The discourse of ‘climate migrations’ will reinforce the old borders (physical and mental) and create new ‘climate borders’ between India and Bangladesh.
In International Relations State system is expected uphold five basic social values security, freedom, order, justice and welfare but climate change would be challenging all these social values. This work revolves around interrelated key concepts of critical geopolitics, imaginative geographies and borders in order to map out geopolitics of fear, deployed through the imaginative geographies of climate induced migrations, and analyze its implications for India and Bangladesh.
This work stated that a critical social science intervention in the nascent discourse of ‘climate change migration’ is needed, in order to uncover and analyze the political uses and abuses of climate fear, and growing securitization and militarization of climate change policy and responses. Far from being the problem of National Security and the state and non state actors needs to desecuretise the issue of climate induced migration and shift their attention towards the most neglected aspects of climate affair i.e. the issue climate ethics and equity.
This work further explore the prospects of counter imaginative geographies of hope and the role they could possibly play in approaching the issue of climate change induced migration from the angle of human security and human rights of the socially disadvantaged, dispossessed and disadvantage in the Global South.
Contents
CHAPTER-I: Geopolitics of Fear and Migrations: Critical Geo-Historical Perspectives on India-Bangladesh Relations
CHAPTER-II: Climate Change Impacts, Displacements and Migration: Focusing Bangladesh and India.
CHAPTER-III: Indian Responses: Borders, Orders and Others
CHAPTER-IV: Responses from Bangladesh: Uses and Abuses of Geopolitics of Fear
CHAPTER-V: Questioning Climate Borders: Towards Counter-Imaginative Geographies of care and protection?
CHAPTER-VI: Conclusions
Objective & Research Themes
This work explores the emergence of "geopolitics of fear" in South Asia, specifically focusing on how climate-change induced displacement and migration are securitized in India and Bangladesh. The research investigates how historical narratives, emotional geographies, and bordering practices contribute to the formation of "climate borders" and analyzes how these discourses are framed by state and non-state actors.
- The role of "emotional geographies" and "geopolitics of fear" in shaping India-Bangladesh relations.
- The securitization of climate-induced migration and its impact on regional borders.
- Critique of alarmist climate narratives and their influence on national security policies.
- The interaction between climate change impacts, human security, and traditional geopolitical frameworks.
- The potential for counter-imaginative geographies and regional cooperation as alternative solutions.
Excerpt from the Book
Geopolitics of Fear and Migrations: Theoretical Reflections
The term ‘Geopolitics‘ requires some explanation at the very outset. For the purposes of this work we are inclined to uphold that the complex and nuanced nature of the term ‘geopolitics‘ defies a single definition. There are several ways in which geopolitics and ‘geopolitical‘ can be approached and analyzed. Geopolitics can be understood as a discourse, at the core of which lies a complex interplay “between power-knowledge and social and political relations” (Dodds, 2014: 29). In the words of one of the leading proponents of the critical version of geopolitics, a key concern is to reveal how various grand geopolitical schemes and narratives are dictated and driven by the agendas of various centers of power and their political elites (O‘ Tuathail, 1992: 439).
The manner in which these national security elites “represent the nature and defining dilemmas of international politics in particular ways” by writing “particular ‘scripts‘ in international politics concerning places, peoples and issues” (Ibid.) further reinforces the power-knowledge nexus. “Such ‘scripts‘ then becomes part of the means by which (great power) hegemony is exercised in the international system” (Ibid).
In the ‘geopolitics of emotions‘ too one finds a complex power-knowledge-power operating at various levels. Dominique Moïsi (2009) has argued that geopolitics is about both materiality/resources and ideas/emotions. In his view, emotions play a central role in human interactions at various levels (Ibid. xi). He identifies ‘fear‘, ‘hope‘ and ‘humiliation‘ as the three key emotions for understanding many facets of contemporary global geopolitics. Confidence is “the defining factor in how nations and people address the challenges they face [e.g. climate induced migration] as well as how they relate to one another” (Ibid. 5).
Summary of Chapters
CHAPTER-I: Geopolitics of Fear and Migrations: Critical Geo-Historical Perspectives on India-Bangladesh Relations: This chapter establishes the theoretical framework by exploring the "geopolitics of fear" and its role in securitizing climate-induced migration between India and Bangladesh.
CHAPTER-II: Climate Change Impacts, Displacements and Migration: Focusing Bangladesh and India.: This chapter examines the physical impacts of climate change in South Asia and critiques alarmist scenario-building exercises through a social science lens.
CHAPTER-III: Indian Responses: Borders, Orders and Others: This chapter analyzes how Indian state and non-state actors frame climate migration as a national security threat through popular, formal, and practical geopolitical discourses.
CHAPTER-IV: Responses from Bangladesh: Uses and Abuses of Geopolitics of Fear: This chapter explores how political leaders, NGOs, and the media in Bangladesh utilize fear-inducing rhetoric regarding climate migration to serve specific agendas, including aid diplomacy.
CHAPTER-V: Questioning Climate Borders: Towards Counter-Imaginative Geographies of care and protection?: This chapter investigates alternative frameworks for human security and explores potential regional solutions like SAARC to address displacement.
CHAPTER-VI: Conclusions: This chapter synthesizes the main arguments, reaffirming that climate change discourse is deeply political and that securitization often exacerbates rather than resolves human security issues.
Keywords
Geopolitics of fear, climate change, migration, securitization, South Asia, India-Bangladesh relations, human security, imaginative geographies, climate refugees, bordering practices, environmental migration, alarmist narratives, regional cooperation, displacement, climate justice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this book?
The work investigates the "geopolitics of fear" surrounding climate-induced migration in South Asia, specifically analyzing how India and Bangladesh use these narratives to justify securitization and border reinforcement.
What are the central themes addressed?
The book covers the securitization of migration, the role of emotional geographies in political discourse, the impact of climate change on vulnerable populations, and the geopolitical implications of "climate refugee" labels.
What is the primary research question?
The research asks in what ways the historical context of trans-border migration and the global securitization of climate change contribute to a geopolitics of fear that influences state policies and borders between India and Bangladesh.
Which scientific methods are employed?
The author employs a critical geopolitical discourse analysis, examining literature, political speeches, media narratives, and policy reports produced by state and non-state actors to expose the "power-knowledge" nexus.
What does the main body of the text cover?
The main chapters systematically map how climate change, migration, and security are interconnected, moving from theoretical reflections to site-specific case studies of India and Bangladesh, and finally exploring normative, rights-based alternatives.
How are "climate refugees" characterized in the research?
The work highlights that the term is highly contested and often used instrumentally by various actors to create alarm, while pointing out the gaps in international legal frameworks that leave these displaced populations without clear protection.
How does the book connect the Partition of 1947 to current climate migration?
The author argues that the collective trauma and fear generated by the 1947 Partition continue to shape current "imaginative geographies" of fear regarding trans-border movement, framing modern climate-displaced individuals through this historical lens of "othering."
What role does the media play in this study?
The research analyzes how media outlets in India and Bangladesh actively contribute to the "climate of fear" by sensationalizing the threats posed by climate change, often reducing complex socioeconomic issues to simplistic security dilemmas.
- Quote paper
- Sonali Narang (Author), 2015, Geopolitics of Fear and ‘Climate Change Migrations’: Implications for Bangladesh and India, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/364528
