In our globalized and modern community, environmental security problem has become a rising issue. However, as we have not developed the environmental security field as much as we have done for other political security issues, multiples of possible theories exist today as Floyd addresses in the reading. While reading the assignments for this week, I could easily find such distinctive perspectives in the analysis of two authors, Deligiannis and de Soysa, about natural resource scarcity and the possible factors of the phenomenon.
I found it interesting that Deligiannis argues polemical and social factors along with the human made scarcity result in the violent conflicts. He does not limit the causes to polemical aspects, but rather believes in the relation between natural scarcity and the violent conflict. It also let us to have a different approach to the cause of the natural scarcity problem. According to Deligiannis, I understand that the presence of violence is not explicable only with polemical reasons but rather human induced transformation is needed. Throughout the analysis, his claim seems to be well explained with the argument against those who insist on polemical factors, including de Soysa’s. But Deligiannis’ analysis would have been more convincing if it contains more cases that are applicable.
In the following chapter, on contrary to Deligiannis’ study, De Soysa considers that the major sources that influence natural scarcity are political and economical aspects. He explains that the resource scarcity problem can be resolved and that it is not by nature. I agree that natural resource being nurture enables government and international institutions to resolve the scarcity problem. Also, unlike Deligiannis, De soysa includes examples in his reading such as the cases of China and India, and this helped me understanding the concept clearly.
Still, I find it difficult to say which author’s position I would like to choose since I need more profound knowledge and research about this complicated debate. These two authors’ positions seem to be extremely contrary and both arguments are very interesting. However, to me, de Soysa’s concept is more convincing than that of Deligiannis as I strongly agree that the economic and political factors influence crucially in natural resource scarcity issue and that the policies made by government and international institutions improve the resource curse.