GSRI Program At A Glance

The logic of the GSRI Program is simple and pragmatic - inaction in the face of a great and growing global threat is irresponsible. This basic insight has found consensus with respect to the carbon-based economy and its role in driving anthropogenic climate change. GSRI asserts a parallel conclusion in the context of the militarized national security (MNS) model. 

Like the climate crisis, the present MNS security model poses globally catastrophic risk. But unlike the measurable ticking time bomb of the climate problem, militarism entails the danger of instant devastation through the risk of intentional or inadvertent conflict escalation, as major military powers continually play nuclear Russian Roulette with the fate of the planet.

The GSRI Program is built on critical evaluation of empirical data and objective identification of systemic risk. On this basis, GSRI suggests that the same foundational arguments applied to the carbon-intensive energy model apply to the MNS security model:

MNS security model has immediate deleterious effects on human and planetary wellbeing:

Proxy and stalemated conflicts persist, destroying regions and precipitating unprecedented refugee crises, while MNS policy further manifests itself in hostile military blocs, dangerous provocation and divisive propaganda campaigns that frustrate international cooperation, exacerbate the climate crisis and jeopardize national and global economies.  

MNS security model is unsustainable and will lead to catastrophe if unchecked:

The confluence of militarism's persistent international tensions and steady advancement of destabilizing arms capability have produced a series of near catastrophes. This risk continues to compound over time. If Russian Roulette is played repeatedly, eventually the revolver will discharge. Similarly, if MNS policy continues to fuel tension and provocative brinkmanship, eventually intended or unintended escalation will follow... 

MNS security model is anachronistic and dysfunctional:

The core logic of militarism - the primitive might-makes-right principle - no longer applies in an era of mutually-catastrophic modern warfare. As such, recourse to force has become an ineffective dispute resolution mechansim. MNS policy today serves to protract disputes, not resolve them, driving a ceaseless security dilemma, laden with security-undermining risk for all.

Accordingly, remedial action is needed. GSRI advocates a holistic remedy geared toward treating the core malady of militarism, not merely bandaging its symptoms. Just as international efforts are being undertaken to transition away from the carbon-based energy model, comparable efforts are required to transition away from the MNS security model. GSRI proposes a basic two-part framework: 

i) Demilitarize international relations through a network of tension reduction measures and ravamped arms control regimes, combining novel technological capabilities with innovative institutional design concepts to manage and reduce national reliance on militartistic security policy; and 

ii) Construct alternative security paradigm through expansion of international mechanisms for non-violent, rule of law-based dispute resolution to substantially replace the MNS model.

For more information on the GSRI Program, please see the GSRI White Paper.