Chapter 10

Globalizing Issues

Globalizing Issues

• Health, environment, human rights• Globalizing issues

–Multiple actors (states, IGOs, NGOs, MNCs, transnational movements, individuals, etc.)

–Multiple levels (local, state, and international)

Health and Disease

• Ancient international problem (plague, smallpox, measles, malaria)

• Economic, social globalization increases vulnerability to disease (AIDS, dengue fever, SARS, Avian flu)

• HIV/AIDS– health/humanitarian, economic, social, political,

security issue– Response by multiple actors (states, IGOs, NGOs,

MNCs, private foundations, individuals, epistemic communities of experts)

Health and Theory

• High levels of agreement on need to prevent spread of infectious diseases and to rely on technical experts

• Differences on how to address issue– Liberals = international responsibility, cooperation

among actors at all levels– Realists = state responsibility, especially when

impacts security– Radicals = illustrate inequities, economic

differences between rich and poor

Environment: Global Commons

• Population, natural resources, energy, pollution• Collective goods = public goods available to all

– Challenge: achieving shared benefits by overcoming conflicting interests (Hardin’s tragedy of the commons)

• Sustainability = economic development reconciles current growth and environmental protection with needs of future generations

– Emerging international law/principles/norms• no-significant harm, good-neighbor principle• (soft law) polluter-pays, precautionary principle, preventive-

action• (principles) sustainable development, intergenerational equity

Politics of Population

• Historic fear of Malthusian dilemma (population increase outstrips food supply)

– Higher rates of food production– Demographic transition = economic development

leads to falling death rates, then falling birth rates• Population growth rates have increased

– More in developing world than developed (demographic divide)

– Greater demand for scarce natural resources– Ethical dilemmas

Natural Resources/Pollution

• Increasing demand, declining supply (oil, water)

• Pollution– Externalities = costly unintended consequences – International cooperation

• Ozone depletion due to CFCs– Montreal Protocol (1987) and London Agreement (1990)– States agree to phase out use of chemicals; developed

states agree to pay costs of compliance• Global climate change

– Kyoto Protocol (1997): aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions

Environment and Theory

• Realists = Security; strong population, self-sufficient food supply, dependable energy supply, sovereignty

• Liberals = Broad view of security and interdependent system; many actors, all levels need to act

• Radicals = widens gap between rich and poor; costs borne disproportionately by South and poor in North

• Constructivists = how elites define problem, how ideas change over time

Human Rights

• First-generation = Political/civil rights; rights states cannot take away (free speech, assembly)

• Second-generation = Economic/social rights; rights states should provide, protect (health care, jobs)

• Third-generation = Rights for specific groups, minorities, women, children (environment, peace, human security, democracy)

• International regime = agreed-upon rules, norms, procedures emerge from high levels of cooperation; states develop principles and procedures on how certain problems should be addressed; principles become rules (explicit in law; implicit in practices, expectations)

– International human rights regime = IGOs and NGOs set human rights standards (UN), monitor standards (UN, NGOs), promote education, enforce standards (states, UN through embargos, sanctions, armed force)

Globalizing Issues: Effects, Theory

• Globalizing issues complex bargaining and challenges to state sovereignty

• Effects on theory – Realists = need for nuance, security still key– Liberals = compatible with liberal views of security, multiple actors– Radicals = confirm primacy of economic issues, stratification– Constructivists: changing discourse, material factors and ideas

shape debate• Global Governance = absence of unifying political authority,

structures and processes through which actors coordinate interests and needs

– Liberals = globalization pushes global civil society toward global governance

– Realists = global governance impossible– Radicals = not desirable because of hegemonic domination