SOVEREIGNTY UNDER PRESSURE: CLIMATE CHANGE, THE ANTHROPOCENE, AND NEW CHALLENGES TO INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
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Abstract
The contemporary environmental crisis, catalyzed by climate change and the onset of the Anthropocene, poses unprecedented challenges to the classic notion of state sovereignty and reconfigures international security agendas. This article analyzes how Westphalian sovereignty, consolidated under the premise of the Holocene's climatic stability, finds itself profoundly stressed by transnational pressures and the imperatives of climate justice. Through a qualitative methodology involving an interdisciplinary literature review, the study examines central dimensions: the reinterpretation of sovereignty from 'permanent' to 'custodial'; the process of climate securitization; and the tensions between national interests and differentiated global responsibilities. The findings reveal that absolute territorial sovereignty becomes unsustainable in the face of planetary ecological interdependence, while climate securitization, although institutionally relevant, presents risks of militarization and the marginalization of climate justice.
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