Where is the South in security discourse on climate change? An analysis of India

Abstract

There is an emerging research trend to incorporate views from the Global South in the analysis of the discourse on climate security. This type of research can enrich mainstream literature that often centres on the role and perceptions of actors from the Global North. This article aims to make explicit the added-value of this emerging research trend and to make an empirical contribution through a study on India. The empirical analysis starts by demonstrating how the Government of India rejects alarmist ideas on climate security. India interprets the discourse as a Western negotiation strategy seeking to push India to accept binding mitigation targets under the UN climate convention. As a next step, the analysis reviews India’s alternative expressions on the climate-security nexus. India presents the issue of internal climate migration in terms of human security, and deals with climate change as part of its policy and discourse on energy security.