Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
spill-over impact of civil con
icts, migration
ows and shifts in relative power
balances. This de
nition seeks a balance: climate security refers to a wider range
of policy questions than those of a purely military nature; but it also requires a
narrower speci
cation than simply enumerating the physical rami
cations of global
warming per se.
O
cial Western de
nitions seem to give credence to these broadly cast de
ni-
tions. The US has
in
uentially de
ned climate change as an
'
accelerant of
.
4
The EU de
instability
that is, as one factor that
reinforces many of the existing tensions that present challenges for European
security, of both a traditional and non-traditional kind.
5
The topic will unpack the
di
'
nes it as a
'
threat multiplier
'-
erent dimensions of this de
nition and measure the EU
'
s policies against its own
conceptualisation of climate security.
In doing so, the topic speaks to a lively and on-going theoretical debate about
the nature of European foreign and security policies. I understand EU strategies in
the broad sense of those pursued collectively through European Union initiatives
and instruments, alongside those developed nationally by member states; the rela-
tionship between these two levels is one factor carefully examined through the
di
s conceptual framework counterpoises liberal, coop-
erative approaches to climate security against more realist, self-help notions of
strategic interest. It is pertinent to study the EU as an actor in the climate security
debate precisely because it has been in the vanguard of designing more holistic
approaches to security. This gives its deliberations over nascent climate security
challenges a resonance in the broader global community too. The EU
erent chapters. The topic
'
s hitherto
lead role in international climate policy would seem to place it well for in
'
uencing
a more tightly de
ned climate security agenda. Weaknesses in the EU
'
s response
would have serious implications both for EU
'
actorness
'
and the nature of the
reshaped international system.
The scope of policy questions properly related to climate security remains a topic
to be investigated. Coverage of
is still
invariably taken to refer to the reasons why the United Nations (UN) has not
delivered a binding agreement on global emissions.
6
The literature on
'
the international politics of climate change
'
'
climate
'
policy integration
has burgeoned but this concept has not been applied to EU
foreign
policy as such.
7
Projects such as that of the UK
'
s Foresight centre on the
international implications of climate change still de
ne
'
foreign policy impacts
'
in a
relatively traditional sense of global warming
'
s consequences for economic growth,
health costs and the UN
s ability to deliver climate solutions. Such studies have
advanced the strategic debate but remain predictive and prescriptive; they are still
in the mode of warning what consequences might follow and urging governments
to
'
er an
inventory of measures being adopted or of how foreign policy is actually adapting.
8
'
do something
'
to prepare. On their own admission, they do not o
