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22. The Future of the G20 and Its Place in Global Governance
- Author:
- Paul Heinbecker
- Publication Date:
- 04-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for International Governance Innovation
- Abstract:
- This paper examines the Group of 20 (the G20) from a perspective of global governance, reviewing the G20's history to date and seeking to answer two sets of questions: Is the G20 succeeding, and what does the future likely hold for it? Is it still necessary for the G20 to meet at the leaders' level, or should the enterprise be returned to finance ministers? Presuming that it endures at the leaders' level, will the G20 stick to a largely economic and financial agenda, or should it address other pressing issues? Will it complement or conflict with the Group of Eight (G8), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations (UN) and other global institutions with economic and security vocations?
- Topic:
- Security, Climate Change, Economics, Emerging Markets, International Cooperation, Global Recession, Food, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
23. Beyond Viktor Bout: Why the United States needs an Arms Trade Treaty
- Author:
- Scott Stedjan and Colby Goodman
- Publication Date:
- 10-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- With the trial of Viktor Bout nearly underway and the UN negotiations on an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) starting in the summer of 2012, this briefing paper seeks to provide the reader with a deeper understanding of the challenges the US government faces in tackling unscrupulous arms brokers abroad and to show how the adoption of a strong and comprehensive ATT could help the United States and other governments in such efforts.
- Topic:
- Arms Control and Proliferation, Crime, International Cooperation, and Law Enforcement
- Political Geography:
- United States and United Nations
24. A climate of consensus: The UNFCCC faces challenges of legitimacy and effectiveness
- Author:
- Antto Vihma
- Publication Date:
- 03-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- The Cancún climate meeting adopted a package of decisions to numerous standing ovations. However, it did so against loud and formal protests from Bolivia, stretching the concept of “consensus” more than ever before within the UN climate regime. The Cancún meeting also brought to everyone's attention the inconvenient truth that decision-making in the UNFCCC exists in a legal vacuum. The Conference of the Parties has never agreed its Rules of Procedure, and has during its 17-year history operated with draft Rules of Procedure without voting rules, under a general agreement that decisions are taken by “consensus”. In the light of the dramatic events in the recent Copenhagen and Cancún meetings, as well as the daunting prospects of achieving a ratifiable legal instrument for post-2012, it is clear that the relationship between consent and authority has become too flimsy to provide an unproblematic basis of legitimacy for the UNFCCC's decision-making. The 2000s led to the erosion of UNFCCC's legitimacy as a decision-making arena, especially in the subjective views of Northern governments as well as considerable parts of the expert community and the public in general. This trend led to an outburst of UN scepticism after the Copenhagen meeting, declaring the UN climate regime to be a “multilateral zombie”. While the Cancún meeting has been criticised with arguments based on process and legitimacy, from a broader perspective it seems likely that achieving decisions with some substance is actually the primary need in securing the legitimacy of the UN process. Had the Cancún agreement been negotiated outside the UN, it would very likely have been weaker on several fronts. Also, it is important to keep the longer term option for a legally binding treaty open; the only institutional possibility for this lies within the UNFCCC.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Europe and United Nations
25. Preventing Identity Conflicts Leading to Genocide and Mass Killings
- Author:
- I. William Zartman
- Publication Date:
- 11-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- Genocide and mass killings are preceded and prepared by identity conflicts that escalate into targeted mass killing. They can be the work of rebel movements, but frequently are that of the sovereign state against its own people. They are generally pathologically defensive reactions to a perceived existential threat. What is required to prevent this situation is a return to (or move toward) the ideal condition of “normal politics,” where government responds to the needs and demands of its citizens, and the citizens regularly review its record in adequately providing this response. It is the object of the intervention—the shortcoming to be prevented—that confers a responsibility to protect the target of identity conflict, but there is no agreed threshold of seriousness that compels intervention. Early warnings abound; early awareness and early action are lacking; a “Security Weather Agency” is needed.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Genocide, Human Rights, and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
26. Power, Politics, and Change: How International Actors Assess Local Context
- Author:
- Paul Romita and Vanessa Wyeth
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- In recent years, donor governments and international organizations such as the UN and the World Bank have developed a number of frameworks and tools to assess governance, conflict, and fragility. This report argues that there are multiple, and often contradictory, objectives underlying the development and use of such assessment tools. Underpinning this multiplicity of objectives are deep assumptions, many of which remain unstated. Different agencies tend to define the problem through their own institutional lens, and the assessment tools they create reflect these biases. As the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development—Development Assistant Committee's (OECD-DAC's) work on governance assessments has pointed out, assumptions underlying governance assessment methodologies are usually not explicit, but tend to measure governance against existing norms in OECD countries. Similarly, the different approaches to conflict assessment adopted by major bilateral and multilateral actors demonstrate conceptual and intellectual differences in their understanding of the nature of conflict; the same may be said for various donors' approaches to assessing state fragility.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, International Relations, and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
27. Safety and Security in the Biotechnological Age
- Author:
- Marc Finaud and Sunjay Chandiramani
- Publication Date:
- 07-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
- Abstract:
- In many ways, the world is at the beginning of what some are already calling the “Biological Century.” Discoveries in the life sciences have the potential to reshape the worlds of health, food production, energy, and climate change, to produce new fuels, heat- and drought-resistant food crops, and to eradicate deadly diseases. But biotechnological discoveries also have a dark side – potential immense harm may be caused through accidental or intentional release of designer pathogens. The globe is also facing a myriad of natural biological threats. Fifteen million people die each year of deadly infectious diseases, with new ones emerging every year, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Avian Flu. In a world of 700 million international air passengers yearly, and almost all on flights shorter than the incubation period of infectious diseases, national health has become only as safe as global health.
- Topic:
- Security, International Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
28. Building Partnerships in Peace Operations: The Limits of the Global/Regional Approach
- Author:
- Thierry Tardy
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
- Abstract:
- A consensus seems to exist on the need to tackle contemporary intra-state conflicts through a multiplicity of actors who display different comparative advantages and levels of expertise. For the United Nations as well as for the regional organisations that, since the end of the Cold War, have emerged as crisis management actors, working together is the way forward. The UN and the EU run or have run simultaneous operations in Africa (Democratic Republic of the Congo and Chad) and Kosovo and have largely institutionalised their cooperation; the UN took over operations initially deployed by the African Union in West Africa and in Burundi and the two institutions have created a hybrid UN-AU mission in Darfur; the EU is assisting the AU in the building-up of its Stand-by Force and finances AU operations; the EU, the OSCE and NATO have for some time shared the burden of security management in the Balkans. As noted in a UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) document, “reinforcing interoperability with key partners […] can enhance cooperation and ensure that we maximise finite global peacekeeping resources”. Indeed, given the scope of crisis management needs, not least the UN overstretch, burden-sharing has become an imperative and its corollary, inter-institutional partnerships, equally central. Yet, the establishment of partnerships among international institutions is facing important political and technical difficulties that make the prospect for an interlocking system unlikely.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Globalization, International Cooperation, Peace Studies, Regional Cooperation, and Peacekeeping
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Europe, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kosovo, and United Nations
29. Peacebuilding: Task Forces on Strengthening Multilateral Security Capacity IPI Blue Paper no. 10
- Author:
- Lead Rapportuer and Jenna Slotin
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- Peacebuilding involves implementing a range of reconstruction and reform efforts in countries with some of the most fragile, fluid, and unpredictable political environments. These situations present tensions and contradictions that often cannot be fully reconciled and require trade-offs between competing needs and goals. Moreover, each postconflict situation is unique, defying general theories and blueprints for action.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, International Cooperation, Peace Studies, and War
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
30. Understanding Local Context: The Use of Assessment Tools for Conflict-Affected and Fragile States
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- On June 11 and 12, 2009, the International Peace Institute (IPI) convened an experts' workshop as part of an ongoing project called Understanding Local Context. The project aims to improve understanding of how international actors grapple with local context and dynamics in the countries where they work.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, International Cooperation, and Fragile/Failed State
- Political Geography:
- United Nations