Natural disasters are deeply and inherently political occasions that lead to conflict and create national or regional instability. Environmental crises overload political systems by disorganizing governments while adding or intensifying preexisting stressors (Albala-Bertrand, 1993; Barnett et al., 2007; Drury et al., 1998; Gawronski et al., 2010). Tendencies of frustration and discontent are not unusual. Disasters cause a multitude of social, political and economic worries that strain the coping abilities of governments, communities and individuals. Addressing societal demands for basic goods and services is crucial - a failure to do so can empower rival groups and competing organizations. Public dissatisfaction and criticism can easily rise if survivors feel neglected by their ruling political party. While government personnel and public leaders inherently wish to remain in power, natural disasters spur dissatisfaction and foster civil change, with some cases leading to political violence and instability (Walch, 2013). It is certainly possible to envision prolonged droughts in the Horn of Africa or rapid sea-level rises in the Indian peninsula as causing mass instability, potentially leading to violence or war. Having reviewed existing literature on the relationship between environmental crises, political violence and instability, this project will prove that there is indeed an association between natural disasters and civil unrest. The number of wars, revolutions, guerrilla movements and violent conflicts in which a natural disaster is a contributing cause is increasing in both frequency and scope (David, 1996). Notably, of the top ten countries affected by severe natural disasters from 2010 to 2011, half experienced or are st... ... middle of paper ... ...arative methods of study and commonly accepted explanations of motivation, incentive and opportunity (Nel and Righarts, 2008). Additionally, there is disagreement among quantitative researchers who criticize qualitative scholarship for its methodology. Qualitative studies arguably depend on generalizations and are based too heavily on specific case studies, thus creating bias (Gleditsch, 1998). Theoretical literature is seen as unable to control and sufficiently test the variables that influence the risk of conflict - it therefore draws conclusions based on causal relationships, overemphasizing the links between disasters and violence (Gleditsch, 1998). In opposition, quantitative scholarship undervalues the contributing links between environmental hazards and conflicts by relying too heavily on statistical procedures (Gleditsch, 1998; Slettebak and Theisen, 2011).
The Haitian government’s lack of preparedness for earthquakes despite the fact that earthquakes are common to the region is indicative of the governments inability and lack of resources to properly plan and protect it’s population against natural disasters. This lack of preparedness is not an isolated incident. Prior to the disaster, the World Bank and others were working with the Haitian government to incorporate disaster risk management into Haiti’s development strategy and to develop its capacity for disaster response. This capacity building was in its early stages of development when the earthquake hit, on January 12, 2010, and was mainly focused on hurricanes, which are the most common cause of natural disaster on the island (Margesson, 2010, p. 4).
After a disaster hits, it takes a long time for the local and state government to regain its basic functions and to draft redevelopment plans (Olshansky et al., 2008). With malfunctioning government, it is hard to start the recovery process promptly and citizens who are in need of immense amount of economic and social support suffer from lack of resources and public services.
Political violence is action taken to achieve political goals that may include armed revolution, civil strife, terrorism, war or other such activities that could result in injury, loss of property or loss of life. Political violence often occurs as a result of groups or individuals believing that the current political systems or anti-democratic leadership, often being dictatorial in nature, will not respond to their political ambitions or demands, nor accept their political objectives or recognize their grievances. Formally organized groups, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), businesses and collectives of individual citizens are non-state actors, that being that they are not locally, nationally or internationally recognized legitimate civilian or military authorities. The Cotonou Agreement of 2000 defines non-state actors as being those parties belonging to the private sector, economic and social partners and civil society in all its forms according to national characteristics. Historical observation shows that nation states with political institutions that are not capable of, or that are resistant to recognizing and addressing societies issues and grievances are more likely to see political violence manifest as a result of disparity amongst the population. This essay will examine why non-state political violence occurs including root and trigger causes by looking at the motivations that inspire groups and individuals to resort to non-conforming behaviors that manifest as occurrences of non-state political violence. Using terrorism and Islamic militancy on the one side, and human rights and basic freedoms on the other as examples, it will look at these two primary kinds of political violence that are most prevalent in the world ...
Due to the change in climate, natural disasters take place taking away lives of the people. For example, The Nepal earthquake which took place on 25th April, 2015 which killed over 8000 people and injured more than 21000 people.
The theory of revolutionary state formation serves as an explanation for international conflict and the outbreak of war in the Middle East. The way in which a new state or an old state comes into being or changing the kind of regime matters in terms of the domestic and international implications for the nation. Evolutionary state formation, the opposite of revolutionary, explains how the gradual transference of power from a colonial power to the newly established government means that the likelihood of war and conflict with neighboring states will be greatly reduced in comparison to revolutionary state formation.
An activity that we participate in on a daily basis is belonging and being part of a community. We live in a world where associating and identifying ourselves with certain groups is how we share common interests, and we are responsible for facing whatever may come our way. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the differences and similarities between the approaches seen from the Chicago Heat Wave and Buffalo Creek Flood. The main differences are historical groundwork, relationship to land, physical/social vulnerability, problematic development, choices we make and media coverage. Kleinberg and Erikson both offer a greater variety of what exactly a disaster or community consist of. Although, both have some overlapping themes and ideas, their methodological approaches and expectations of a community dealing with a disaster differ significantly.
"When you can't solve the problem, manage it.", this is according to Robert Schuller an American Minister and Author. This quote aptly and simply summarizes what Balint and his co-authors are trying to convey in the article on wicked environmental problems. Why are we looking for the solution if it does not exist? Another enlightening words from Shimon Peres, the 9th President of the State of Israel, he said, "If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact - not to be solved, but to be coped with over time." In the sense that we are dealing with the intricate nature of the problem and often times left us in the labyrinth of nowhere, all our actions and decisions are directed towards managing and coping with the situation.
In this chapter, author and anthropologist from the University of Florida, discusses how the government of Peru handled the aftermath of the earthquake and the effect their choices had on the victims then and now, or until 1998. When viewed as an “act of God” (Doughty), natural disasters seem less relevant than man-made disasters like war. Natural disasters receive less attention than war, therefore the likeliness that a natural disaster will be dismissed as an inconvenience to theory or routine in bound to take place. With this, Doughty explains that “Such neglect links disaster to recovery with development programs and affects them similarly, especially in poor nations like Peru.” (Doughty, 1999).
Natural disasters have killed thousands of innocent lives over the past few decades. If people aren't killed, either their home, or someone else they know is killed. Food is destroyed and water is contaminated, leaving people short of basic resources to survive. Through it all, people continue to fight. Many question how a person could take so much destruction and poverty and wonder why they just don't give up. The reason people keep fighting is due to their human instincts to stay alive. However, why do natural disasters only seem to happen to poor countries? In Leonard Pitts article, Sometimes the Earth is Cruel, he questions this, the answer is, the devil, God, and geography.
The conflict in Darfur was caused by a rebellion. The people of Darfur felt neglected and took up arms against the government in an effort to gain more recognition. The most disturbing part of this story might just be how extreme the government’s reaction to this rebellion was. This act of rebellion
Rygel, L., O’Sullivan, D., and Yarnal, B. (2006). A Method for Constructing a Social Vulnerability Index: An Application to Hurricane Storm Surges in a Developed Country. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change. 11, 741-764. DOI: 10.1007/s11027-006-0265-6. http://www.cara.psu.edu/about/publications/Rygel_et_al_MASGC.pdf.
Conflicts are a very prominent element in literature. If you were to look up the dictionary definition of “conflict”, you would find that it is a “struggle, controversy, or fight.” Conflicts can take many forms, and each has its own place in literature. Environmental conflicts are certainly one of the more recognized and appreciated types of conflicts. They are easy to identify, understand, and analyze. An environment can be described as one’s surroundings, so logically, an environmental conflict is a conflict with one’s surroundings. Environmental conflicts pit man against a greater power, and it is unsure what will happen next.
Zolberg, Aristide R., Astri Suhrke, and Sergio Aguayo. Escape From Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
The English writer John Ruskin once said “Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather,” (John Ruskin Quotes - Page 4) but I’m sure there are many who disagree with him. Nature’s beauty is a gift from God, but occasionally nature is not so aesthetically pleasing. Natural disasters occur often around the world destroying the lives of many on a regular basis. An example could be the recent flood victims of Australia or even last year’s earthquake in Haiti. There are several types of natural disasters¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬- from earthquakes to hurricanes and floods; they often strike without warning and leave a path of destruction and despair in their path.
The world today is vastly different from what it was before urbanisation and industrialisation had taken its toll on the world. Since the turn of the new millennium the issue of the environment has suddenly evolved into a widespread issue which is greatly discussed throughout the world. No longer are humans living in a world where the environment is serene or stable but much rather becoming unrecognisable and diminishing before our eyes. The plants, trees and flowers are life forms which God has created for us to enjoy its beauty but it is now solely up to us and many other organisations to protect preserve and respect how fragile our environment really is.