Description
Most research on environmental-military harm pursues an outsider’s perspective, examining either root causes or environmental consequences of militarised economies. In contrast, this paper takes the insider’s view to unveil the role played by NATO’s Centres of Excellence (COEs). Despite their uniquely ambiguous nature of being a part of NATO’s ecosystem, yet financially and structurally independent from the alliance; uniting a limited circle of members, yet permitting the involvement of states outside of NATO, these international bodies have almost fallen off the academic radar, especially in environmental scholarship. However, the paper argues that they might be double agents to be considered seriously. To prove this, the research dissects the structures, funding, forms of engagement with private parties, levels and forms of outreach to NATO and civil society, and environmental epistemology of three NATO COEs, chosen based on their activism and ties to environmental realities – the Climate Change and Security COE, the Civil-Military Cooperation COE, and the Energy Security COE. The acquired data suggest that the COEs are Janus-like. On the one hand, they facilitate public engagement with the weapons industry and normalise militarisation. On the other hand, COEs possess a deep structural understanding of environmental challenges, which leads to passionate advocacy, even if it causes friction with leading member states within NATO. Therefore, COEs serve as a form of environmental resistance. Despite their limited role in substantive decision-making, they are able to influence NATO’s environmental orientation. That suggests the need to carefully integrate these hubs into sensitive enviro-military advocacy.
