Planning Revolution, Return of the Population Growth Factor, and Population Issues in the 21st Century: The Role of the World Bank
Reviewed by Gib Clarke
Download File
(pdf)
|
- Governance as a Trialogue: Government-Society-Science in Transition
Reviewed by Karin Bencala
Download File
(pdf)
|
- The Greening of the U.S. Military: Environmental Policy, National Security, and Organizational Change
Reviewed by Brian Smith
Download File
(pdf)
|
- People on the Move: Reducing the Impacts of Human Migration on Biodiversity
Reviewed by James D. Nations
Download File
(pdf)
|
Political Geography: Special Issue on Climate Change and Conflict
Reviewed by Elizabeth L. Chalecki
Download File
(pdf)
|
- Population, Land Use, and Environment: Research Directions
Reviewed by David L. Carr
Download File
(pdf)
|
- Poverty Reduction: An Effective Means of Population Control
Reviewed by Rachel Nugent
Download File
(pdf)
|
- The Price of Neglect: From Resource Conflict to Maoist Insurgency in the Himalayan Kingdom
Reviewed by Saleem H. Ali
Download File
(pdf)
|
- Security By Other Means: Foreign Assistance, Global Poverty, and American Leadership
Reviewed by Sean Peoples
Download File
(pdf)
|
- The Shape of Things To Come: Why Age Structure Matters to a Safer, More Equitable World
Reviewed by John F. May
Download File
(pdf)
|
- Too Poor for Peace? Global Poverty, Conflict, and Security in the 21st Century
Reviewed by Stewart Patrick
Download File
(pdf)
|
- Trade, Aid and Security: An Agenda for Peace and Development
Reviewed by John W. Sewell
Download File
(pdf)
|
- The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization
Reviewed by Richard Matthew
Download File
(pdf)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Environmental Change and Security Program
Woodrow Wilson Center
One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20004-3027
Email: ecsp@wilsoncenter.org
Tel: 202/691-4000
|
|
RSS Feeds