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Climate Change as a “Threat Multiplier”: The Construction of Climate Security by the United Kingdom—2007–2020

Harrington, Cameron

Authors



Contributors

Judith Nora Hardt
Editor

Franziskus von Lucke
Editor

Adrien Estève
Editor

Nicholas P. Simpson
Editor

Abstract

This chapter examines how the United Kingdom (UK) has framed the issue of climate security and the policies and practices designed in response. Beginning with its 2007 chairing of the inaugural debate on climate security in the United Nations Security Council, the UK has taken an active role in positioning climate change as a global security threat requiring urgent attention. It has been instrumental in shaping the now-dominant framing of climate change as a “threat multiplier.” This has contributed to a construction of climate security that is malleable and combines various logics of security, including both human security and more traditional national security. The dominant result of these framings is the pursuit of policy interventions that emphasise adaptation and resilience, particularly for countries and regions deemed acutely vulnerable to climatic and political upheaval. This chapter concludes by suggesting that the UK may be escalating climate security to a new level of prominence, which offers some potential for new articulations of security discourse, such as ecological security, to emerge.

Citation

Harrington, C. (2023). Climate Change as a “Threat Multiplier”: The Construction of Climate Security by the United Kingdom—2007–2020. In J. Nora Hardt, C. Harrington, F. von Lucke, A. Estève, & N. P. Simpson (Eds.), Climate Security in the Anthropocene: Exploring the Approaches of United Nations Security Council Member-States (297-318). (1). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26014-8_14

Online Publication Date May 21, 2023
Publication Date 2023
Deposit Date Oct 17, 2023
Publisher Springer
Pages 297-318
Series Title The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science
Series ISSN 2367-4024
Edition 1
Book Title Climate Security in the Anthropocene: Exploring the Approaches of United Nations Security Council Member-States
ISBN 9783031260162
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26014-8_14
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1804771