Stewart Patrick
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199751501
- eISBN:
- 9780199895366
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199751501.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Conventional wisdom among policymakers in both the US and Europe holds that weak and failing states are the source of the world's most pressing security threats today. The international community's ...
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Conventional wisdom among policymakers in both the US and Europe holds that weak and failing states are the source of the world's most pressing security threats today. The international community's leadership sees such states as an existential threat as well, evidenced in Kofi Annan's 2004 claim that “our defenses are only as strong as their weakest links.” This is not surprising. The most destructive attack on the US in its history originated in one of the world's poorest countries. Deadly communicable diseases seem to constantly emerge from the world's poorest regions, and transnational crime appears to flourish in weakly governed states. However, as this book shows, our assumptions about the threats posed by failed and failing states are based on anecdotal arguments, not on a systematic empirical analysis that traces the connections between state failure and transnational security threats. This book uses an Index of State Weakness as a basis for its findings. The book provides coverage of five key security threats: terrorism, transnational crime, WMDs, pandemic diseases, and energy insecurity. The basic conclusions may seem surprising. While many threats do emerge in failed states, more often than not those states' manifold weaknesses create misery for only their own citizenry. In other words, the problems that flow from Liberia's failures are more typical than those that spread from Afghanistan. Moreover, many of threats originate farther up the chain, in wealthier and more stable countries like Russia, China, and Venezuela. And generic state weakness is not a good threat predictor. Cultural and regional particularities as well as the degree of global integration all influence the threat level. Just as importantly, our tendency to extrapolate an all-encompassing theory connecting weak states and international security threats from turmoil in the Middle East and Southwest Asia is insufficient. The book argues for complexity and nuance, and will force policymakers to rethink what they assume about state failure and transnational insecurity.Less
Conventional wisdom among policymakers in both the US and Europe holds that weak and failing states are the source of the world's most pressing security threats today. The international community's leadership sees such states as an existential threat as well, evidenced in Kofi Annan's 2004 claim that “our defenses are only as strong as their weakest links.” This is not surprising. The most destructive attack on the US in its history originated in one of the world's poorest countries. Deadly communicable diseases seem to constantly emerge from the world's poorest regions, and transnational crime appears to flourish in weakly governed states. However, as this book shows, our assumptions about the threats posed by failed and failing states are based on anecdotal arguments, not on a systematic empirical analysis that traces the connections between state failure and transnational security threats. This book uses an Index of State Weakness as a basis for its findings. The book provides coverage of five key security threats: terrorism, transnational crime, WMDs, pandemic diseases, and energy insecurity. The basic conclusions may seem surprising. While many threats do emerge in failed states, more often than not those states' manifold weaknesses create misery for only their own citizenry. In other words, the problems that flow from Liberia's failures are more typical than those that spread from Afghanistan. Moreover, many of threats originate farther up the chain, in wealthier and more stable countries like Russia, China, and Venezuela. And generic state weakness is not a good threat predictor. Cultural and regional particularities as well as the degree of global integration all influence the threat level. Just as importantly, our tendency to extrapolate an all-encompassing theory connecting weak states and international security threats from turmoil in the Middle East and Southwest Asia is insufficient. The book argues for complexity and nuance, and will force policymakers to rethink what they assume about state failure and transnational insecurity.
Andrew T. Guzman
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- February 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199933877
- eISBN:
- 9780190252694
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199933877.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
This chapter discusses some ways in which climate change can threaten human health. It focuses on two aspects. First, climate change is likely to create conditions that are ideal for a global ...
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This chapter discusses some ways in which climate change can threaten human health. It focuses on two aspects. First, climate change is likely to create conditions that are ideal for a global infectious-disease pandemic—a modern-day plague; second, climate change will aggravate illness. It will create new diseases for new populations; cause old diseases to spread to new places; make everyday acts, such as drinking and breathing, more dangerous; and in many other ways undermine the health gains that humanity has made over time.Less
This chapter discusses some ways in which climate change can threaten human health. It focuses on two aspects. First, climate change is likely to create conditions that are ideal for a global infectious-disease pandemic—a modern-day plague; second, climate change will aggravate illness. It will create new diseases for new populations; cause old diseases to spread to new places; make everyday acts, such as drinking and breathing, more dangerous; and in many other ways undermine the health gains that humanity has made over time.
Stephen Emerson and Hussein Solomon
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781526122735
- eISBN:
- 9781526136190
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526122735.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
More often viewed as a developmental or a humanitarian challenge rather than a security challenge, addressing the vast array of African public health problems has increasingly come to be seen as a ...
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More often viewed as a developmental or a humanitarian challenge rather than a security challenge, addressing the vast array of African public health problems has increasingly come to be seen as a critical human security priority. While many have criticized the securitization of health issues, the cross-cutting linkages to other political, social, and economic issues are real and so too are their implications for security. In addition, most health challenges in Africa were previously seen as localized problems threatening only the well-being of specific populations, but in today’s globalized world they can have profound negative implications far beyond the original source of the problem. While some international public health threats, such as disease pandemics, are nothing new the ability of new disease epidemics to transcend international borders and continents at a speed and breadth is heretofore unknown in human history.Less
More often viewed as a developmental or a humanitarian challenge rather than a security challenge, addressing the vast array of African public health problems has increasingly come to be seen as a critical human security priority. While many have criticized the securitization of health issues, the cross-cutting linkages to other political, social, and economic issues are real and so too are their implications for security. In addition, most health challenges in Africa were previously seen as localized problems threatening only the well-being of specific populations, but in today’s globalized world they can have profound negative implications far beyond the original source of the problem. While some international public health threats, such as disease pandemics, are nothing new the ability of new disease epidemics to transcend international borders and continents at a speed and breadth is heretofore unknown in human history.
Stephen Emerson and Hussein Solomon
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781526122735
- eISBN:
- 9781526136190
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526122735.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This book explores the evolving African security paradigm in light of the multitude of diverse threats facing the continent and the international community today and in the decades ahead. It ...
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This book explores the evolving African security paradigm in light of the multitude of diverse threats facing the continent and the international community today and in the decades ahead. It challenges current thinking and traditional security constructs as woefully inadequate to meet the real security concerns and needs of African governments in a globalized world. The continent has becoming increasingly integrated into an international security architecture, whereby Africans are just as vulnerable to threats emanating from outside the continent as they are from home-grown ones. Thus, Africa and what happens there, matters more than ever. Through an in-depth examination and analysis of the continent’s most pressing traditional and non-traditional security challenges—from failing states and identity and resource conflict to terrorism, health, and the environment—it provides a solid intellectual foundation, as well as practical examples of the complexities of the modern African security environment. Not only does it assess current progress at the local, regional, and international level in meeting these challenges, it also explores new strategies and tools for more effectively engaging Africans and the global community through the human security approach.Less
This book explores the evolving African security paradigm in light of the multitude of diverse threats facing the continent and the international community today and in the decades ahead. It challenges current thinking and traditional security constructs as woefully inadequate to meet the real security concerns and needs of African governments in a globalized world. The continent has becoming increasingly integrated into an international security architecture, whereby Africans are just as vulnerable to threats emanating from outside the continent as they are from home-grown ones. Thus, Africa and what happens there, matters more than ever. Through an in-depth examination and analysis of the continent’s most pressing traditional and non-traditional security challenges—from failing states and identity and resource conflict to terrorism, health, and the environment—it provides a solid intellectual foundation, as well as practical examples of the complexities of the modern African security environment. Not only does it assess current progress at the local, regional, and international level in meeting these challenges, it also explores new strategies and tools for more effectively engaging Africans and the global community through the human security approach.
