Environment, Scarcity, and Violence

Thomas Homer-Dixon's "Environment, Scarcity and Violence" offers a scholarly analysis of the role environmental scarcity plays in spawning violent human conflicts. The author uses social science research methodology to isolate the independent variable of environmental scarcity in order to study the ways it may or may not contribute to violence. Importantly, Homer-Dixon has found that environmental scarcity, while insignificant in itself, is a significant factor in amplifying the underlying tensions that may in turn fuel a society's descent into violence. The author goes on to argue that countries that possess sufficient quantities of ingenuity may be able to avert violence by curing their environmental crises through the application of advanced technological and managerial skills. On the other hand, nations that lack ingenuity -- or those who lose intellectual capital as the result of their deteriorating environments -- are more apt to descend into violence as these societies negatively respond to their crises by turning against themselves. Although the book provides no easy answers to the stated problems, it does suggest that democracy and international cooperation will be badly needed in the struggle to create a peaceful and stable planet. I strongly recommended this outstanding book to policy makers and others who are interested in learning how we might secure a non-violent future for ourselves in an increasingly tumultuous world.

Using an amazing array of information, this book is a call for answers - a welcome departure from the usual array of studies of environment and social issues. Homer-Dixon's argues that the many works published on the impact of humanity on the environment don't even ask the correct questions, let alone provide worthwhile solutions. Realizing that the impact of environmental degradation will be difficult to forecast, he examines the relation of resource loss and social change. The underlying theme is whether the scacity will lead to violent action. With this tight focus, he proposes a straightforward formula of environmental scarcity leading through social effects resulting in violent conflict. Is this a valid chain of causation? The book examines this question with numerous case studies of nations in the "developing" world. The wealth of information presented with Homer-Dixon's penetrating analyses of the circumstances makes this book an important resource for politicians, social planners and anyone interested in our planet's future. The author carefully defines his terms, methods and intentions at the outset. Resource availability, partcularly renewable resources, are a key foundation, since so many social actions result from whether crops, forests and fisheries are plentiful or depleted. While the author argues that wars are rarely the result of resource depletion, internal strife can often be traced to environmental degradation. He cites examples in Mexico, India, African states, Haiti and the Philippine Islands. He uses in-depth studies to present his cases. He's uncompromising in his analyses, but keeping up with his presentation isn't difficult. His prose is clear and undemanding.A fundamental issue is the expansion of humanity over the planet. He contests the research that indicates population pressures are levelling out, noting that "the largest cohorts of girls ever been born have yet to reach their reproductive years, ensures tremendous momentum behind global population growth." This rise in world population is having local impact already. Resource depletion is causing internal strife along class and ethnic lines, but hasn't escalated into international conflicts, according to Homer-Dixon. Even so, the world is interdependent. He cites the conditions in China as a prime example: "We all have a stake in the success of the grand Chinese experiment with economic liberalization, . . . Whether and how China breaks out of the vicious cycle [of economic growth versus resource depletion] will shape much of human history for decades, if not centuries, to come." Homer-Dixon's status as a first-rate global analyst was established with this monumental study. He sees "environmental scarcity" leading to civil unrest, with ethnic and class clashes dominating. "Scarcity" refers to resources needed to sustain the growing human population - water, cropland, forest assets, fisheries. How will investing countries/firms react to these

Like most political science books, after I finished this one, I was slightly disappointed. I bought this book in hopes of a masterwork; upon turning its last page, I thought that this book was something much less than this. I thought that it begged as many questions as it sought to answer; I thought that much of what it brought forth as profound was only that in the sense of being profoundly obvious; I thought that the author opened this book with definitions that were overly broad and thus, in the end, proved nothing.Thankfully, as time has passed, though, my opinion of this book has changed fully and completely. Many of the problems that I saw with this book stemmed from the fact that this book is essentially the first large-scale, well-publicized work of its kind. Its author puts forth a strongly written and researched work into the interrelationship between scarcity and violence on multiple levels; it is both (fairly) easy to understand while still being challenging for those who are not new to the study of conflict....I'd recommend this book to any student of international or comparative politics-- especially those who are interested in fighting between groups of people. This is probably going to be one of the key books toward understanding what is to come in the world in the next twenty or so years; in this category (though topically somewhat unrelated) I'd suggest van Crevald's 'The Transformation of War' and 'The Rise and Decline of the State' and some of Robert Kaplan's travel books as excellent source material....I am certain that there are going to be many who dislike what this book says-- but as to how it is written, and how it is researched, it seems to me to have been in large measure flawless. Buy this book.

This book offers brilliant and carefully argued insights into the nexus of relations that the title suggests. Homer-Dixon has made a case for environmental conern all the more powerful by steering away from the dogmatism that so often accompanies such work. Instead, he has presented a book that is the result of years of academic research in a way that anyone will enjoy reading it. Homer-Dixon is a great writer who knows an enormous amount about this subject and has as a result written an incredible book. Buy it! Read it! Get your professor to put it on the core reading list of any course about world politics, international relations, environment, and more!