Robert S. Strauss Center For International Security and Law - Programs

Programs

The Strauss Center’s program on Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS) seeks to better understand the relationship between the growing threat of climate change and the ability of African countries to manage complex emergencies, including humanitarian disasters and violent conflict. A collaborative research program among four institutions and led by The University of Texas, the CCAPS program aims to provide practical guidance for U.S. policymakers, enrich the current body of scholarly literature, and nurture a future generation of scholars and practitioners.

CCAPS is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Minerva Initiative, a university-based, social science research program focused on areas of strategic importance to national security policy. Through quantitative analysis, GIS mapping, case studies and field interviews, the program will identify whether climate change could trigger disasters that undermine state stability, define strategies for building African state capacity, and assess global development aid responses. The CCAPS team seeks to engage Africa policy communities in the United States, Africa, and elsewhere as a critical part of its research.

The CCAPS Program:

• Investigates where and how climate change poses threats to stability in Africa. The program examines the spatial and temporal relationship between climate change vulnerability and patterns of conflict, thereby specifying where, when and how climate-related events disrupt Africa’s security and development. The program is producing new datasets mapping climate change vulnerability and cataloguing political and social disorder in Africa.

• Identifies strategies needed to reinforce or rebuild accountable and effective governance in Africa, with a particular focus on constitutional order and post-conflict reconstruction.The aim is to assess what strategies have enabled governments to mitigate the effects of climate change and other stresses on political stability. The program is conducting case studies on constitutional design and conflict management, assessing governance structures, and evaluating institutional capacity for complex emergencies in Africa.

• Evaluates the capacity and effectiveness of international development aid to help African societies adapt to climate change. If effectively coordinated and implemented, aid for climate change adaptation should contribute to crisis prevention and mitigation and reduce the need for global assistance. The program’s work is thus building a dataset to track adaptation aid, analyze aid distribution, and assess effectiveness of adaptation projects.