project on environmental scarcities, state capacity, & civil violence

The State Capacity project papers are the result of sustained effort by many people over several years. In particular, a tremendous debt of gratitude is owed to Charles Barber (World Resources Institute) and Elizabeth Economy (Council on Foreign Relations) for their field work in collecting data in Indonesia and China, respectively, and for their diligence in reworking several drafts of their case studies into final form. The case study of India is the result of the combined efforts of Thomas Homer-Dixon and Valerie Percival (University of Toronto), building on initial research carried out by Shaukat Hassan (University of Dacca). The separate analyses of specific environmental problems in China was coordinated by Vaclav Smil (University of Manitoba), working with a team of researchers from China directed by Prof. Mao Yushi of Beijing.

The conceptualization of the project in its early stages was helped enormously by our colleague from MIT, George Rathjens. Providing intellectual guidance and constructive criticism at all stages were the members of the Project Advisory Team (see above). Once drafts of the country studies were far enough along, the project held meetings with in-country experts in Hong Kong, India, and Indonesia. We would especially like to thank the organizers of these meetings: Winxie Tse in Hong Kong; Ashok Khosla of Development Alternatives in Delhi; and Emmy Hafild of the environmental organization, WAHLI, in Jakarta. The comments and critiques received at these meetings were invaluable in strengthening the analyses of the China, India, and Indonesia case studies. Thanks are due as well to Prof. Zhao Junlin (Beijing Normal University) for his help in providing additional commentaries on the China case study, and to P.J. Simmons of the Environmental Change and Security Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center for hosting our final project meeting in Washington in May 1997.

In its final stages, the project relied on the dedicated effort and editorial and production talents of Jonathan Schwartz and Valerie Percival at the University of Toronto, and Annette Mann Bourne at the American Academy. Without these three, the task of integrating the case studies into a coherent whole would have been far more difficult.

We would like to extend our gratitude to our funders, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Pew Global Stewardship Initiative. Sara Seims at Rockefeller and Susan Sechler at Pew provided helpful guidance throughout the project, and their commitment to the project’s goals was indispensable to its success. As is customary, the views expressed in the papers are those of the authors, not the funders or project sponsors.

Finally, we would like to thank all of the many colleagues, both supporters and skeptics, who were in touch with us during the project. Their comments, advice, and criticism were a necessary part of the process. We hope that these same and other colleagues will comment freely on this final project publication with the aim of extending the analysis of these admittedly complex and difficult issues.

Project Directors
Thomas F. Homer-Dixon
Principal Investigator
Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies
University of Toronto

Jeffrey Boutwell
International Security Studies
American Academy of Arts and Sciences