ABSTRACT
The distinguishing characteristic of post-cold world politics is the absence of what international security analyst Lawrence Freedman calls the “strategic imperative”—the motivation among the major states to compete for military power. As military threats have subsided or disappeared, other threats, especially environmental ones, have emerged with greater clarity. It has thus become possible to argue persuasively that environmental threats are an essential component of national or international security. This idea, often expressed by the term “environmental security”, has been adopted by the Clinton administration as part of United States national security doctrine. But it remains controversial, both conceptually and politically. And a strong isolationist trend brought into Washington by the new Republican controlled Congress threatens to reverse the progress already made in redefining United States national security.
