Presentation short abstract

The contribution will discuss the questions: “Is there common ground between political ecology and mainstream security studies, how useful could it be and for whom?”

Presentation long abstract

Perspectives of political ecologists and scholars of mainstream security studies could hardly be further apart. While the former stresses the importance of (historically grown) power asymmetries, inequality and overall complexity, the world of the latter is a bit simpler: threats everywhere. Being a human geographer and political ecologist on the one hand and having been involved in the education of German police forces on the other hand, I claim to have some understanding of both perspectives. Against this background, I am happy to accept the “invitation” of the convenors of the panel to reflect on the questions: “Is there common ground between political ecology and mainstream security studies, how useful could it be and for whom?” A potential concept for common ground could be resilience that is used by both communities, although with different connotations and purposes. The quick answer regarding the usefulness could be that security studies and security providers would benefit from a more holistic and power-sensitive view that political ecology has to offer. But is there really nothing that political ecology can learn from the risk and conflict analysis that security studies and security providers carry out? I doubt it. These are the questions and thoughts, I will share based on a review of the relevant literature, especially in the field of climate change and conflict as well as experience and insights, gained during extensive fieldwork on conflicts in northern Kenya, western Brazil and northern Bolivia. I see this contribution as a starting point for future collaboration.