2018/01/08 by Jeff D. Colgan · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Environmental Science · #Transboundary Water Resource Management #Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration #Climate Change and Sustainable Development #Politics #Human settlement #Climate change #Political science #Military Base #Political economy #Geography #Sociology #Law #Public administration #Archaeology #Ecology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1162/glep_a_00443
openalex publication_date 2018/01/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
How does climate change affect the politics of military bases? The United States alone has hundreds of overseas bases that require continuous coordination with host governments. I argue that climate change can create knock-on environmental problems associated with a base’s infrastructure or waste. Those knock-on problems create a mix of subnational, international, and transnational political contestation that raises the political costs of overseas bases and could even rupture an international relationship. I probe the plausibility of the theoretical framework using new evidence from Greenland. Between 1953 and 1967, the US Army maintained secret bases in Greenland as precursors for a nuclear ballistic missile complex. The bases were eventually abandoned, leaving considerable waste behind. Climate change is now poised to remobilize these pollutants into the surface water, creating a risk for human settlements. The case could be the proverbial canary in the coal mine for future politics surrounding overseas military bases.