Understanding emerging security challenges

Ashok Swain surveys the security problems that have surfaced worldwide since the Cold War ended. When the Berlin Wall fell and the international order shifted, thinking about security widened to take in socio-economic and environmental concerns. The book looks at resource scarcity, climate change, disputes over shared water, deforestation and forest conservation, food and health security, and mass migration. It explores what drives these threats and what follows from them, with a close eye on the methods being developed to respond.

Swain proposes a framework for sustainable security suited to a global political landscape that is changing quickly. The aim is to draw governments and societies into a shared effort that compensates for the shortcomings of the current international system.

Through a detailed study of these issues and how they unfold, the book contends that the same developments that create serious problems also open up real chances for cooperation among many kinds of stakeholders, both between nations and within them.

The volume is aimed at students of global security, war and conflict studies, peace studies, and international relations more broadly.