Whether it was in global security, economic governance, nonproliferation efforts or climate change negotiations, a host of transnational challenges put the spotlight on global governance institutions in 2011. This WPR special report examines the issues and institutions of global governance through articles published over the past year. Below are links to each article in this special report, which subscribers can read in full. Not a subscriber? Purchase this document for Kindle or as a PDF from Scribd. Or subscribe now. The United Nations U.N.’s Preventive Diplomacy Deserves More Than Just Lip ServiceBy Richard Gowan and Emily O’BrienSeptember 21, 2011 Defending [...]
Human life expectancy at birth, which remained stunningly fixed for thousands of years before suddenly doubling over the course of the 20th century, now seems destined to experience a similarly bold leap across the 21st century. When it does, it will shift human thinking about population control from its present focus on the outset of life to the increasingly delayed final curtain. The problem is that the technological advances that will make extending life expectancy possible are likely to come far faster than our political systems — including the democracies — can handle. The potential outcome recalls the plot of [...]
A recently filed legal petition claiming that the United Nations acted negligently and recklessly in Haiti is raising difficult questions about U.N. accountability — and its legal immunity. The petition (.pdf), submitted Nov. 3, is already raising the possibility that a legally mandated, but rarely implemented, judicial procedure for civilians living in countries with U.N. peacekeeping missions will be enforced. As a result, the petition’s implications go far beyond the particulars of the Haiti case, in which more than 5,000 Haitians argue that the U.N. has so far failed to provide them with a means of remedy after cholera was [...]
