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audio January 10, 2022 Background Briefing with Ian Masters focussing on “A Warning From a Scholar of Violent Conflict That the U.S. Is Heading for a Dictatorial Takeover.” See episode information. January 19, 2022 Interview on Between The Lines, “Canadian Scholar Warns America is Moving Toward Democracy Collapse & Right-wing [...]
ACADEMIC project on environmental scarcities, state capacity, & civil violence An Estimate of the Economic Consequences of Environmental Pollution by Xia Guang Policy Research Center of the National Environmental Protection Agency, 100035, Beijing I. INTRODUCTION The immense impact of environmental pollution on people's daily lives has [...]
A running commentary on the unfolding pandemic
Peter Gizewski and Thomas Homer-Dixon | This paper examines the contribution of environmental scarcity to violent conflict in Pakistan. It argues that scarcity is never the sole cause of Pakistan’s social conflict.
Modern societies face a cruel paradox: Fast-paced technological and economic innovations may deliver unrivalled prosperity, but they also render rich nations vulnerable to crippling, unanticipated attacks. By relying on intricate networks and concentrating vital assets in small geographic clusters, advanced Western nations only amplify the destructive power of terrorists and the psychological and financial damage they can inflict.
Valerie Percival and Thomas Homer-Dixon | The causal relationship between environmental scarcities – the scarcity of renewable resources – and the outbreak of violent conflict is complex. This article analyses the link between South Africa’s environmental scarcity and violent conflict.
A critical conversation about climate change is going on right now through the UNFCCC process; a key stage in this process will be the Copenhagen meeting at the end of this year. This conversation, to the extent that it is prescriptive, generally emphasizes technology and economics. It stresses strategies for dealing with the climate problem that involve technical aspects of, for instance, societies’ energy mix and energy efficiency. I don’t want to disparage these approaches or suggest that they shouldn’t be pursued. But, the fact remains that despite all our efforts we seem to be falling further and further behind.
This morning I’m going to talk about “The Ingenuity Gap in a Fragmented World.” I’ll ask whether humanity can meet the ever more complex and fast-paced challenges it’s creating for itself.
I’ll ask whether humanity can meet the ever more complex and fast-paced challenges it’s creating for itself. At the global level, these challenges range from climate change and chronic instability of the international economy to continent-wide pandemics of TB and AIDS; and at the national level, they include widespread homelessness in our great cities, chronic health care crises, and widening gaps between the super-rich and everyone else.
