2026 European Security Studies Conference

Session

Politics at the Intersection of Climate, Industrialization and Security

NTRAD1

12 Jun 2026, 11:40

D House, Lecture Hall 8 (Stockholm University)

Conveners

Politics at the Intersection of Climate, Industrialization and Security

• Nicolas Blarel (Leiden University)

464. Climate Change, Environmental Crime, and the Governance of Non-Traditional Security in Europe

Cornel Racoveanu (National University of Political Studies and Public Administration Bucharest)

Non-Traditional Security Challenges - Climate

Paper Abstract (Closed Panels)

Climate change is increasingly recognized as a critical non-traditional security challenge, reshaping threat perceptions and governance priorities across Europe. Beyond its direct environmental and socio-economic impacts, climate change also acts as a threat multiplier by facilitating the expansion of environmental crime, including illegal logging, wildlife trafficking, waste trafficking, and...

483. Fragile Control: How De Facto States Degrade Nuclear Security in the Donbas

Eliza Gheorghe (Bilkent University)

Non-Traditional Security Challenges - Climate

Paper Abstract (Closed Panels)

Nuclear security research treats states as the primary managers of nuclear and radiological risk, with non-state actors as key challengers. This overlooks de facto states - separatist polities that exercise territorial authority without broad recognition. We argue that de facto states create zones of authority without recognised responsibility, weakening regulatory control while remaining...

392. Living with the nuclear: Spatio-temporal entanglements, nuclear cultures, and the afterlives of uranium mining

Elisabeth Saar (Hamburg University)

Non-Traditional Security Challenges - Climate

Paper Abstract (Closed Panels)

This paper examines how uranium mining in East Germany - embedded in the geopolitical dynamics of the Cold War - produced specific nuclear cultures that continue to shape the present. Framing the management of nuclear legacies as a local and global security issue, the paper highlights how uranium extraction and its afterlives intersect with environmental, health, and societal security concerns...

391. Water In-Security and Climate Migration in Iraq Analyzing Socio-Economic Threats

Ms Dunia Baban (Stockholm University), Saman Omar (College of Humanity, University of Duhok, Kurdistan Region of Iraq)

Non-Traditional Security Challenges - Climate

Paper Abstract (Closed Panels)

The 2018 UN GEO-6 report classified Iraq 5th most climate vulnerable globally and the UN have further warned that by 2035, Iraq may meet only 15% of its total water demand if current severe water crises trends persist. Equally, as latest as September 2025, IOM recorded that 186.00 Iraqi people are displaced due to water scarcity. In 2025, the Iraqi parliament, admitted that massive rural water...