The ecological antecedents of terrorism

Abstract

The global 'war on terror' is wreaking havoc on the natural environment and involving increasing number of organisations. This paper invites sustainability and strategic management studies scholars to explore the relations between terrorism and ecology. In several terrorism prone areas of the world, the disruption of ecological systems that support human populations is an important antecedent to the economic and social conditions that breed terrorism. By examining the ecological and economic patterns in Somalia and Afghanistan, this paper reveals ecological antecedents of terrorism. The author concludes that we can deal with terrorism more effectively and at a lower cost by going beyond the current narrow military response. We need to further study relations between ecology and terrorism and engage policies for ecologically sustainable development of terrorism prone regions.