Fighting for Survival: Environmental Decline, Social Conflict, and the New Age of InsecurityW. W. Norton & Company, 1996 - 239 pages In the aftermath of the Cold War, it has become clear to citizens everywhere that it is not the march of armies that is the clearest threat to peace and stability but rather the disaster of pervasive resource loss, refugees who are forced across borders, and social instability that makes war primarily an action within, rather than between, states. Renner argues that global leaders and citizens must find a new sense of mission and destiny, and must reclaim the security terminology from war-making institutions. He shows that social, economic, and environmental stresses and pressures on societies worldwide call for a new definition of security, and hence for a new set of priorities. Poverty, unequal distribution of land, and the degradation of ecosystems are among the most pressing issues undermining security. Soldiers and tanks are at best irrelevant and at worst an obstacle to solving such problems. An understanding of security that fits today's world will require a shift from conflicts of national security to cooperation for global security. Instead of defense of the status quo, sustainable security calls for change and adaption, instead of "green-helmet" intervention forces, we will need to transform war-making institutions and create new priorities for sustainable development. |
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Africa agricultural APC electronic conference areas Bächler Bangladesh challenges Chapter Chiapas China climate change cold war Commission communities coun crisis debt decline deforestation depletion developing countries Development Report Disarmament economic eighties ENCOP endnote Environment environmental refugees ethnic export fish forces foreign Fund global groups growing Hal Kane hectares Homer-Dixon human rights human security Hutu Ibid impact increase increasingly India industrial countries insecurity issues land degradation landless large numbers Latin America Lester March ment Mexican Mexico Michael Renner migrants military million Myers NGOs Norman Myers Norton & Company note 21 Occasional Paper Ogoni ozone Peace peacekeeping peasants percent political poor poverty pressures production Project refugees region ronmental Rwanda security policy Smil societies sources structural adjustment Sudan tion Tobin tax Trade Tutsi UNDP unemployment UNHCR United Nations University Press violence Vital Signs W.W. Norton Washington weapons World Bank Worldwatch Institute Worldwatch Paper worldwide York Zapatistas
References to this book
Sustainability Assessment: Criteria and Processes Robert B. Gibson,Selma Hassan No preview available - 2005 |
Human Resource Development: Perspectives, Roles and Practice Choices Francesco Sofo Limited preview - 1999 |