Successful Implementation of a Global Government - Literature review Example

Global Governance Introduction Challenges faced by the international community in the effective implementation of the global government are many and a good illustration is how the issue of environment and poverty has been taken by the world. The response to these challenges is diverse and one of the common means used is negotiations and the formation of global movements and discourses. The future of global governance will be largely determined by the political and rights activists’ ideologies. The Main Challenges Faced By the International Community in the Successful Implementation of a Global Government, Response to These Challenges and the Future of Global Governance The global climate change discussions offer a graphic illustration of the forms of challenges that usually hamper the efforts to develop common global environmental regulations and political norms. The main issues on debate are the varying climatic vulnerability, varying costs of adaptation, highly technical science, extensive debate over burden sharing and the adjustment rules, and the basic normative disagreements over the development and environment priorities. Additionally, “any serious and concerted effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions necessarily entails measures that strike at the heart of the domestic policies of states, including energy, industry, transport infrastructure development, taxation, and pricing” (Reus-Smit, 82). Majority of the states consider any attempt to regulate or control their domestic matters as a violation of their sovereignty. Despite these challenges, most of the states have reached an agreement to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. It is important to note that the developed nations have accepted to take the initial practical strides in the reduction of emissions (Reus-Smit, 83). 20th century has witnessed enormous economic expansion and two types of changes have accompanied the expansion; these changes have had severe consequences on the natural environment. The first change is the dramatic elevation in the consumption or utilization of the global natural resources (in particular, the renewable resources – freshwater, fish, air, forests, soils, and animal life). The rate of usage of these renewable resources by the humans has exceeded the limits of the sustainable yields. For instance, nonrenewable resources such as nonfuel minerals and fossils fuels were thought to be scarce but now they are regularly available. The second and the last change is the exponential growth of pollution. Pollution entails having in excess of something in the incorrect place. In appropriate amounts, most of the potential pollutants are useful. For instance, nitrates and phosphates are plant nutrients that are vital to life. However, the excess of these nutrients in the aquatic systems can lead to eutrophication (Haas and Speth, 17). Pollution is occurring in a larger scale worldwide; the condition is persistent and it is virtually affecting all things in the world. The combination of the above-mentioned two changes (large-scale pollution and high demands on the renewable resources) has led to the rise of the global threats the world is facing presently (Haas and Speth, 18). The response to the challenges has been the formation of environmental movements and environmental justice and human rights discourses (Pellow, 241). Debt is a thorny issue among the poor and developing nations. Majority of these nations have huge debts borrowed from the developed nations. Some of these nations are faced with many problems such that they are unable to pay their debts. In response to this situation, Bill Peters and Martin Dent formed Jubilee 2000 in 1996 and their main aim was to advocate for the forgiveness of the debts these poor nations by the developed nations. The basis of their advocacy is the biblical jubilee. Dent and Peters indicated that most of these debts were tainted by inefficiency and historical corruption of the developing nations and they were aggravated by biased economic and political decisions of the creditor nations. The wealthy creditors possess “ethical responsibility to devise a sustainable solution to excessive debt among the world’s poorest countries” (Keough and Marshall, 36). Campaigners and donors rarely reached an agreement on the structural agreement; this is because the debates dwelt much on the historic evaluation of design of the programs. That is, the purpose they were to accomplish, the events that took place and everyone fell short. Despite these challenges, the Jubilee Campaign got momentum concurrently with the mounting attempts by the international community to deal with problems (such as the worsening debt burden) facing the developing nations (Keough and Marshall, 39). The Jubilee Campaign’s advocacy for cancellation of debt within the first one thousand years drew attention of people around the world and this helped in the rapid implementation of the improved HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Country) process. The Jubilee Movement International (Jubilee 200 successor) is not satisfied with the project outcomes and the policy of the enhanced HIPC-PRSP (Heavily Indebted Poor Country – Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers) initiatives. Thus, the movement has continued criticizing the World Bank and goes on to mobilize support in preference of the alternative solutions. The Jubilee Movement International mobilization and criticism of the World Bank represents the future of global governance. Poverty and environmental issues are among the key things posing a great challenge to the world and this hampered the process of implementing a global government. The two issues (poverty and environment concerns) form the basis of the political and activists ideologies. This is true because an attempt to interfere with a state’s domestic policies is considered a violation of the state’s sovereignty. Thus, any effort to create a global government must consider the effect it will have on the state’s domestic policies. For instance, an attempt to minimize greenhouse gas emissions involves measures that affect the state’s domestic policies. It will be very unlikely for a state to consider changing its domestic policies since it requires enormous time, support, and the state’s resources. However, this has not been the case in most countries and majority of them seem to be in support of the changes requires towards the realization of a global government. The response from these governments is an attempt to reach an agreement over the issues facing them such as the environmental issues. A number of policies and initiatives have been adopted towards the reduction of environmental issues. However, not all governments are in support of such policies and initiatives, for instance, the United States has neglected most of the environmental issues of the present time. The United States is not alone in this form of neglect (United States and other few countries are deserting the environmental impacts of their activities). United States is the world’s main superpower, the largest economy, and many nations in the world turn to it as a role model and a leadership example because of its size. The decisions made by the United States usually have a global impact (Haas and Speth, 19). Poor developing nations have become victims of huge financial debts from the developed nations. The debts are huge such that the possibility of ever paying them does not exist. The response to this situation is the formation of movement groups such as the Jubilee 2000 by dent and Peters. The reasons given by Dent and Peters for the accumulation of these debts are practically true. These poor nations are characterized by massive corruption and embezzlement of the public funds. Selfish interests from the creditor nations aggravate these internal national problems (such as massive corruption). Most of these funds are used as manipulating tools in order to get support from the poor nations. However, Dent and Peters suggest that these nations be forgiven of their debts. It is very practical that these debts cannot be paid in full and if it is possible, it may take a lifetime. Such an initiative has had consequences on the poor nations; for instance, some countries introduced debt-to-export ratios even before the implementation of systems to ensure financial stability. Immediately after Uganda getting the HIPC debt relief, it was faced with lower export earnings caused by the falling commodity prices. Although Uganda’s debt-to-ratio had increased, it was rather late for HIPC to control the situation. Uganda represents an example of a poor nation that benefited from the process (Keough and Marshall, 43). The main focus of international bodies such as IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank is the reduction of poverty in these poor nations. To an extent, Jubilee Movement International has made a considerable impact in creating awareness of the plight facing poor developing nations. The movement continues to criticize the World Bank to look for alternative solutions to the problem of poverty in poor nations. Giving funds has proved not to be an ultimate solution to the problem. Massive corruption and embezzlement of public funds seems to be the greatest problem in these poor nations. In other words, the movement challenges the World Bank to find solutions that can alleviate the problem of corruption and misappropriation of funds. Such criticism seems to be the way forward for future global governance. Works Cited Haas, Peter, M. & Speth, James, G. Global Environmental Governance. New Delhi, India: Pearson Education India, 2007. Print. Keough, Lucy & Marshall, Katherine. Mind, Heart, and Soul in the Fight against Poverty. Washington, D. C.: The World Bank, 2004. Print. Pillow, David. N. Resisting Global Toxics: Transnational Movements for Environmental Justice. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007. Print. Reus-Smit, Christian. The Politics of International Law. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Print. Read More