Humans are no longer spectators who need to adapt to their natural environment. Our impact on the earth has caused changes that are outside the range of natural variability and are equivalent to such ...major geological disruptions as ice ages. Some scientists argue that we have entered a new epoch in planetary history: the Anthropocene. In such an era of planet-wide transformation, we need a new model for planet-wide environmental politics. In this book, Frank Biermann proposes "earth system" governance as just such a new paradigm.Biermann offers both analytical and normative perspectives. He provides detailed analysis of global environmental politics in terms of five dimensions of effective governance: agency, particularly agency beyond that of state actors; architecture of governance, from local to global levels; accountability and legitimacy; equitable allocation of resources; and adaptiveness of governance systems. Biermann goes on to offer a wide range of policy proposals for future environmental governance and a revitalized United Nations, including the establishment of a World Environment Organization and a UN Sustainable Development Council, new mechanisms for strengthened representation of civil society and scientists in global decision making, innovative systems of qualified majority voting in multilateral negotiations, and novel institutions to protect those impacted by global change. Drawing on ten years of research, Biermann formulates earth system governance as an empirical reality and a political necessity.
Although human trafficking has a long and ignoble history, it is only recently that trafficking has become a major political issue for states and the international community and the subject of ...detailed international rules. Anne T. Gallagher calls on her direct experience working within the United Nations to chart the development of new international laws on this issue. She links these rules to the international law of state responsibility as well as key norms of international human rights law, transnational criminal law, refugee law and international criminal law, in the process identifying and explaining the major legal obligations of states with respect to preventing trafficking, protecting and supporting victims, and prosecuting perpetrators. This book is a groundbreaking work: a unique and valuable resource for policymakers, advocates, practitioners and scholars working in this controversial and important field.
Since the end of World War II and the founding of the United Nations, genocide, crimes against humanity and other war crimes-mass atrocities-have been explicitly illegal. When such crimes are ...committed, the international community has an obligation to respond: the human rights of the victims outweigh the sovereignty claims of states that engage in or allow such human rights violations. This obligation has come to be known as the responsibility to protect. Yet, parallel to this responsibility, two other related responsibilities have developed: to prosecute those responsible for the crimes, and to provide humanitarian relief to the victims-what the author calls the responsibility to palliate. Even though this rhetoric of protecting those in need is well used by the international community, its application in practice has been erratic at best.
InInternational Responses to Mass Atrocities in Africa, Kurt Mills develops a typology of responses to mass atrocities, investigates the limitations of these responses, and calls for such responses to be implemented in a more timely and thoughtful manner. Mills considers four cases of international responses to mass atrocities-in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and Darfur-putting the cases into historical context and analyzing them according to the typology, showing how the responses interact. Although all are intended to address human suffering, they are very different types of actions and accomplish different things, over different timescales, on different orders of magnitude, and by very different types of actors. But the critical question is whether they accomplish their objectives in a mutually supportive way-and what the trade-offs in using one or more of these responses may be. By expanding the understanding of international responsibilities, Mills provides critical analysis of the possibilities for the international community to respond to humanitarian crises.
The globalization of threats and the complexity of international security issues represents a greater challenge for international policing in (re)shaping inter-agency interaction, and makes effective ...international police cooperation more necessary than ever before.
This book sets out to analyse the key emerging issues and theory and practice of international police cooperation. Paying special attention to the factors that have contributed to the effective working of police cooperation in practice and the problems that are encountered, this book brings together original research that examines opportunities and initiatives undertaken by agencies (practices and processes introduced) as well as the impact of external legal, political, and economical pressures.
Contributors explore emerging initiatives and new challenges in several contexts at both national and international levels. They adopt a diversity of approaches and theoretical frameworks to reach a broader understanding of current and future issues in police cooperation. Forms of police cooperation and trends in crime control are examined, drawing upon the following disciplines: criminology, ethics, organizational science, political science, and sociology.
This book traces the history of UNESCO from its foundational idealism to its current stature as the preeminent international organization for science, education, and culture, building a well rounded ...understanding of this important organization.
The book:
provides an overview of the organization and its institutional architecture in the context of its humanistic idealism
details the subsequent challenges UNESCO faced through cold war and power politics, global dependence and interdependence, and the rise of identity and culture in global politics
analyses the functioning of UNESCO administration, finance, and its various constituencies including the secretariat, member-states, and civil society
explores the major controversies and issues underlying the initiatives in education, sciences, culture and communication
examines the current agenda and future challenges through three major issues in UNESCO: Education or All, digital divide issues, and norms on cultural diversity
assesses the role of UNESCO in making norms in complex world of multiple actors and intersecting issue-areas.
Reflecting on UNESCO’s vision, its everyday practices, and future challenges; this work is an essential resource for students and scholars of international relations and international organizations.
J. P. Singh is Associate Professor at the graduate program in Communication, Culture and Technology at Georgetown University. He is the author of Globalized Arts: The Entertainment Economy and Cultural Identity (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010); International Cultural Policies and Power (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010); Negotiation and the Global Information Economy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008); with James N. Rosenau, Information Technologies and Global Politics (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2002); and Leapfrogging Development? The Political Economy of Telecommunications Restructuring (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1999).
1. UNESCO's Organizational History and Structure 2. Prioritizing Education 3. Making Science 4. The Prominence of Culture 5. Debating Global Communication Orders 6. Reflections and Possibilities
In addressing humanitarian crises, the international community has long understood the need to extend beyond providing immediate relief, and to engage with long-term recovery activities and the ...prevention of similar crises in the future. However, this continuum from short-term relief to rehabilitation and development has often proved difficult to achieve. This book aims to shed light on the continuum of humanitarian crisis management, particularly from the viewpoint of major bilateral donors and agencies. Focusing on cases of armed conflicts and disasters, the authors describe the evolution of approaches and lessons learnt in practice when moving from emergency relief to recovery and prevention of future crises. Drawing on an extensive research project conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency Research Institute, this book compares how a range of international organizations, bilateral cooperation agencies, NGOs, and research institutes have approached the continuum in international humanitarian crisis management. The book draws on six humanitarian crises case studies, each resulting from armed conflict or natural disasters: Timor-Leste, South Sudan, the Syrian crisis, Hurricane Mitch in Honduras, the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia, and Typhoon Yolanda. The book concludes by proposing a common conceptual framework designed to appeal to different stakeholders involved in crisis management. Following on from the World Humanitarian Summit, where a new way of working on the humanitarian-development nexus was highlighted as one of five major priority trends, this book is a timely contribution to the debate which should interest researchers of humanitarian studies, conflict and peace studies, and disaster risk-management.
At a time when many observers question the EU's ability to achieve integration of any significance, and indeed Europeans themselves appear disillusioned, Mai'a K. Davis Cross argues that the EU has ...made remarkable advances in security integration, in both its external and internal dimensions. Moreover, internal security integration-such as dealing with terrorism, immigration, cross-border crime, and drug and human trafficking-has made even greater progress with dismantling certain barriers that previously stood at the core of traditional state sovereignty.
Such unprecedented collaboration has become possible thanks to knowledge-based transnational networks, or "epistemic communities," of ambassadors, military generals, scientists, and other experts who supersede national governments in the diplomacy of security decision making and are making headway at remarkable speed by virtue of their shared expertise, common culture, professional norms, and frequent meetings. Cross brings together nearly 80 personal interviews and a host of recent government documents over the course of five separate case studies to provide a microsociological account of how governance really works in today's EU and what future role it is likely to play in the international environment.
"This is an ambitious work which deals not only with European security and defense but also has much to say about the policy-making process of the EU in general."-Ezra Suleiman, Princeton University
International environmental agreements provide a practical basis for countries to address environmental issues on a global scale. This book explores the workings and outcomes of these agreements, and ...analyses key questions of why some problems are dealt with successfully and others ignored.
By examining fundamental policies and issues in environmental protection this text gives an easily comprehensible introduction to international environmental agreements, and discusses problems in three areas: air, water and on land. It traces the history of agreements in broad thematic areas related to long-distance air pollution, ozone-depleting and greenhouse gases, ocean management, biological diversity, agricultural plant diversity and forest stewardship. Drawing on experts in their respective fields, this book provides an insightful evaluation of the successes and failures, and analysis of the reasons for this. Concluding with an insightful examination of research to show how performance of agreements can be improved in the future, this volume is a vital contribution to our understanding of the politics associated with establishing international environmental consensus.
International Environmental Agreements will be of interest to scholars, students and researchers in global environmental politics, international relations and political science.
Steinar Andresen is Senior Research Fellow at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway, and formerly professor at the Dept. of Political Science, University of Oslo.
Elin Lerum Boasson is Research Fellow at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway.
Geir Hønneland is Research Director at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute and adjunct professor at the University of Tromsø.
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