This course analyzes the connections between environment, conflict, and security. After briefly going over some of the root causes of environmental and development crises, we will take a closer look at the different linkages between environmental change and human and national security, and armed or violent conflicts. We will discuss and analyze the initial understandings of environmental security, going from older frameworks of scarcity induced conflicts to natural resource abundance, and then move the discussion towards securitizing climate change, conservation conflicts, the increasingly visible violence suffered by environmental defenders, and end with the topic of environmental peacebuilding. Weekly hours: 15 Seminar/Discussion hoursPrerequisite(s): 9 credit units of GEOG courses including at least 3 credit units at Note: This course is held in Costa Rica as part of a study term abroad and is part of the international experiential learning opportunities offered in the College of Arts and Science.
This course analyzes the connections between environment, conflict, and security. After briefly going over some of the root causes of environmental and development crises, we will take a closer look at the different linkages between environmental change and human and national security, and armed or violent conflicts. We will discuss and analyze the initial understandings of environmental security, going from older frameworks of scarcity induced conflicts to natural resource abundance, and then move the discussion towards securitizing climate change, conservation conflicts, the increasingly visible violence suffered by environmental defenders, and end with the topic of environmental peacebuilding. Weekly hours: 15 Seminar/Discussion hoursPrerequisite(s): 9 credit units of GEOG courses including at least 3 credit units at Note: This course is held in Costa Rica as part of a study term abroad and is part of the international experiential learning opportunities offered in the College of Arts and Science.
