Environmental changes as an additional cause of violent conflicts : master's thesis

Gjeorgjievska Stojmenovska, Marija (author), Roter, Petra (mentor), Crnčec, Danijel (comentor)

Violent conflicts by themselves occur as a result of among others incompatible goals, perceptions and motives. Conflict causes are often related to identity, ethnic, religious or ideological characteristics. As the world is constantly changing, this creates many different threats that can endanger security. How these other threats are perceived in everyday life also affects the type of response to those threats by individuals. This thesis focuses on yet another cause that can threaten people’s peace and security – namely, environmental changes. The thesis explores the complex relationship between environmental changes and the emergence of violent conflicts, positing that these changes, when intertwined with identity-based discourse by leaders, can trigger violent behavior among social groups. By adopting a post-positivist meta-theoretical approach, the thesis underscores the socially constructed nature of knowledge and reality, pushing for a multidimensional analysis that integrates environmental security with peace and conflict studies. The thesis also examines the influence of social constructivism on violent conflicts, showing how socially constructed identities and perceptions, shaped by leaders’ identity-based discourses, lead to violent conflict. The thesis broadens the scope of traditional conflict causes, such as security, political, religious, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic factors, to include environmental changes as a significant yet underexamined trigger. By challenging the dominant view that environmental changes are considered as not so threeatening in sparking conflicts, the thesis explains their crucial impact, particularly when merged with identity politics.

• Language: English
• Keywords: identity, social constructivism, environmental changes, violent conflicts
• Work type: Master's thesis/paper
• Typology: 2.09 - Master's Thesis
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Place of publishing: Ljubljana
• Publisher: M. Gjeorgjievska Stojmenovska
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: 1 spletni vir (1 datoteka PDF (117 str.))
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-159027
• UDC: 323.2(043.2)
• COBISS.SI-ID: 202620419
• Publication date in RUL: 28.06.2024

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Okoljske spremembe kot dodaten vzrok za nastanek nasilnih konfliktov : magistrsko delo

Abstract

Nasilni konflikti se sami po sebi pojavljajo kot posledica med drugim nezdružljivih ciljev, zaznav in motivov. Vzroki za konflikte so pogosto povezani z identiteto, etničnimi, verskimi ali ideološkimi značilnostmi. Ker se svet nenehno spreminja, to ustvarja veliko različnih groženj, ki lahko ogrozijo varnost. Kako se te druge grožnje dojemajo v vsakdanjem življenju, vpliva tudi na vrsto odziva posameznikov na te grožnje. Magistrsko delo se osredotoča na še en vzrok, ki lahko ogroža mir in varnost ljudi – to so okoljske spremembe. Magistrsko delo raziskuje kompleksen odnos med okoljskimi spremembami in nastankom nasilnih konfliktov, pri čemer trdi, da lahko te spremembe, ko so prepletene z identitetnim diskurzom vodij, sprožijo nasilno vedenje med družbenimi skupinami. S sprejetjem postpozitivističnega metateoretičnega pristopa magistrska naloga poudarja družbeno konstruirano naravo znanja in realnosti ter si prizadeva za večrazsežno analizo, ki združuje okoljsko varnost s študijami miru in konfliktov. Magistrsko delo preučuje tudi vpliv družbenega konstruktivizma na nasilne konflikte, pri čemer je pokaženo kako družbeno konstruirane identitete in percepcije, oblikovane z identitetnimi diskurzi voditeljev, vodijo v nasilne konflikte. Magistrsko delo razširja obseg tradicionalnih vzrokov konfliktov, kot so varnostni, politični, verski, etnični, kulturni in družbeno-ekonomski dejavniki, tako da vključuje okoljske spremembe kot pomemben, a premalo raziskan sprožilec. Z izpodbijanjem prevladujočega pogleda, da okoljske spremembe niso tako škodljive pri sprožanju konfliktov, magistrsko delo pojasni njihov ključen vpliv, zlasti če se združijo z identitetno politiko.

• Keywords: identiteta, družbeni konstruktivizm, okoljske spremembre, nasilni konflikti