Hot och möjligheter med global politik

Hej vänner och kära läsare!

Richard W. Mansbach och Kirsten L. Rafferty har skrivit den mycket intressanta och mycket givande boken "Introduction to Global Politics", och där tar de upp två mycket viktiga saker nämligen "Hot och möjligheter med global politik".

Dessa två professorer tar under rubriken "Threats and opportunities" upp följande viktiga saker som förtjänar att fler får kännedom om, nämligen:

"Just as global politics consists of change and continuity, so it combines destructive factors and trends that threaten our well-being and perhaps even our survival with opportunities to avoid or cope with the threats that we can ignore only at our peril. Some of the challenges that we must address are:

- Environmental deterioration including global warmining, the thinning of the protective ozone layer of the atmosphere accompanied by rising rates of skin cancer, destruction of the world´s rain forests and denuding of other forested areas, rapid urbanization owing to peasant flight to megacities in countries like China and India with accompanying pollution and urban poverty; the spread of deserts into formerly fertile regions of Asia, Africa, and Latin America; the elimination of species of plants and animals and reduction in biodiversity; and the accumulation of radioactive debris and nuclear waste.

- Overpopulation in poor countries that contributes to famine, diseases lika AIDS, land hunger, political unrest, large-scale migration to rich countries with aging and shrinking populations.

- Resource depletion as energy demands outstrip known reserves of petroleum and natural gas and as growing populations and economic development places even greater stress on finite sources of fresh water and fertile land.

- Proliferating religious and ethnic extremism accompanied by suicidal terrorism directed against innocent civilians in order to create mayhem and cause maximum death and damage.

- The spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

- The collapse of states and the spread of chaos in selected regions.

- The rapid spread of pathogens that threaten humans, livestock, and plant life and the threat of new pandemics such as the avian influenza.

- The spread of trade disputes which divide rich and poor countries and that threaten to end the liberal economic regime responsible for ever higher living standards around the world since World War II.

- Growing disparities in wealth between "winners" and "losers" in the course of globalization.

- The growing resistance of the United States to working with international organizations or to participate in multilateral ventures to respond to global problems". (Mansbach & Rafferty. 2008:4)

"Some global trends promise to enlarge human capacities and help us cope with, insulate ourselves from, and perhaps even avoid some of the worst dangers we face. Among the sources of optimism are:

- The growing accumulation of human knowledge, and "information revolution", and the accessibility of new knowledge owing to the spread of electronic technologies.

- Growing economic productivity globally.

- The development of renewable energy sources derived from the sun, wind, and biomass.

- Rapid economic development , especially in China and India, that augers an overall reduction in global poverty.

- The spread of democracy and democratic institutions beyond North America, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

- The continued authority of global institutions such as the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization and coordinate national policies and enforce global norms and practices.

- The proliferation and networking onf nongovernmental organizations that lobby for global cooperation in dealing with global dangers, provide technical information and humanitarian aid, and foster links among people in different societies.

- The regulation of key issues by informal groupings of nongovernmental groups, international institutions, and government bureaucracies - known as international regimes - that foster interstate cooperation.

- A decline in interstate warfare.

- The proliferation of international law protecting the individual, codifying humanrights, and spreading norms of racial and gender equality".
(Mansbach & Rafferty. 2008:5)