Today's world is full of problems present on an international scale. Yet, differences amongst states compel them to eschew cooperation. The division between the global North and South is the greatest challenge to global governance. The contrast in economic welfare, political stability, and culture among states creates many dilemmas for the international community. The economic differences between highly developed economies and the rest of the world deters cooperation. In addition, social differences between North and South create cultural clashes that breed violence, and adds difficulty to forming international norms. Moreover, the political weakness of some states in the global South create security dilemmas and keep global governance initiatives away from success. The international order is skewed in favour of the global North and serves to empower them. However, international leaders can solve these issues by promoting global equity. In order for global governance to achieve its fullest potential, the world must first address the inequality of states. The North-South divide is a social, economic, and political separation between the highly developed nations and the rest of the world. The global North encompasses the world's richest countries, including Canada, the United States, western and central European Union members, Israel, Japan, the Asian Tigers, Australia, and New Zealand.1 These countries all currently operate under functional democratic governments and have over $20,000 GDP per capita. The rest of the world's countries belong with the global South; and although they make up the vast majority of the world's population, these states collectively hold less economic and political power. Global problems harm the poorer ... ... middle of paper ... ...ieff, Michael. Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001. Kopstein, Jeffrey. “Failed States,” Democracy, War and Peace. Convocation Hall, Toronto. March 5, 2012. Krasner, Stephen. “Talking Tough to Pakistan: How to end Islamabad's Defiance,” Foreign Affairs 91, No.1 (2012): 87-96. Legrain, Phillipe. The Truth About Globalization. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2004. Moyo, Dambisa. Dead Aid. Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 2009. Rice, Xan. “Somlian Refugees Tell Their Stories – Interactive,” The Guardian. August 11, 2011. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/aug/11/somali-refugee-dadaab-kenya Stern, Nicholas. “The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change,” Report for Her Majesty's Government, 2006. “UNHCR Global Trends 2010,” Report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2011.
The study of the geopolitics around the globe and over time is a complex task. Numerous factors influence the causal chain of events that determine the course of a state’s history. Geography in its broadest sense limits the ability of a state to become a superpower, but it also allows certain states to thrive with relative ease compared to lesser developed countries. Location, terrain, technology, and demographics work in conjunction to affect the power of certain states, and it is through the effective use of these elements states attempt to raise or maintain their power. It is the fundamental goal of states to seek relative power over other states and regions, and states will act in ways they believe will maintain or increase their power. However, whiles sometimes states may act irrationally or in ways contrary to their own best interest, ultimately what is fundamental to the actions of a state is the belief that their actions will maintain or increase the state’s power.
Stern, Nicholas. The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Print.
Hoffman, M. (2013) “Global Climate Change” in The Handbook of Global Climate and Environmental Policy
Global Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Lord Stern and his associate, Dr. Simon Dietz, distributed examination in The Economic Journal, which cautions that the money related harm created by an unnatural weather change will be extensively more prominent than current models anticipate.
While a relatively minor issue, the American capital’s location highlights how central the USA-CSA relationship would have been in any subsequent history. A negotiated separation may well have preserved the deep economic interdependencies between north and south, avoided and contained the passions expressed during the Civil War, and allowed for a form of peaceful coexistence. Even in this most favorable case, however, Richmond would likely have been fertile ground for European powers seeking to constrain the northern states. At the same time, strong abolitionist sentiment in the north would have continued. Enduring slavery in the south could well have provoked considerable political tension if not armed skirmishes along the border if committed northern activists attempted to maintain and expand the Underground Railroad for escaped slaves or even to foment rebellion inside the CSA. This could well have led to war sooner or later.
With the formation of formal International Organisations (such as the United Nations), informal Organisations (such as the G20) and other organisations (such as the NGO`s) in the 20th century, global governance has become significantly important for the societies and countries in the world. Nation states have set-up and involved in these organisations in order to cooperate, make and implement international laws and policies and consent in international agreements (Diehl & Frederking 2010 p.30). They have also worked together to cooperate and tackle certain global issues and challenges such as wars, health, human rights and the environment. As a result, with the formation of a number of organisations and other non-state actors, countries have been involved in a global system in which they have become more dependent to each other as well as binding to international laws, norms and policies. In other words, the globalisation process and the presence of the international organisations and civil societies have caused nation states to keep their policy standards in compliance with international laws and agreements (Cable, 1999, p.35). However, despite of the evolving global governance today, nation states level of compliance to the global governance can be argued to be limited since the globalisation process can also be regarded to be as a threat to the nation states, as countries resist in staying as central actors when making policies and taking decisions rather than complying and binding to international norms, laws and agreements (Senarclens & Kazancigil, 2007, p.51).
Bruce JP, Haites EF, 1995, “Climate Change1995, Economic and Social Dimensions of Climate Change”, Cambridge University Press,
It is becoming increasingly certain that climate change will have severe adverse effects on the environment in years to come. Addressing this issue poses a serious challenge for policy makers. How we choose to respond to the threat of global warming is not simply a political issue. It is also an economic issue and an ethical one. Responsible, effective climate change policy requires consideration of a number of complex factors, including weighing the costs of implementing climate change policies against the benefits of more environmentally sustainable practices. Furthermore, this analysis must take place amidst serious gaps in the existing research and technology concerning the developing climatic condition.
Paul Collier’s book is about the future of the world. Most of the world is on the positive trajectory set by growth and prosperity. The 21st Century is the age of the middle class. For most of the world, things are looking up. However, Collier is concerned with a group of countries that are not part of this trajectory. Collier is concerned with approximately 58 countries that constitute about one billion people, or 20 percent of the earth’s population (Collier 7). This “bottom billion” group belongs to countries that are not progressing with the rest of the world’s pace; in fact, they seem to be diverging and falling apart when everyone else around them are growing. The purpose of the book is to show these countries are, in fact, diverging. He shows them caught in four different “traps.” After proving this, Collier has the challenge of making the case for reform and what can be done to fix these countries and put them on the course towards growth and prosperity. Finally, Collier has to show why the western world should care about supporting these countries and reversing their decline and how their current poor trajectory represents a drain on the global economy and security environment. The Bottom Billion is written for a broad audience; essentially all citizens of democratic countries. Collier encourages action by all levels but recommendations are made for policymakers in G8 countries that are responsible and interested in achieving improvement for impoverished countries.
Stern ,N, (2006). What Is The Economics Of Climate Change. World Economics Vol 7. p(1-10).
In life, you have individuals who where giving the grace of being born with better economical opportunities, and you also have those who unfortunately where born in the other side of the economical spectrum. Some individuals have managed a way to overcome those economical obstacles and have succeeded in the market, abandoning their old life standards and moving into a higher step in the economical ladder. As well as humans, nations suffer a similar economical situation. Some nations have acquired more wealth than others through out time, and the disparity of wealth between some nations is somewhat shocking. To show this broad disproportion, scientists have divided the world in two parts, the North and the South. “The North- South Divide is the socio-economic division between the wealthy developed countries, known collectively as “the North,” and the poorer developing countries as “the South.”… The North is home to four out of five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and all members of the G8.”(1) As nations become economically developed, they may become part of the “North,” regardless of geographical location, while any other nations, which does not qualify as a developed nation, it is considered to be part of the “South”. The day when the economical situation in the South slightly compares to the wealth of the North is the day when most of our current international conflicts will disappear.
Whenever world politics is mentioned, the state that appears to be at the apex of affairs is the United States of America, although some will argue that it isn’t. It is paramount we know that the international system is shaped by certain defining events that has lead to some significant changes, particularly those connected with different chapters of violence. Certainly, the world wars of the twentieth century and the more recent war on terror must be included as defining moments. The warning of brute force on a potentially large scale also highlights the vigorousness of the cold war period, which dominated world politics within an interval of four decades. The practice of international relations (IR) was introduced out of a need to discuss the causes of war and the different conditions for calm in the wake of the first world war, and it is relevant we know that this has remained a crucial focus ever since. However, violence is not the only factor capable of causing interruption in the international system. Economic elements also have a remarkable impact. The great depression that happened in the 1920s, and the global financial crises of the contemporary period can be used as examples. Another concurrent problem concerns the environment, with the human climate being one among different number of important concerns for the continuing future of humankind and the planet in general.
Globalization and the increasing role of non-state actors have shifted the position of states, the traditional “main players” in global governance. However, whether this change undermines states is debatable. In one sense, states’ roles have somewhat diminished: Non-governmental entities – namely transnational corporations (TNC), but also global non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and others – have an increasing voice in global policy debates, which may lessen states’ influence in governmental affairs. But in several other key ways, states’ retain their powerful role. For example, states remain the key negotiators and entities in major global governance entities. Additionally, states retain compulsory power over their subjects or constituents, a form of control that new players in global governments have generally not obtained.
Since the late twentieth century, the world has experienced a vast transformation with regards to world economies, culture, and politics. The great advancements in technology and communication since the late twentieth century has served a catalysts for what is known today as globalization. The ambition to develop a single global economy along with a universal culture are the promises of globalization. Perhaps the clearest evidence that demonstrates globalization is a reality is the fact that at this point in time very diverse cultures form around the world closer to each other than ever before. That being said, when it comes to the spreading of democracy and human rights, having world cultures closer to each other can prove to be beneficial
With growing exchange of worldviews, products, cultures, and ideas there is bound to have conflict between countries. In the United States alone, people started to see a growing economic inequality between the rich and poor. The US lost many jobs; this forced the factory workers to work under gruesome conditions with minimal pay, while others in the US flaunted their wealth from the high-tech companies. Not only in the US, but also around the world there seems to be a growing divide between the rich and poor. For example, after the Chiapas rebellion northern Mexico became much more successful than southern Mexico. Moreover, in China the urban income was three times more than the rural income. As we start to see there starts to be stark divide between the rich and the poor. In the book Ways of the World, Strayer states that the “ratio between the income of the top and bottom 20% of the world’s population was 3:1 in 1820 and 86:1 in 1991”. This can only mean that within the count...