The Cold War was never this hot!
We live in interesting times. The biggest western economic
institutions are crumbling, what were once marginalized voices are
now dominating international negotiations, and touchstone climate
events, such as the monsoon, are failing. Everywhere you look
economic, geopolitical and environmental assumptions are being
shaken to the core. The world is changing. Fast.
Global Warring examines these trends by combining insightful
economic and political analysis with the most likely environmental
change scenarios. It identifies problem areas that could start
conflicts (access to water and resources in Asia), economic trends
that are shifting the balance of power (China''s policy of
nationalistic capitalism), and geopolitical realignments (the
burgeoning strategic partnership between the United States and
India).
Award-winning writer and geopolitical expert Cleo Paskal makes
sense of this overwhelming topic by dividing it into five sections:
how seemingly impervious western nations, such as the United
States, are shockingly vulnerable to hurricanes, storm surges and
rising sea levels, and what that could mean for their internal
stability and economic development; how the thawing Arctic is
opening up a whole new arena for power politics as some of the
world''s biggest countries wrangle for control over vast resources,
strategic shipping routes such as the Northwest Passage and
geopolitical leverage; how changing precipitation patterns, extreme
weather and water shortages are creating severe disruptions in
India and China, and how that could affect their relations with
each other, and the world; how rising sea levels may shift borders
and alter the very notion of statehood, potentially challenging
international law to the breaking point; and, finally, what could
happen in coming decades, and how to avoid the worst of it.
Paskal combines ten years of research; the latest findings from
the Hadley Centre and the United Nations; and interviews with top
political, security and economic strategists with her own extensive
travel as a foreign correspondent. The result is a penetrating,
accessible, compelling, and chilling reminder that Global Warring
is not only coming, it''s here.
"In a clear, comprehensive and alarming analysis, Cleo Paskal
underlines the geopolitically disruptive potential of climate
change. Arguably this is the biggest challenge to human society
since the Ice Age or the Black Death and it is not clear we are any
readier to respond adequately to ours than were our
unfortunate ancestors to theirs." -- Guy Stanley, Desautels
Faculty of Management, McGill University.