The Anthropocene and the Transformation of the Concept of Security in the Era of Climate Change: Between Conceptual Expansion and Critiques of Securitization

Abstract

This article analyzes the transformation of the concept of security in the Anthropocene era, demonstrating that climate change now constitutes a structuring factor in international relations and a threat multiplier, simultaneously affecting environmental, economic, social, political, and geopolitical dimensions. Based on a comparative conceptual confrontation of foundational and critical works published primarily between 1983 and 2023, supplemented by institutional reports on human security, climate, and world peace, it traces the evolution of the concept of security before focusing on the securitization process developed by the Copenhagen School. Its contribution consists in distinguishing the securitization of climate from its militarization, and proposing an Ecological Security Contract as an evaluation framework based on population protection, the habitability of the Earth system, climate justice, civil primacy, and the environmental responsibility of institutions. The study concludes that in the Anthropocene era, a proportionate securitization can support prevention, adaptation, and cooperation, whereas a framing centered on the classical notion of security would favor coercive responses. Its scope remains theoretical, based on a non-exhaustive documentary corpus. The resulting proposition will need to be tested by future empirical research.

JEL Classification : F59 , Q54

Paper type: Theoretical Research