Capitalism and environmental degradation form the Green Theory: how environmental history affects migratory flows

Abstract

Sociodemographic dynamics have been a major issue in social science debates since the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, the role historically played by the environmental conditions of the regions of origin and host regions of people on the move has been little explored. This is why bringing up the importance of environmental degradation in conjunction with migratory dynamics is a more than appropriate resource to feed the existing debate within the Green Theory of International Relations in its critique of the capitalist system and the consequences it has on both human beings and ecosystems. In this essay I reflect on how the joint reading of Marco Armiero and Richard Tucker's Environmental History of Modern Migrations and Jesús M. Castillo's book, Migraciones Ambientales, fits perfectly into this debate.