Beyond Resource Wars: Scarcity, Environmental Degradation, and International Cooperation

An argument that resource scarcity and environmental degradation can provide an impetus for cooperation among countries.

Common wisdom holds that the earth's dwindling natural resources and increasing environmental degradation will inevitably lead to inter-state conflict, and possibly even set off “resource wars. ” Many scholars and policymakers have considered the environmental roots of violent conflict and instability, but little attention has been paid to the idea that scarcity and deg...