Peter Stoett

Human and Global Security: An Exploration of Terms

There is growing recognition that the post-Cold War era demands new conceptions of global and human security. In this highly readable account of international security issues, Peter Stoett begins by disussing four principal security threats: state violence, environmental degradation, population displacement, and globalization. Employing a minimalist-maximalist framework - the minimalist interpretation applies to conventional and restricted legal definitions of a term, while the maximalist interpretation refers to broader conceptions of problems, often global in effect - Stoett argues that the acceptance of either perspective has profound conceptual and immediate praxiological implications. While the latter may tend to see security in terms of the state and governance within an international system, it is the former, more specific, interpretation that is suitable for policy analysis. Only varied understandings of the basic terms of global security, Stoett reasons, allow for widespread critical debate among both generalists and specialists. The concluding chapter on globalization, with its attendant implications for the environment and population displacement, situates human and global security within the larger context of the historical process of expansionism. Human and Global Security provides a sophisticated, yet eminently readable account of contemporary security issues set against a backdrop of international relations theory. Its approach will appeal to a general audience as well as students and scholars.

The International Regulation of Trade in Wildlife: Institutional and Normative Considerations

Global governance and sustainable development may be at odds with each other if the former implies highly centralized forms of natural resource management. Proponents of international regulation of trade in animal and plant parts argue that the dictates of environmental necessity outweigh the concerns of those to whom this regulation represents a fundamental imposition upon their way of life and economic opportunities. More specifically, such regulation (represented primarily by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) is necessary because the value of biodiversity must supersede that of cultural tradition and economic opportunity costs associated with either refraining from trade or enforcing trade bans/regulation. Critics charge this is a western-oriented approach that fails to take into account the need for international trade in order to sustain local enthusiasm for trade limitations in southern states and amongst indigenous communities in the south. This paper will analyze this debate, with reference to CITES, and suggest that the need for habitat protection may be the only way to close the divide between hardened ideological positions.

Antarctica and the strategic plan for biodiversity

The Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, adopted under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity, provides the basis for taking effective action to curb biodiversity loss across the planet by 2020—an urgent imperative. Yet, Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, which encompass 10% of the planet’s surface, are excluded from assessments of progress against the Strategic Plan. The situation is a lost opportunity for biodiversity conservation globally. We provide such an assessment. Our evidence suggests, surprisingly, that for a region so remote and apparently pristine as the Antarctic, the biodiversity outlook is similar to that for the rest of the planet. Promisingly, however, much scope for remedial action exists.

Of Whales and People: Normative Theory, Symbolism, and the IWC

1Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Concordia University, Montreal. The author is grateful to the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada for related funding. An earlier version of this paper was presented to the International Studies Association Annual Meeting of 2003 in Portland, Oregon.1Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Concordia University, Montreal. The author is grateful to the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada for related funding. An earlier version of this paper was presented to the International Studies Association Annual Meeting of 2003 in Portland, Oregon.

Climate Change and Health: Transcending Silos to Find Solutions

Abstract Background Climate change has myriad implications for the health of humans, our ecosystems, and the ecological processes that sustain them. Projections of rising greenhouse gas emissions suggest increasing direct and indirect burden of infectious and noninfectious disease, effects on food and water security, and other societal disruptions. As the effects of climate change cannot be isolated from social and ecological determinants of disease that will mitigate or exacerbate forecasted health outcomes, multidisciplinary collaboration is critically needed. Objectives The aim of this article was to review the links between climate change and its upstream drivers (ie, processes leading to greenhouse gas emissions) and health outcomes, and identify existing opportunities to leverage more integrated global health and climate actions to prevent, prepare for, and respond to anthropogenic pressures. Methods We conducted a literature review of current and projected health outcomes associated with climate change, drawing on findings and our collective expertise to review opportunities for adaptation and mitigation across disciplines. Findings Health outcomes related to climate change affect a wide range of stakeholders, providing ready collaborative opportunities for interventions, which can be differentiated by addressing the upstream drivers leading to climate change or the downstream effects of climate change itself. Conclusions Although health professionals are challenged with risks from climate change and its drivers, the adverse health outcomes cannot be resolved by the public health community alone. A phase change in global health is needed to move from a passive responder in partnership with other societal sectors to drive innovative alternatives. It is essential for global health to step outside of its traditional boundaries to engage with other stakeholders to develop policy and practical solutions to mitigate disease burden of climate change and its drivers; this will also yield compound benefits that help address other health, environmental, and societal challenges.

[Protection against Genocide: Mission Impossible?]

Preface The Urgent Need for Global Human Rights Regime by Neal Riemer The Evolution of the International System and its Impact on Protection Against Genocide by Douglas W. Simon The Three Ps of Genocide Prevention: With Application to a Genocide Foretold by Helen Fein Economic Sanctions and Genocide: Too Little, Too Late, and Sometimes Too Much by George A. Lopez Can An International Criminal Court Prevent and Punish Genocide by David Wippman A UN Constabulary to Enforce the Law on Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity? by Saul Mendlovitz and John Fousek On Humanitarian Intervention by Michael Joseph Smith Conclusion Appendices Bibliography Index

International politics and the protection of great whales

The history of international efforts to regulate the whaling industry has been characterised by uncertainty and conflict as well as co‐operation. Before the passing of a moratorium on commercial whaling in the 1980s, attempts at catch regulation failed as the short‐term interests of the whaling industry prevailed. With the advent of green politics, however, a gradual but steady normative transition took place as the International Whaling Commission (IWC) increased in size and shifted in function. This shift provides a fascinating study in the regime dynamics of international organisation, and comments on human‐nature relations as well. However, the present state of the regime is troubling for whale preservationists as whaling states remain intent on a return to commercial whaling; Norway will begin small‐scale whaling in 1993; Iceland has withdrawn from the IWC, and the biggest problem facing whales ‐ habitat destruction ‐ is yet to be addressed in a meaningful way. Yet, the symbolic power of the whale ma...

Counter-bioinvasion: Conceptual and governance challenges

Abstract This article begins by defining the problem of invasive alien species, then moves to a discussion of some of the conceptual implications of treating bioinvasion as a serious topic in both environmental and global ecopolitics, such as the encouragement of parochial thinking and the reliance on an outdated ecological paradigm that assumes the desirability of natural equilibrium. Both these problems are overcome by the human security imperative of protecting civilians from the most harmful effects of bioinvasion, but they should indeed temper the zeal with which prevention/eradication campaigns are adopted. The third section explicitly visits some of the more concrete governance problems raised at the international but, arguably, all levels of governance. These include the division of labour and authority, the question of blame and compensation, the need for sustained public attention on the issue and the integration of the natural and social/policy sciences, and the omnipresent uncertainties associated with climate change.

International mechanisms for addressing migration

This article focuses on the increasing array of intergovernmental and non‐governmental organizations with specific or linked mandates related to migration issues. The United Nations (UN), and in particular the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), has gone some way toward making migration a priority issue‐area. However, with the very notable exception of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) — which is mandated to assist exclusively involuntary migrants — important players such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and related nongovernmental organizations exist outside the formal UN framework. This article asks whether, in this age of globalization, the old order of migration policy; which centred on the promotional and prohibitory role played by governments, is being surpassed by a new order in which governments are increasingly unable to control mass migration in a unilateral fashion. Is it time that international organizations play the...

A Global Bioprospecting Regime: Partnership or Piracy?

THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY (CBD) is one of the most complex and demanding of recent international environmental agreements. It came into existence at a time when contemporary concerns over the rapid loss of biodiversity in the northern and, especially, in the southern hemispheres were visible in a wide variety of settings. The Earth Summit in Rio de Janerio, at which the CBD was opened for signature in 1992, brought together thousands of government officials and interested non-governmental parties. At that time, biodiversity issues were recognized as a central concern for groups as diverse as transnational representatives of indigenous peoples and the executives of pharmaceutical giants in the United States, Japan, and Europe. The latter image might startle those who view biodiversity as an environmental cause rather than as a medical tool or industrial commodity. However, medicines have always been found in nature, which remains a promising repository of new compounds for pharmaceutical research and development. Perhaps 80 per cent of the worlds people most of them outside of the industrialized nations rely on natural medicines for their primary health care needs. Meanwhile, some 25 per cent of industrially produced medicines, from aspirin to the anti-cancer agent