The Environmental Consequences of Asymmetric War: A Panel Study of Militarism and Carbon Emissions, 2000–2010

Abstract

Warmaking and war preparation have changed significantly in the 21st century. A number of scholars have documented and analyzed these changes. Drawing on work focused upon “new war” and “new militarism,” we argue that one facet of these practices has received little attention—the environmental consequences of “new militarism.” Specifically, we contend that “asymmetric war” through the mechanism of risk-transfer militarism results in increased carbon emissions. Our analyses utilize fixed effects models for 126 countries using international panel data from 2000 to 2010. We sketch the differences in these outcomes for both developed and developing nations, contextualize carbon emissions within both times of economic prosperity and decline, provide evidence of the differential effects on carbon emissions by a nation’s world-systems standing, and provide empirical evidence of the rise of risk-transfer militarism and its negative effects on the environment.