We have entered a new era of conflict, warns new book
Marginalisation – poverty, inequality, and the consequencies of climate change
The causes of conflict are many and deep – economic, political, societal, environmental, demographic.
In this holistic approach, he points to the enormous and growing gap between the world’s rich and poor. But the old division between rich countries and poor countries no longer applies as figures from the US demonstrate dramatically.
Rogers points to David Hulme’s book, Global Poverty: Global Governance and Poor People in the Post-2015 Era – while the global poverty rate may be declining slowly, the relative poverty rate in high-income countries has increased, and has more than doubled in the developing world. Meanwhile, the global military-industrial complex consumes some $1,700 bn a year.
There are likely to be two fundamental trends threatening world security, according to Rogers. One is “the increasing marginalisation of the majority of the world’s people caused by the workings of the neo-liberal system of international economic activity” which concentrates most of the fruits of economic growth in the hands of a transglobal elite of some 1.5bn people.
The other is climate change. “It is now well nigh certain”, he writes, “that climate change is going to lead to huge problems of food supply and also to far more dangerous episodes of extreme weather, with profound political and social effects”. The author adds: “Overall, it is the link between environmental limits and a world economy not fit for purpose that underpins the security challenge”. https://goo.gl/z1XE9O
Democracy & Good Governance 