In the midst of a great crisis, it is difficult to contemplate the future. In recent decades, determining what kind of future to imagine has been an ongoing challenge for millions of people around the world who have been subjected to war, terrorism, and civil disorder. While the destruction of the environment has long been part of warfare, it has become increasingly important as environmental pressures have intensified in our time. Focusing on the challenges and issues that arise for those contemplating a way forward in the wake of catastrophic upheavals, Sustainable Development in Crisis Conditions takes a broad-based and integrative approach. What emerges is that the post-WWII reconstruction or nation-building perspectives are inadequate and inappropriate to most of the contemporary post-conflict challenges – a successful response requires a sustainable development approach, and Sustainable Development in Crisis Conditions is a preliminary exploration of this complex subject.
Chapter 1. War, Terror, and Civil Disorder in Today's World
Chapter 2. Environmental, Social, and Economic Warfare: Deliberate Destruction, Collateral Damage, or Something More Complex?
Chapter 3. People and Other Creatures on the Move
Chapter 4. Traumatic Stress: Its Features and Its Long Term Challenges
Chapter 5. Demobilization: Looking Past Disaster
Chapter 6. A Final Word
Phillip J. Cooper is a professor of public administration at the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University. Claudia María Vargas is an associate professor of paediatrics at Oregon Health & Science University and associate professor of public administration at the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University.
"Crises present opportunities for societies to remake themselves beyond emergency relief and reconstruction, and creative partnerships can emerge across the boundaries of conflict. This is essential reading for both peace makers and development practitioners alike."
– Laurence R. Simon, The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University
"Philip Cooper and Claudia María Vargas reframe healing from the societal devastation caused by armed conflict as the recover phase of disaster management, and they illuminate a path of hope, showing how the recovery process can re-create societies more resilient and sustainable than they were when the tragedy of armed human conflict befell them."
– Lloyd Burton, University of Colorado, Denver
"Sustainable Development in Crisis Conditions provides a thoughtful, in-depth analysis of the problems facing countries emerging from civil wars, genocide and traumatic national upheavals. Casting aside outmoded models of war recovery, the book applies new concepts of human security, environmental protection, and social and economic development to countries coming out of conflict. It is a must for policymakers and practitioners focused on demobilization, the reintegration of displaced populations, the healing of communities, and the rebuilding of nations."
– Roberta Cohen, codirector of The Brookings Institution; University of Bern Project on Internal Displacement
"Reference to German and Japanese reconstruction after WWII is useful [...]"
– Choice
"This is a bold and urgently needed global survey of the environmental costs of mass violence, with persuasive proposals for healing societies plagued by forced population displacement and mass trauma. It is an innovative guide to new strategies for international development in extremely unsettled conditions."
– Richard P. Tucker, University of Michigan