Violence through environmental discrimination : causes, Rwanda arena, and conflict model / by Günther Baechler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baechler, Günther.

Contributor:

George R. Fink Memorial Fund.

Series:

Social indicators research series ; v. 2.

Social indicators research series ; v. 2

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Environmental degradation--Social aspects--Rwanda.

Environmental degradation.

Social conflict--Rwanda.

Social conflict.

Environmental degradation--Social aspects.

Rwanda.

Physical Description:

xix, 319 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Dordrecht ; Boston : Kluwer Academic Publishers, [1999]

Summary:

Today, mainly in developing countries, there is a correlation between environmental degradation and violent conflicts. As this synthesis of 40 case studies indicates, there are different causal pathways of current violent conflicts and wars that can be traced to the environmental roots of the conflict. Rwanda is a good example to demonstrate the interaction of ethnic, social, political and ecological factors.

Whereas most studies in this field focus on classical security issues, the author here puts an emphasis on growing structural heterogeneity in agricultural societies which tend to discriminate chiefly against those rural producers who are the victims of bad resource allocations, unequal resource distribution, high dependence on natural capital, and bad state performance.

Contents:

1 Introduction: The Transformation of Society-Nature Relationship 1

1.1. Environmental Conflicts: Historical and Contemporary Phenomena 3

1.1.1. Society-Nature Relationships 3

1.1.2. Historical Evidence 7

1.1.3. Development of Maldevelopment 9

1.1.4. Socioecological Heterogeneity 11

1.2. Landscape as Threatened Life-Support System 14

1.2.1. Water as Part of the Life-Support System 15

1.2.2. Soil as Part of the Life-Support System 16

2 Discussion: State of the Art 21

2.1. Founex Report on Environmental Change and Underdevelopment 22

2.2. Linkage between Environmental Change, Security, and Conflict 24

2.2.1. Linkages between Environment and Security 25

2.2.2. Discussion of the Causal Linkage 26

2.3. Methodological Dilemmas in the Study of Causal Linkage 30

2.3.1. Evaluation of Taxonomies and Typologies 30

2.3.2. A Conflict Story Can Be Told from Different Angles 35

2.3.3. <<Someone's Cow Ate Someone Else's Crop>> 37

2.3.4. <<The Effects of Persistent Drought...>> 40

2.3.5. Causation in Complex Politico-Ecological Systems 41

2.3.6. Causal Relationship between Independent and Dependent Variable 44

2.3.7. Action as a Result of Two Filters 47

2.3.8. To Sort out Causes by Attributing Specific Roles to Them 50

2.4 Research Strategy 52

3 Correlations: Environment, Maldevelopment, and Violent Conflict 55

3.1. Human Development Correlated with Violent Conflicts and Wars 56

3.1.1. War Register and HDI-County Rank 57

3.1.2. Interpretation of the Tables and Findings 58

3.2. Violent Conflicts and Wars in Arid Lowlands 64

3.2.1. Arid Zones, Poverty, and Conflict 64

3.3. Violent Conflicts and Wars in Mountains 72

3.3.1. Cultural Aspects of Violence in Mountains and Highlands 73

3.3.2. Patterns of Conflicts in Mountains 80

4 Typology: Types of Conflicts and the Role of the Environment 85

4.1. Environmentally Caused Violence: A Phenomenon of Developing and Transitional Societies (Hypothesis One) 86

4.1.1. Ethnopolitical Conflicts (Type AI) 89

4.1.2. Center-Periphery Conflicts (Type AII) 91

4.1.3. Internal Migration Conflicts (Type AIII) 92

4.1.4. Cross-Border Migration Conflicts (Type BIV) 94

4.1.5. Demographically Caused Migration Conflicts (Type BV) 95

4.1.6. International Water Conflicts (Type CVI) 96

4.1.7. Global Environmental Conflicts (Type CVII) 98

4.1.8. Conflict Types: Conclusions 99

4.2. Inevitable Situations and the Lack of Regulatory Mechanisms (Hypothesis Two) 101

4.2.1. Inevitable Situations 102

4.2.2. Lack of Regulatory Mechanisms 103

4.2.3. Instrumentalizing the Environmental Problem 105

4.2.4. Opportunities to Build up Organizations and Find Allies 106

4.2.5. Context of an Ongoing Armed Conflict 107

4.3. The Role of the Environment as a Cause of Conflict 107

4.3.1. Reason 108

4.3.2. Trigger 109

4.3.3. Target 109

4.3.4. Channel 110

4.3.5. Catalyst 111

4.4. The Intensity of Environmental Conflicts 111

5 Case Study: Why Environmental Discrimination Caused Violence on the 'Mille Collines' 113

5.1. Propositions 115

5.2. Causes and Their Roles 117

5.2.1. Reason I: Ethnogenesis as Hierarchy 117

5.2.2. Reason II: Social and Environmental Discrimination 129

5.2.3. Channeling: Increasing Conflict Potential before the Revolution of 1959/60 143

5.2.4. Targeting: Freedom from Oppression versus Elimination 152

5.2.5. Development without Democratization 157

5.2.6. Catalysts: The Invasion of the FPR and the Arusha Peace Agreement 158

5.2.7. Trigger: Plane Crash and First Massacres 162

5.3. Preservation of Power at All Costs: Conclusions 162

6 Model: Causal Relationship between Environmental Transformation and Violent Conflict 167

6.1. Model Building and Constraints 168

6.1.1. Explain a Lot with Very Little 168

6.1.2. Prerequisites of a Model 170

6.2. Propositions and Hypotheses 175

6.3. Environmental Conflict Model 179

6.4. Indicators 181

7 Empirical Evidence: Six Area Studies and Six Control Cases to Check the Model 187

7.1. Environmental Discrimination 189

7.1.1. Ethnopolitical Conflicts 189

7.1.2. Center-Periphery Conflicts 192

7.1.3. Internal Migration Conflicts 193

7.1.4. Cross-Border Migration Conflicts 196

7.1.5. Demographically Caused Conflicts 199

7.1.6. International Water Conflicts 201

7.2. Dependence on Natural Capital: The Cases of Mexico, Botswana, and South Africa 204

7.3. Marginalization and Group Cohesion: The Cases of Mexico, Botswana, and South Africa 206

7.4. Lack of Regulatory Mechanisms 209

7.5. Population Dynamics 211

7.6. State Instability and Poor Performance 212

7.7. Complex External Influences 217

7.8. What Makes a Difference? 219

8 Outlook: Conflict Potential, Sustainable Development, and Environmental Security 221

8.1. Multiple Causal Roles Concept 222

8.2. Crisis Triangle: Maldevelopment, Transformation, Conflict 226

8.2.1. Rural Transformation 226

8.2.2. Ethnopoliticized Environmental Conflict in the Rwanda Arena 229

8.2.3. Population Dynamics and Migration 231

8.2.4. Force or Cooperation? 232

8.3. Sustainable Development and Environmental Security 233

8.3.1. The Development/Security Prism 234

8.3.2. What Can Be Learned from the Borana Solution? 239.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-319).

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George R. Fink Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

0792354958

OCLC:

40311538