Greening the alliance : the diplomacy of NATO's science and environmental initiatives / Simone Turchetti.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Turchetti, Simone, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

North Atlantic Treaty Organization--History.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Environmental sciences--History--20th century.

Environmental sciences.

Environmental protection--Research--History.

Environmental protection.

Environmental sciences--Political aspects.

Research--History--20th century.

Research.

Research--Political aspects.

Environmental protection--Research.

History.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 249 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2019.

Summary:

Following the launch of Sputnik, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization became a prominent sponsor of scientific research in its member countries, a role it retained until the end of the Cold War. As NATO marks sixty years since the establishment of its Science Committee, the main organizational force promoting its science programs, Greening the Alliance is the first book to chart NATO's scientific patronage - and the motivations behind it - from the organization's early days to the dawn of the twenty-first century. Drawing on previously unseen documents from NATO's own archives, Simone Turchetti reveals how its investments were rooted in the alliance's defense and surveillance needs, needs that led it to establish a program prioritizing environmental studies. A long-overlooked and effective diplomacy exercise, NATO's "greening" at one point constituted the organization's chief conduit for negotiating problematic relations between allies. But while Greening the Alliance explores this surprising coevolution of environmental monitoring and surveillance, tales of science advisers issuing instructions to bomb oil spills with napalm or Dr. Strangelove-like experts eager to divert the path of hurricanes with atomic weapons make it clear: the coexistence of these forces has not always been harmonious. Reflecting on this rich, complicated legacy in light of contemporary global challenges like climate change, Turchetti offers both an eye-opening history of international politics and environmental studies and a thoughtful assessment of NATO's future.

Contents:

Introduction: NATO's imperatives

Setting the atmosphere

The surveillance ambitions of NATO's science program

The storms of Dr. Strangelove: environmental warfare and the science committee crisis

Launching NATO's environmental program

NATO's "greening" in the decade of inflation

Strange bedfellows: environmental monitoring and surveillance

Science, stability, and climate change

Epilogue: an evergreen alliance?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-240) and index.

ISBN:

9780226595658

022659565X

9780226595795

022659579X

OCLC:

1028892465