P
Pranay Shome
Guest
Role of global institutions in addressing challenges to peace is necessary to contextualise their actions regarding the various decisions they take on issues
“The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war”, said Ralph Waldo Emerson. The world is currently in a turbulent state grappling with the existential issues of an ever more warming planet, ethnonationalism, sectarianism and war.
While Steven Pinker in his book The Better Angels of Our Nature argued that with scientific and economic progress human beings’ propensity to resort to violence has reduced over the centuries but to differ with him, it is ingrained in the nature of Homo Sapiens to be warlike. In this context, it is necessary to debate a critical issue of our times- the role of global institutions which are creations of Homo Sapiens society in effectively addressing or better deal with contemporary challenges to peace and security.
The first issue that automatically comes into the mind is the challenge of territorial security of sovereign states which manifests itself in the ongoing Russo-Ukraine war. The United Nations has unfortunately been at best a mute spectator which continues to see Russia hammer Ukraine while at the same time the West under the banner of NATO supplying cutting edge arms and weapons to Ukraine to defend itself further exacerbating the conflict.
A key aspect of a contemporary challenge to peace and security is the issue of non- traditional security, the most prominent of which is the issue of combating the menace of climate change. In this context, the record has been mixed with some substantial victories and a few dismal failures.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a global framework to combat climate change has seen some monumental moments in humanity’s fight against this existential menace.
The hallmark is the 2015 Paris Accord or COP 21 which is perhaps the most widely accepted treaty, aiming to limit pre-industrial temperature rise to 1.5 C and if necessary to below 2 C.
Hence role of global institutions in addressing challenges to peace must be reemphasised and such institutions reformed.
The post Role of Global Institutions In Addressing Challenges to Peace appeared first on The Jaipur Dialogues.
Continue reading...
“The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war”, said Ralph Waldo Emerson. The world is currently in a turbulent state grappling with the existential issues of an ever more warming planet, ethnonationalism, sectarianism and war.
While Steven Pinker in his book The Better Angels of Our Nature argued that with scientific and economic progress human beings’ propensity to resort to violence has reduced over the centuries but to differ with him, it is ingrained in the nature of Homo Sapiens to be warlike. In this context, it is necessary to debate a critical issue of our times- the role of global institutions which are creations of Homo Sapiens society in effectively addressing or better deal with contemporary challenges to peace and security.
Russo-Ukraine War
The first issue that automatically comes into the mind is the challenge of territorial security of sovereign states which manifests itself in the ongoing Russo-Ukraine war. The United Nations has unfortunately been at best a mute spectator which continues to see Russia hammer Ukraine while at the same time the West under the banner of NATO supplying cutting edge arms and weapons to Ukraine to defend itself further exacerbating the conflict.
Non-Traditional Security
A key aspect of a contemporary challenge to peace and security is the issue of non- traditional security, the most prominent of which is the issue of combating the menace of climate change. In this context, the record has been mixed with some substantial victories and a few dismal failures.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a global framework to combat climate change has seen some monumental moments in humanity’s fight against this existential menace.
The hallmark is the 2015 Paris Accord or COP 21 which is perhaps the most widely accepted treaty, aiming to limit pre-industrial temperature rise to 1.5 C and if necessary to below 2 C.
Hence role of global institutions in addressing challenges to peace must be reemphasised and such institutions reformed.
The post Role of Global Institutions In Addressing Challenges to Peace appeared first on The Jaipur Dialogues.
Continue reading...