Threats Without Threateners. Exploring Intersections of Threats to the Global Commons and National Security

摘要

Could three global issues -- climate change, water scarcity, and pandemics -- be posed as national security challenges with interconnected threats to the global 'commons'. And, if so, could this perspective help trigger new approaches for addressing them. For the United States, impacts on national security are important but mostly indirect, resulting from the ripple effects of direct impacts on other countries and regions, especially poor ones. This paper explores the interconnections of these issues and discusses a range of policy ideas: not to recommend them as solutions, but to stimulate an alternative way of thinking about policy -- one that might be characterized as indirect, not direct; bottom-up, not top down; and opening new possibilities, not 'fixing' the problem.