Richard A. Falk

Indefensible weapons: the political and psychological case against nuclearism

The authors contend that the political and psychological power of nuclear weapons make them even more dangerous than their destructive power alone. They explore the political and psychological dependencies on nuclear weapons, which they call the disease of nuclearism. With this medical approach, they examine both the disease and the symptoms, which can be fatal. Section I, by Lifton, deals with the psychological problem of imagining the reality of nuclear weapons, the denial that they could be used, and the numbing of human feeling. Section II, by Falk, treats the political anatomy of the disease. Together they conclude that acceptance of nuclearism leads to despair and a semblance of death. They urge a broad-based popular movement to commit individual resources and action to eradicate the disease and restore mankind to health. 106 references. (DCK)

Toward Global Parliament

As economic and social decisions are increasingly being made internationally, both civil society and business networks are attempting to gain seats at the global table. The evolution of these two networks has been largely uncoordinated, and neither can claim to represent the global citizenry as a whole. Global civil societys critics are already challenging its claims to represent the public interest, and the charge of illegitimacy has even greater resonance when leveled at corporate and banking elites. This article makes the case that only when citizens and business interests work within an overarching democratically representative global body can they achieve policy accommodations that will be widely seen as legitimate. This article is available at the Foreign Affairs website.

Global civil society: Perspectives, initiatives, movements

This article focuses on the efforts of voluntary associations, rooted in a global consciousness, to address the negative impacts of globalization. In part, this encounter reflects the extent to which globalization has been unfolding in recent years in an ideological climate of neo-liberalism. As a result, there has been steady downward pressure on the social agenda of governments and international institutions. Globalization-from-below represents an overall effort to moderate market logic by reference to the following values embodied in “normative democracy”, a view of democracy that takes account of the emergence of global village realities: consent of affected peoples; rule of law in all arenas of decision; human rights; effective modes of participation; accountability; support for public goods to address basic needs; transparency; and non-violence as a principle of public order.

Revisiting Westphalia, Discovering Post-westphalia

This article explores the structure of world order fromthe perspective of the Treaty of Westphalia, which is treated asthe benchmark for the emergence of the modern system of sovereignstates. Emphasis is placed on Westphalia as historical event, ideaand ideal, and process of evolution, and also on developments thatsupersede this framing of world politics, especially, globalizationand the megaterrorist challenge of September 11, 2001. At issue is whether the state system is resilient enough to adapt to new globalconditions or is in the process of being supplanted, and whether thesequel to Westphalia is moving toward humane global governance orsome dysutopic variant, or both at once.

Resisting ‘globalisation‐from‐above’ through ‘globalisation‐from‐below’

(1997). Resisting ‘globalisation‐from‐above’ through ‘globalisation‐from‐below’. New Political Economy: Vol. 2, Globlisation and the politics of resistance, pp. 17-24.

Religion and humane global governance

Introduction The Religious Foundations of Humane Global Governance Rethinking Secularism in an Era of Globalization The Place of Religion in Upholding the Rights of Future Generation The Monotheistic Religions and Globalization Politically Engaged Spirituality in an Emerging Global Civil Society Hans Kungs Crusade: Framing a Global Ethic Gandhis Legacy for World Order Our Millennial Challenge

Explorations at the edge of time : the prospects for world order

Acknowledgments Introduction: Why Postmodern? Why Explorations at the Edge of Time? Why Rooted Utopianism? Part I: The Postmodern Frontier of International Relations 1. In Pursuit of the Postmodern 2. Religion and Politics: A Second Postmodern Possibility 3. Culture and International Relations: A Third Postmodern Possibility Part II: Planning the Journey Ahead 4. Solving the Puzzles of Global Reform 5. Transition to Peace and Justice: The Challenge of Transcendence without Utopia 6. The Global Promise of Social Movements: Explorations at the Edge of Time Part III: Rooted Utopianism as Political Option 7. The Extension of Law to Foreign Policy: The Next Constitutional Challenge 8. Can Culture Tame Nuclearism? 9. Evasions of Sovereignty 10. The Realist School and Its Critics: Interpreting the Postwar World Notes Index

WHAT FUTURE FOR THE UN CHARTER SYSTEM OF WAR PREVENTION

President George W. Bush historically challenged the United Nations Security Council when he uttered some memorable words in the course of his September 12, 2002, speech to the General Assembly: “Will the UN serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?” In the aftermath of the Iraq war there are at least two answers to this question. The answer of the U.S. government would be to suggest that the United Nations turned out to be irrelevant due to its failure to endorse recourse to war against the Iraq of Saddam Hussein. The answer of those who opposed the war is that the UN Security Council served the purpose of its founding by its refusal to endorse recourse to a war that could not be persuasively reconciled with the UN Charter and international law. This difference of assessment is not just factual, whether Iraq was a threat and whether the inspection process was succeeding at a reasonable pace; it was also conceptual, even jurisprudential. The resolution of this latter debate is likely to shape the future role of the United Nations, as well as influence the attitude of the most powerful sovereign state as to the relationship between international law generally and the use of force as an instrument of foreign policy.

The Global Promise of Social Movements: Explorations at the Edge of Time

A focus on social movements with restructuring agendas itself incorporates a political judgment on how drastic global reform can best be achieved at this stage of history. Implicit in this judgment is the view that conventional party politics, even in functioning democracies, have lost their restructuring capabilities, and further, that violent forms of revolutionary politics are not likely to enhance the overall realization of world order values. In this regard, the new social movements seem at present to embody our best hopes for challenging established and oppressive political, economic, and cultural arrangements at levels of social complexity, from the interpersonal to the international. One feature of these social movements is to connect practices in everyday life with the most general aspirations of politics, including global restructuring. Thus, when Solidarity or Charter 77 leaders call for trust and integrity as operative principles for relations among citizens confronted by authoritarian governments, their call if heeded has itself transformative reverberations at all levels of political life. Or, when inquiry is directed toward overcoming abuse in interpersonal settings (male/female; parent/ child; teacher/student), a political engagement arises that alters the perception of the character of abuse in the public sphere of politics. The new social movements, and the theorizing that accompanies their emergence and evolution, change our understanding of “the political” and “the global.” By bringing “peace and justice” into our intimate relations we pose a revolutionary challenge which itself is a subversive threat to all modes of oppression. And contrariwise, by refraining from addressing the oppressive element within ourselves, we cast grave doubts upon any claim to play liberating historical roles by leading movements purportedly dedicated to emancipation in one form or another. Both by enlarging our sense of “the political” and by insisting that everyday practices are an element of “the global,” the new social movements are dramatically altering our sense of what the pursuit of a just world order entails in a variety of concrete situations.

Regionalism and world order after the cold war

This chapter seeks to assess the actual and potential contributions of regionalism to the achievement of such world order goals as peace, social justice, human rights and democracy.1 This assessment proceeds by way of discussing, in an introductory section, several main features of the global setting that have become prominent in the early aftermath of the cold war. Against this background, four possible roles for regional actors are depicted: (1) containing negative globalism — basically associated with the adverse impacts of global market forces; (2) mitigating pathological anarchism — the breakdown of minimum order and decency in state/society relations arising from either extremes of excessive control and abuse by the state or of pervasive and dangerous chaos arising from the weakness or breakdown of governance capacity at the level of the state; (3) promoting positive globalism — reinforcing the global capacity to achieve desirable world order goals; and (4) promoting positive regionalism — achieving these goals at a regional level through the strengthening and orientation of regional structures of governance.