Call for Abstracts: Special Issue “From Climate Conflicts to Environmental Peacebuilding”

Sep 24, 2022 | Natalia Dalmer

Scholars of political science, international relations, human geography, economics, and related disciplines have long studied the intersections between environmental change, and the dynamics of peace and conflict. Today, a vast amount of literature is available discussing whether, how, and in which contexts climate change affects armed conflict risks. At the same time, a still small but rapidly growing literature on environmental peacebuilding has emerged, which investigates peaceful responses to environmental stress and how environmental management can contribute to peacebuilding. To date, there is limited dialogue between both research fields.  The proposed Special Issue will address this gap by building bridges between and facilitating shared investigations of climate conflict and environmental peacebuilding research. We invite empirical and conceptual contributions that demonstrate the added value of integrating the two fields or show how approaches from one field enrich and complement the other. Potential questions include: Can environmental peacebuilding reduce climate-related conflict risks? Which challenges does climate change pose for (environmental) peacebuilding, and how can they be addressed? What are the benefits (but possibly also negative side-effects) of bringing a peace angle to climate-conflict research? Furthermore, practitioners (development agencies, civil society, international organizations, corporations, etc.) that aim to tackle climate change increasingly endorse the environmental peacebuilding perspective – but how does it impact their work and outcomes?  We are open to contributions with diverse methodological (quantitative, qualitative, mixed) and theoretical approaches (ranging from positivist rational choice thinking to critical, constructivist, postcolonial, and feminist work). We plan to submit the Special Issue proposal to a journal with good standing (such as Peacebuilding or Environment and Security) in the relevant research communities.  If you would like to contribute, please send a title and abstract (max. 200 words) to Natalia Dalmer (n.dalmer@ipw.uni-hannover.de) until October 28. We will select the abstracts to be included in the Special Issue proposal by mid-November. If you have any questions, please feel free to approach us.