The Security Implications of the Current Resource Scramble
Issue:Competition over resources
Respected security analyst and author Michael Klare’s new book ‘The Race for What’s Left’ discusses the growing competition for resources across the globe driven by the depletion of fossil fuels, minerals, water and arable land. Klare argues that the full extent of the political, economic and security implications of this trend are yet to be fully understood in mainstream political circles. The alternative to this, Klare contends, is a coming race to adapt to a resource and climate-constrained world which can offer a way out of war, widespread starvation and environmental catastrophe.
Image source: thelGl
Read more »Posted on 20/04/12
Three Killings: an analysis of the ideologies driving Mohamed Merah, George Zimmerman, and the murderer of Shaima Alawadi
Issue:Marginalisation
This article by Foreign Policy in Focus co-director John Feffer powerfully explores three recent and geographically diverse killings in the context of marginalisation. Feffer links the fatal beating of an Iraqi-born American woman in California, the shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida, and Mohamed Merah’s killing spree in Toulouse to the notion of trespass: “The message behind all three is this: you should not be here, you are not one of us, and your death shall serve as a warning.”
Merah himself was a member of a minority in France that is still yet to fully realise its place in French society, but that is only part of the context in which he operated: his own sense of trespass came from an intolerant ideology shared with a borderless fringe, dictating that Muslims who join the western ‘enemy’ armed forces (or who simply become too western) put themselves beyond the pale in doing so. As such, the concept of trespass is not merely a question of geography but also incorporates trespass of the mind, which is equally deserving of punishment. Feffer notes that the vast majority of Al-Qaeda’s victims are Muslims, a clear example of self-appointed leaders punishing disloyal or failed members of their own group. Other examples of this conception of trespass include honour killings and the 2011 terrorist attack by Anders Behring Breivik, who believed that Norway had betrayed its Christian European roots and so was motivated to punish the young liberal inheritors of that transgressive philosophy.
Image Source: Lightgraph
Read more »Posted on 10/04/12
A Sustainable Security Approach to the 'War on Drugs'
Issue:Global militarisation
A new report from Open Briefing argues that the illicit drugs trade, and the militarised government responses to it, are the greatest threats to state and human security in the Americas. The report analyses the almost total failure of current strategies and outlines a sustainable security approach to address this.
Image source: truthout.org
Read more »Posted on 10/04/12
Kony 2012 and the Militarisation of Uganda
Issue:Global militarisation
A piece written by Adam Branch and published by AlJazeera highlights the dangers of militarisation associated with the online campaign to make Joseph Kony 'famous' in 2012 spearheaded by the NGO Invisible Children. Branch asks "how often does the US government find millions of young Americans pleading that they intervene militarily in a place rich in oil and other resources?"
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Read more »Posted on 15/03/12
Debate Over the Relationship Between Climate Change and Security
Issue:Climate change
Two articles recently posted on the AlertNet Climate Conversations blog have highlighted a new framework for debating the issue of climate change. That it is a critically important issue is accepted, yet argument is now focused on the degree to which climate change is not only designated a key driver of conflict, but to what extent climate change and its impact should be defined through a security lens at all. Katie Harris of the Overseas Development Institute suggests that while the security narrative of climate change may have caught the attention of the political and security classes, it has the dangerous potential to undermine both the theoretical understanding of the complex factors underlying conflict, and any practical attempts to promote cooperation over resources in conflict-sensitive regions such as the Levant.
Francesco Femia and Caitlin Werrell from the Center for Climate and Security broadly agree with Harris’ call for a nuanced approach to climate change and conflict, but take issue with the concept of a ‘climate-security narrative’ that interferes with specific cases of conflict-analysis. Rather than overwhelming this analysis, Femia and Werrell defend not only the sophistication of recent research into the relationship between climate change and conflict, but also its emphasis on the role of climate change as one conflict variable among many.
Read more »Posted on 29/02/12
Peacebuilding IN Europe? An analysis of how European peacebuilding efforts overseas could apply closer to home
Issue:Marginalisation
EU attitudes to peacebuilding have always assumed that it essentially applies to other people, who live outside of the Union’s developed borders. However, since the financial crisis of 2008 and the austerity that followed, the certainties underpinning western models of aid and conflict-resolution have taken a knock from the riots and protest movements shaking cities from Athens to London. While not equating the various reactions and levels of violence across the continent, Dan Smith suggests in both this piece and a follow-up post that EU peacebuilding efforts would be well-directed inwards. In particular, he highlights a growing alienation from professionalised political systems, and how a very small number of actors can cause havoc against a background of marginalisation, both real and perceived. He therefore recommends that we focus our attention on the context against which people act, rather than on the actors themselves, because it is only through ‘mobilising social energy for building peace’ that individuals can find a place in society and disaffection can be tackled at its root cause.
Article Source: Dan Smith's Blog
Image Source: how will i ever
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Posted on 23/02/12
