The World Bank, Armed Violence, and the Environment

• In Event: 126 - Section on Environment and Technology Paper Session. Open Topic 2

Abstract

Armed violence, militarism, and war play key roles in shaping environmental and economic development outcomes, but play little role in theories of the relationship between economic development and the environment. This paper (or more precisely, the second half of this paper) addresses this gap in the literature by highlighting the role that armed violence plays in supporting mining projects that receive World Bank financing and insurance underwriting. I briefly discuss the results of this paper and use these results as a springboard to discuss how important it is for environmental and economic development sociologists to incorporate armed violence, militarism, and war into their theories of the relationship between economic development and the environment. [Although this is a very long paper, I will only discuss a small portion of it, which will allow me to give a presentation that fits into the time limits of the session.]

Author

• Liam Downey, University of Colorado