Population, environment and security: a new trinity

This paper critically examines the literature which claims that internal conflict in Africa, Asia and Latin America is often the result of population pressures and resource scarcities, focusing particularly on the work of Thomas Homer-Dixon. This literature largely fails to consider the underlying economic and political causes of environmental degradation and violence, including the role of international companies, development assistance agencies and militaries. Yet, as the paper describes, this literature has a growing influence. It provides a convenient rationale for sustaining US military expenditures which are threatened by the end of the Cold War and gives: hardliners in the population control lobby a justification for moving away from the new, broader focus on reproductive health back to more coercive population policies. It has also been used by journalists such as Robert Kaplan to present inaccurate and racist images of Africa. The paper ends with a discussion of why it is important to challenge this ideology before it exercises a firmer hold on public policy and consciousness, not least because it leads to negative stereotypes of women and "peasant" farmers and could lead to the militarization of environmental, policy.