Understanding Spillover Effects in Environmental Peacebuilding: Considering Lessons from Neofunctionalist Theory

Rika Althoff, TU Dortmund University (Germany)

Within environmental peacebuilding scholarship, spillover effects remain under-researched while commonly assumed to be part of or even the main goal of environmental peacebuilding activities. In this contribution, I intend to investigate this spillover moment more thoroughly by taking seriously the neofunctionalist roots and echoes present in the practice and theory of it. This entails an acknowledgment of common criticisms of the concept, a discussion of its suitability and applicability in the environmental peacebuilding context, and needs as well as opportunities for adjustment. Such investigation will help to sharpen research into the blackbox that spillovers still represent to social and political science research on environmental peacebuilding while enabling the identification of spillover potentials in practice