Climate Change and European Security by Richard Youngs

Author:Richard Youngs [Youngs, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Political Science, General, Security (National & International), Public Policy, Environmental Policy
ISBN: 9781138797277
Google: yj_WoAEACAAJ
Goodreads: 21925059
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-01-15T07:23:56+00:00

6

CLIMATE AND EUROPEAN DEFENCE STRATEGIES

Moving from the general set of European Union (EU) commitments into more specific policy domains, a first and vital consideration relates to how European armed forces have approached climate security. In several areas, recent years have witnessed a strikingly impressive uploading of climate concerns by European armed forces. Far from dismissing climate change as a mushy non-traditional threat unworthy of military attention, armed forces have on some measures assumed a lead role relative to other ministries. However, the inverse fear of militaries becoming overly dominant in climate security also appears unfounded – at least, so far. The sceptical perspective is that European militaries now regurgitate the standard discourse on climate security in purely disingenuous fashion. Critics warn that defence establishments have taken to frightening politicians that climate change is a security threat simply as a means to attract more funds for their own beleaguered bureaucracies.1 There is some, but relatively limited, evidence that this is happening in Europe. Armed forces certainly seek to position themselves advantageously within climate security debates. But they have eschewed an unambiguous lead role in climate security relative to other ministries.

Militaries have so far engaged on a relatively narrow set of climate-related issues; they are still attempting to extend their grip on the broader geopolitics of global warming. Armed forces cannot be said to be leading climate security in the direction of undue militarisation. The most pertinent policy debate is the more subtle one of how far climate change may require a reconfiguring of defence to focus on ‘protecting the homeland’. Militaries have not yet devised comprehensive rules and guidelines for their own operational doctrines that are capable of proactively tempering climate risks. While traces of the ‘lifeboat’ mentality have seeped into European planning, policy changes fall well short of any wholesale or qualitative shift in defence strategies.

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