The research on environmental security is carried out in two distinct paradigms, namely problem-solving theory and criticism. The former emphasizes that certain causal relations exist between environmental conflict and the resource scarcity, maldevelopment, climate change etc., which are not direct and many factors are involved. It should be mentioned that there is a clear boundary between environmental conflict and the war among nations. All the countries are striving to alleviate the side-effect of environmental conflict by adjusting their national strategies. Meanwhile, the international community is sparing no effort to construct the post-Westphalian system of governance in order to realize environmental peace globally. By contrast, criticism challenges the application scope and solutions proposed by the traditional security research, claiming that the environmental conflict will not happen in the international community despite the exhaustion of resources. The reason lies in the fact that the development of new technologies, alternative energy, and the international trade makes it possible to meet energy demand of the international community so that the environmental conflict could be avoided. The dominant role of the state in environmental politics is also criticized by the criticism, which advocates the decentralization of the state and the significance of new discourse for environmental security in the
development of national strength. Also, criticism provides different perspectives on security issues related to climate change, and argues against the cause, influence scope of, and solutions to climate change.
2018, Vol. 26 
