War, Environment, Infrastructure: Lessons from Middle East and North Africa Conflicts

Jeannie Sowers

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1155 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706, 206 Ingraham Hall
@ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Africa at Noon

Jeannie Sowers HS

Speaker: Jeannie Sowers

Time: 12:00 pm- 1:00 pm

Venue: 206 Ingraham Hall

Abstract
Environmental infrastructures mediate between humans and nature, managing flows of water, energy, food, and waste. This talk explores how and why states and armed groups target environmental infrastructures in protracted conflicts and the consequences for human security and governance. Drawing upon an original dataset and interviews, I discuss distinctive forms of targeting environmental infrastructures in Libya, Yemen, and Palestine, and evolving responses by humanitarian and civic organizations.

Bio
Jeannie Sowers is Professor and Chair of the Political Science and International Affairs Department at the University of New Hampshire. Her research explores political and environmental change in the Middle East and North Africa. Her publications include Environmental Politics in Egypt: Experts, Activists, and the State (Routledge, 2013) and Modern Egypt: What Everyone Needs to Know with Bruce Rutherford (Oxford University Press, 2019), along with a number of articles and book chapters. She co-edited The Journey to Tahrir: Revolution, Protest, and Social Change in Egypt (Verso, 2012), and The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Politics (2023). She serves on the editorial board of Global Environmental Politics and is a non-resident Foreign Policy Fellow at the Brookings Institution.