The Changing Nature of Intra-State Conflict: The Environmental Connection
Abstract
This paper was presented at the Leadership Workshop on Environment and Security sponsored by Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in September 1994. Support for this workshop was provided by the Department of the Army. The purpose of the workshop was to examine the interface between the traditional domain of national security studies and the growing impact of environmental considerations on national security strategy. The paper joins two themes of research: post-Cold War intra-state conflict studies and environmental security studies. The paper relies heavily on RAND research on intra-state conflict conducted for the Army in 1993-94. While environmental causality of intra-state conflict was not a specific focus of that research, it became apparent during the course of the work that environmental factors were important, particularly if one expands the scope of environmental analysis to include population migration and economic impoverishment issues. To further the purposes of this workshop, the author was asked to examine the environmental roots of intra-state conflict. He addresses changes in conflict settings over the past 10 years, their effects on the motivations and forms of intra-state conflict, the possible environmental dimensions of such conflict, and the opportunities and pitfalls that may lie ahead as national security and environmental security strategists grapple with related issues. The author believes that intra-state conflict poses profound dangers to the health of the global environment and suggests that such dangers may exceed those faced during the more conventional conflicts that characterized the Cold War. He concludes that the dangers both environmental and traditional security analysts face are focusing on symptoms and not the underlying causes of intra-state conflict, and attempting to impose one's own goals on those who cannot afford them, thus exacerbating both intra-state conflict and environmental degradation.7
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1994
- Accession Number
- ADA428217
Entities
People
- James A. Winnefeld
Organizations
- RAND Corporation