Militarization and water: a cross-national analysis of militarism and freshwater withdrawals

Abstract

The treadmill of destruction theory identifies the military as a major contributor to environmental problems. Water resources exploitation is one major problem that has been insufficiently studied by sociologists. Utilizing the treadmill of destruction framework here, I aim to assess how the military influences water use in nations. The purpose of this article is twofold: first, I utilize the treadmill of destruction theory to explain how the military interacts with water resources through combat and civilian operations. Second, I empirically demonstrate militarization influences on freshwater withdrawals through a fixedeffect analysis of 126 countries between 1997 and 2011. Militarization is measured as the number of military personnel relative to the population and military spending as a percentage of gross domestic product. My results show that as military personnel and spending increases, there is a corresponding increase in freshwater withdrawals. My analysis suggests militarization is an important structural driver of environmental impacts including freshwater resources.

Military, Race, and Urbanization: Lessons of Environmental Injustice from Las Vegas, Nevada

“…Researchers (Liu et al 2016) found soldiers in closer proximity to open-air burn pits reported higher rates of respiratory and cardiovascular health issues, including chronic bronchitis and hypertension. Moreover, researchers argue expansionary environmental harms also occur during peacetime or civilian operations because the military relies on large-scale infrastructures that consume many resources (Alvarez 2016). There are environmental consequences to using large-scale technologies outside of explicit wars, including war simulation practices or municipal infrastructures, and those actions consume resources (e.g., fueling of jet planes or using water) and produce chemical toxics (e.g., the air toxics associated with flying aircrafts).…”

“…While previously mentioned Indigenous-focused research did not use the treadmill of destruction, it nonetheless demonstrates the negative consequences associated with the military’s expansionary logic in developing nuclear and energy technologies. A large extent of the treadmill of destruction research focuses on cross-national analyses demonstrating how militarism drives carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, and freshwater withdrawals (Alvarez 2016; Clark and Jorgenson 2012; Jorgenson et al 2012). Less attention focuses on the military as part of the empire state contributing to local urban environmental inequalities.…”

“…The expansionary environmental effects of the military occur in times of war and peace (Jorgenson et al 2010). The military's usage of natural resources and their production of environmental hazards happen in combat operations, including actions of national security, war, and weapons/technologies (Alvarez 2016). For example, during U.S. Military deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, military bases used open-air burn pits to dispose their solid waste and thereby exposed chemical toxins, such as PM2.5, PM10, and furan, into the air (Liu et al 2016).…”

“…A recent study found a quarter of Navajo women have traces of uranium in their body systems (Hudetz 2019), thus demonstrating the long-term health consequences of nuclear colonialism (Endres 2009a, 2009b). Moreover, environmental sociology has a long line of research using the treadmill of destruction theory to argue militarism as a major driver of anthropogenic pollution and natural resource consumption (Alvarez 2016; Clark and Jorgenson 2012; Jorgenson, Clark, and Givens 2012). The military and semi-military organizational structure (e.g., para-militia) forcibly displace Indigenous and marginalized communities to make room for natural resource extraction or dam construction (Delina 2020; Downey, Bonds, and Clark 2010).…”

Democratic institutions and the energy intensity of well-being: a cross-national study

“…Accordingly, we include a control variable for exports as a percentage of GDP. Nations with larger militaries tend to have lower environmental performance than their counterparts [72,83,93], and we control for military expenditures as a percentage of GDP to capture this influence. To capture urbanization, we use the percentage of national population living in an urban setting.…”