Unpacking International Power and the Ecological Footprints of Nations: A Quantitative Cross-National Study

Abstract

Although unsustainable natural resource consumption has recently garnered significant attention in macrosociology, empirical studies neglect to analyze the environmental impacts of different forms of international power dynamics. This study dissects international power into its various economic, military, and export dependence characteristics, and analyzes their independent effects on per-capita consumption of natural resources, measured as ecological footprints. Findings of the quantitative cross-national analyses indicate that economic power in the form of capital intensity, military technological power, and overall export dependence are the structural driving forces of per-capita resource consumption. The effects of military technological power and export dependence on percapita footprints are primarily direct, whereas the effect of capital intensity is both direct and indirect, partly mediated by its effects on levels of secondary education and domestic income inequality, both of which impact levels of per-capita consumption. The results advance our collective understanding of the complexities of international power, domestic conditions, and uneven environmental outcomes and illustrate the necessity for taking a more nuanced approach to analyses of anthropogenic degradation of the global ecological system.