Environmental security, international cooperation and Western Balkans in previous research

1. Introduction

1.3 Environmental security, international cooperation and Western Balkans in previous research

The present work will broadly build upon two strands of literature: one focusing on environmental security and another one on post-conflict settings, international organisations and specifically the Western Balkans. These will be used to inform and guide the choices made in this study, while the gaps in these studies will be addressed here.

As mentioned above, the vast literature on wider security and securitisation will be introduced in the following section. The focus will be on the scholars of the Copenhagen School as well as those who have suggested revisions of this theory, such as Balzacq²¹ and Williams²², as well as Oels and Trombetta who comment more specifically on securitisation in the environmental sector. The study particularly questions the tendency of securitisation scholarship to only focus on successful processes, arguing instead that failed or ongoing cases are at least equally as interesting and relevant.

Previous research on the variety of aspects of environmental security is also highly relevant since the cooperation in the Western Balkans has been carried out in several forms. These will also be discussed in more detail in Section 2. The concept has previously been considered with regard to its theoretical foundations, such as in the work of Brauch²³ and Conca²⁴, and through specific case studies, as in the case of Jensen²⁵. What seems to be lacking, however, are studies on the evolution of the concept,

21 Balzacq, T.: A Theory of Securitization: Origins, Core Assumptions, and Variants. In Balzacq, T. (Ed.) Securitization theory : how security problems emerge and dissolve. Routledge, London 2011.

22 Williams, M. C.: Words, Images, Enemies: Securitization and International Politics. International Studies Quarterly 47(4) 2003.

23 Brauch, H. G.: Environment and Human Security. Freedom from Hazard Impact, InterSecTions, 2/2005, UNU-EHS, Bonn 2005.

24 Conca, K. The Case for Environmental Peacemaking. In Conca, K. & Dabelko, G. D. (Eds.) Environmental Peacemaking. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2002.

25 Jensen, D.: Evaluating the Impact of UNEP’s Post-conflict Environmental Assessments. In Jensen, D. & Lonergan, S.

(Eds.) Assessing and Restoring Natural Resources in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding. Earthscan, London 2012.

particularly in any historical or regional context. This is precisely what the study presented here aims to provide.

Post-conflict cooperation and stabilisation has been studied from several angles, but a particular focus has been on the role of international actors. According to Call & Cousens, organisations like UN agencies have done a great deal to develop their strategies for peace-building and post-conflict remediation over the past decades, and advances have been made. However, they have not been able to fully address problems like the inability to recognise regional ramifications of conflicts or a lack of resources to adequately act on simultaneous crisis situations around the world.²⁶ Roland Paris offers a further critical perspective on the role of international actors, pointing out that their attempts to bring democratisation and ‘liberalisation’ to remediate post-conflict situations have tended to backfire. The expectation that democratic values and a market economy would effortlessly pave the way for peace has turned out to be unrealistic and, according to Paris, has even worsened societal tensions and injustices.²⁷ International organisations also often try to apply the same practices and methods to all conflicts, all the while keeping a distance from local realities.²⁸

These observations provide a crucial background to the efforts of international actors to impose their own values and practices on a local or regional setting. This dynamic also applies in the Western Balkans, as the concept of environmental security came from the outside and was enforced as a part of the comprehensive peace-building effort. Therefore, it is essential, also in this case, to address questions about the feasibility of the actions of the international organisations.

The previous observations point to local participation, which is another important aspect related to the work of international organisations in peace-building. According to Pouligny, international actors often fail to take into account diversity among the local population and offer a single solution expecting it to fit all. Civil society in a post-conflict country is also likely to be very different from the way it is perceived in secure democracies. The failure to recognise this hinders attempts to generate a sense of local ownership of the cooperation.²⁹ As Tschirgi points out, this is a considerable problem because

26 Call, C. T., & Cousens, E. M.: Ending wars and building peace: International responses to war-torn societies.

International studies perspectives, 9(1), 2008, 1-21.

27 Paris, R.: International peacebuilding and the ‘mission civilisatrice’. Review of international studies, 28(4), 2002, 637-656.

28 Autesserre, S.: The trouble with the Congo: Local violence and the failure of international peacebuilding (Vol. 115).

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2010.

29 Pouligny, B.: Civil society and post-conflict peacebuilding: Ambiguities of international programmes aimed at building

‘new’societies. Security dialogue, 36(4), 2005 495-510.

sustainable peace cannot be achieved without the participation of the local community.³⁰ Donais argues that there exists a ‘local-international divide’ in peace-building operations that needs to be bridged by reconciling international norms with local realities.³¹

Donais also takes this discussion to the Balkans as he examines peace-building in the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to him, the influence of international actors is particularly important in the Bosnian case due to their long presence and important role in the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995. The poor degree of implementation of the Dayton Agreement can be seen to result from the way it was originally adopted as a difficult compromise between the parties, suggesting that the international actors may sometimes end up contributing to solutions that turn out to be dysfunctional or harmful in the long run.³² At the same time the Bosnian case serves as one example of the difficulties that still continue to hamper post-conflict development in the Balkans.

The post-conflict situation in the Balkans has been examined both regionally and with a country focus.

Most of the literature with a regional perspective focuses on Europeanisation and the role of the EU, pointing out that regional cooperation and reconciliation has been such a central goal for the EU. Gordon has discussed the potential of the conditionality policy on EU membership as a post-conflict management strategy, suggesting that it lacks a comprehensive vision to enable a consolidated statehood and democratic peace in the region.³³ According to Bieber, conditionality has not been much more effective in state-building.³⁴ Meanwhile, Kostovicova and Bojicic-Dzelilovic argue that Europeanisation has failed to adequately take into account the impact of globalisation and transnational networks.³⁵

Some scholars have applied this view to the internal development of the in the Western Balkan countries themselves. According to James Ker-Lindsay, their civil societies have been largely influenced by international actors, but at the same time has had its own, often unexpected effects on the stabilisation

30 Tschirgi, N.: Post-conflict peacebuilding revisited: achievements, limitations, challenges. International Peace Academy, New York 2004.

31 Donais, T.: Peacebuilding and local ownership: Post-conflict consensus-building. Routledge, 2012.

32 Donais, T.: The political economy of peacebuilding in post-Dayton Bosnia. Routledge, Abingdon 2005.

33 Gordon, C.: The stabilization and association process in the Western Balkans: an effective instrument of post-conflict management?. Ethnopolitics, 8(3-4), 2009, 325-340.

34 Bieber, F.: Building impossible states? State-building strategies and EU membership in the Western Balkans. Europe-Asia Studies, 63(10), 2011, 1783-1802.

35 Kostovicova, D., & Bojicic-Dzelilovic, V.: Europeanizing the Balkans: rethinking the communist and post-conflict transition. In Kostovicova, D., & Bojicic-Dzelilovic, V. (Eds.). Transnationalism in the Balkans. Routledge, Abingdon 2013.

process.³⁶ This supports the proposition that civil society development cannot be determined from the outside. Meanwhile, Obradovic-Wochnik discusses the ways in which non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have aimed to promote coming to terms with the past, also pointing out that the legacy of conflict is still present in the civil society.³⁷

Environmental issues in the Western Balkans have been discussed especially from the point of view of the EU accession, which has been the major motive for actions in the environmental sector. In particular, the funding provided by the EU through pre-accession financing and the conditions associated with it have been significant in building capacities for environmental governance in the region.³⁸ However, this has led to a degree of dependence on external support and funding. This is especially true for environmental NGOs, meaning that they have to adapt their agendas to fit those of the external funding institutions rather than those of their local communities.³⁹ According to Börzel and Fagan, environmental governance and environmental civil society activity in the Western Balkans is further complicated by the legacy of conflict, ethnic divisions and weak state institutions.⁴⁰

There is some literature on the security linkage of environment in the Western Balkans, but it is mostly limited to case studies rather than more extensive conceptual or theoretical work. The post-conflict situation in the region has been studied as an example of attempts to generate environmental cooperation for example in the water sector⁴¹ and through the establishment of trans-boundary nature protection areas⁴². The work carried out in the Balkans has also been evaluated along with other post-conflict assessments of environmental consequences.⁴³

36 Ker-Lindsay, J.: Concusion. In Bojicic-Dzelilovic, V., Ker-Lindsay, J., & Kostovicova, D. (Eds.): Civil society and transitions in the Western Balkans. Palgrave-Macmillan, Basingstoke 2013, 257-264.

37 Obradovic-Wochnik, J.: Serbian Civil Society as an Exclusionary Space: NGOs, the Public and 'Coming to Terms with the Past'. In Bojicic-Dzelilovic, V., Ker-Lindsay, J., & Kostovicova, D. (Eds.): Civil society and transitions in the Western Balkans. Palgrave-Macmillan, Basingstoke 2013b, 210-229.

38 Geddes, A., Lees, C., & Taylor, A.: The European Union and South East Europe: The Dynamics of Europeanization and Multilevel Governance. Routledge, Abingdon 2013.

39 Fagan, A., & Sircar, I.: Europeanisation and multi-level environmental governance in a post-conflict context: the gradual development of environmental impact assessment processes in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 33(5), 2015, 919-934.

40 Börzel, T., & Fagan, A.: Environmental governance in South East Europe/Western Balkans: reassessing the transformative power of Europe. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 33(5), 2015, 885-900.

41 Čolakhodžić, A., Filipović, M., Kovandžić, J., & Stec, S.: The Sava River: Transitioning to peace in the former Yugoslavia. In Weinthal, E. Troell, J. & Nakayama, M. (eds.): Water and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding. Earthscan, London 2014, 271-296.

42 Walters, J. T.: A peace park in the Balkans: cross-border cooperation and livelihood creation through coordinated environmental conservation. In Young, H. & Goldman, L. (eds.) Livelihoods, natural resources, and post-conflict peacebuilding, Earthscan, London 2015, 155-166.

43 Conca, K., & Wallace, J.: Environment and peacebuilding in war-torn societies: Lessons from the UN Environment Programme's experience with postconflict assessment. Global Governance: a Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations, 15(4), 2009, 485-504.

The work of international organisations on environment and security in the Balkans has prompted some studies. Papa has examined the major regional environmental cooperation tools with security implications, thus covering some of the same initiatives that are discussed in the present study. Her work is useful as it evaluates various environmental security risks and the benefits of linking environment and security in the Balkan context.⁴⁴ It refrains, however, from considering the process through which the environment came to be seen as a security issue, or the wide-ranging consequences of this conceptualisation. Meanwhile, Sandei takes a practitioner’s view into the work of the Environment and Security Initiative (ENVSEC) in South Eastern Europe, providing relevant insights into the objectives and achievements of the programme in the region.⁴⁵

With regard to the actors in the Western Balkan context, Hardt gives a very important perspective in her work examining environmental security in the Anthropocene. Using ENVSEC as a case study, she considers the practical inclusion of environmental security into policies. Hardt gives a useful overview of ENVSEC as an environmental security organisation, and compares its environmental security approach to several theoretical formulations. According to her, ENVSEC’s activities have been instrumental in institutionalising environmental security, but also in widening the concept beyond a narrow conflict-oriented approach. For Hardt, the fact that ENVSEC has been able to obtain funding and carry out its projects also suggests that it has been successful at securitising environmental issues.⁴⁶ Although ENVSEC is only one of the actors discussed in the present study, these insights offer an interesting point of view. However, the aim here is to go beyond the organisational approach and trace the development of the environmental security concept in a regional setting, while also reconsidering the securitisation framework from several angles.

The previous research presented here extends over a rather wide range of fields and topics, but eventually converges on a very specific combination of themes. The variety of discussions points out the crucial interconnections that environmental security has to consider. On the other hand, it does carry the risk of overcomplicating the premises of the study. It is, therefore, important to maintain a clear focus for the research, based on the questions and objectives presented previously. In addition, the methods, presented in the following section, will help to keep the discussion on track despite many potential divergences.

44 Papa, M.: Rethinking Conflict Prevention in South Eastern Europe: An Emerging Environmental Security Agenda?.

Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 6(3), 2006, 315-333.

45 Sandei, P. C.: The Environment and Security Initiative in South Eastern Europe: Transforming Risk into Cooperation.

In Montini, M. & Bogdanovic, S. (eds.) Environmental Security in South-Eastern Europe: International Agreements and Their Implementation. Springer, Dordrecht 2011, 17-26.

46 Hardt, J. N.: Environmental security in the anthropocene : assessing theory and practice. Routledge, Abingdon 2017.

16 1.4 Environmental security as historical research

The present work is a historical study, which sets it apart from a great deal of other environmental security and securitisation research. As has been pointed out previously, this is one of its potential contributions to the literature, as the historical perspective enables a closer exploration of the framework in a specific chronological and political context. Historiography is founded on source criticism, which requires a constant interchange between different sources as well as research questions and an underlying analytical framework. It therefore has the potential for an extensive contextualisation that inexorably aims to take into account societal and political factors. While discourse analysis and other common methods for studying securitisation enable a close reading of a specific but often limited case, historical analysis allows tracing the process over a longer chronological period and placing it into a wider although also more general setting. It therefore contributes to the examination of the interaction between the securitisation process and the historical surrounding in which it has taken place.

Within the historical discipline, this study will take the approach of conceptual history. It assumes that concepts are defined and redefined in interaction with surrounding societal and political circumstances, which they in turn also help to shape. In other words, they are irrevocably tied to their historical context.

In particular, the approach chosen here will follow to Quentin Skinner’s view that concepts are formed of language and through specific speech acts, meaning that they also have political consequences.⁴⁷ This opens a useful analytical corollary to securitisation that directly links it to the history of the concept of security-

Conceptual history offers a means to analyse environmental security by focusing the discussion on the political conditions and consequences of its use. In the Western Balkan case, it helps to study the evolution of the environmental security as a concept, as it illuminates the interaction between its use in language and the actions it has brought about. In addition, the conceptual history approach links environmental security to the chronology of changes in the concept of security. It therefore makes it possible to consider how the recent formulation of environmental security relates to the long term history of security overall.

Overall, the present study has an unusually theoretical orientation for a historical work. This is especially visible in the approach to the securitisation framework, which also provides a tool for the analysis. The theory can therefore be seen as not only informing the method, but also as constituting one part of it. This enables a distinct focus on the theoretical elements and makes it possible to provide

47 Skinner, Q.: Visions of Politics, vol. 1, Regarding Method. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2002.

insights into the formulations of the securitisation framework more generally. Rather than diminishing the role of the historical analysis, the theoretical framework only strengthens and focuses it.

Furthermore, this study focuses on recent history, which adds some considerations to the research setting. Usually, history has the advantage of hindsight in the sense that the outcomes of the events are known. When it comes to recent history, this applies to some individual events but the final consequences of more long-term developments remain to be seen. This makes it more difficult to evaluate some occurrences in regard to their eventual outcomes. Moreover, it is difficult to draw a line in any historical analysis to demarcate a time when all the outcomes of the events of the period under research are known. The past is evaluated from the perspective of the present, which could yet change and influence our understanding of the past. This is something that studies of recent history can potentially take into account more carefully by recognising their inevitable ignorance about some end outcome.

1.5 Methods and materials

The research will proceed as a traditional historical analysis forming a chronological narrative. It will, however, be thematically organised in order to better illustrate the development of the concept of environmental security. In addition, the research will utilise an analytical framework adopted from Balzacq⁴⁸ to examine the environmental securitisation process in detail. By separately outlining the agents, actions and contexts of securitisation, it will allow a closer consideration of its premises and consequences. Along with other theoretical aspects, the framework will be described in Section 2.

As is relatively common in historical research, the sources in the current study are variable and come in several formats. The main share will come from reports, strategies, project plans and other documents in which environmental security and the cooperation to implement it has been motivated, planned and developed further. These are materials that are usually produced by the international organisations, such as the OSCE, UN agencies, the Environment and Security Initiative (ENVSEC); the various programmes, projects and meetings they have engaged in as well as some of their key stakeholders. As these materials specifically aim to describe and, in some cases, define environmental security, they are crucial for constructing the ways in which the environmental security actors themselves have envisioned their work and have wished to present it to their audience. In addition, the research will examine a limited amount of materials produced by other actors. These primarily involve the national

48 Balzacq 2011.

ministries and other counterparts from the regional countries, but also other stakeholders who have been relevant to environmental security processes in one way or another.

There are some differences among the documents and the information they provide, however. Some are brochures, leaflets and presentations specifically intended for the general public as promotional materials. They aim to present the work of the organisations in a positive light and usually in a concise way, but are important as they provide insight into the way in which the organisations wanted their

In document International Organisations and the Securitisation of the Environment in Post-Conflict Western Balkans (sivua 19-0)