The UN:

• the conflict and suffering of WW2 provoked the establishment of the UN as a way of developing a more liberal approach to resolving global crises
• the Charter of the UN (1945) lays down the main priorities of the UN:

1. the maintenance of global peace and security.
2. the encouragement of closer relations between nation-states.
3. greater respect for human rights and international law.
4. the global encouragement of social and economic wellbeing.

UNSC, Cont:

• in rare circumstances the SC can sanction military force against a member state which has committed an act of aggression against another member state.
• in 1950, Chapter 7 was used to justify military action against North Korea for invading South Korea.
• in 1991, it was also used to legitimize the first Gulf War when Iraqi forces were expelled from Kuwait by a US-led UN force.
• critics of the SC argue that the permanent 5 are too often ready to prioritize realist self-interest, so undermining the liberal good intentions of the UN Charter.

Examples:
Successes:

• in 2013, Thailand accepted an ICJ judgment that the disputed Preah Vihear temple belonged to Cambodia and that Thai troops would have to be withdrawn from it.
  Failures:
• in 2019, the ICJ ruled that the British control of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean is Illegal. However, the UK government responded that the decision was only advisory and that possession of the Chagos Islands was vital to Britain's defense.

International Monertary Fund (IMF):

• works closely with the UN ECOSOC to ensure global financial secuirty, it does this in 3 ways:

1. Surveillance - the IMF monitors econmic policies of member states and will warn them if they belive their policies are likely to jeapordise growth and risk damaging their economies.
2. Lending - the IMF acts as a lender of last resort, these loans help stabilise the currency and restore global confidence in a nation-state, enabling it to recover.

The Significance of the Bretton Woods Conference, 1944, Cont:

• the focus of the IMF and WB has changed since their establishment, the WB focuses more on supporting economic growth in the developing world.
• Since the 1970s, the IMF are unable to maintain global fixed exchange rates. But, still provides emergency loans to nation-states facing bankruptcy, and both remain committed to encouraging economic growth through the adoption of the free-market and free-trade reforms.

Neoclassical Economic Theory:

• the most effective way of achieving dveelopment is by a nation-state adopting free-marker reforms and engaging in global free trade.
• by reducing tariffs, removing state control of industry, and encouraging private enterprise through lower taxes and privatisation, nation-states benefit from engaging in all opportunities offered by a global market.
• these free-market principles are rooted in Adam Smith's 'The Wealth of Nations' and the work of more recent neoliberals such as Froedman (2912-2006).
• Neoclassical Economic Development Theory provides the theoretical justification for economic globalization.
• the IMF and WB are both strongly within classical economic development tradition.

World Systems Theory:

• according to Wallerstein, free trade and free-markers enable powerful core states to exploit less developed peripheral states.
• by encouraging peripheral states in the developing world to open up their markets and commit to free trade, core states can take advanatage of them.
• core states do this by selling peripheral states cheap manufactured products and cheap mass-produced food so that they become 'dependent' on them.
• core states also use globalization to exploit the raw materials and workers of peripheral states so that they can maintain their global economic dominance.
• This is known as neocolonialism since core states can take so much control of the economies of peripheral states that they have a controlling influence over them.

Competing views about how to tackle environmental issues:

• Deep green ecology provides a radical approach to the environment based upon the philosophical principle that human beings are part of the ecosystem and so have a duty not to harm what sustains them and all life.
• Shallow green ecology is reformed and is based on the practical proposition that the consequences of climate change will be harmful to human beings and so the problem needs to be addressed. It's, therefore, more practical and idealistic than deep green ecology

The role and significance of the IPCC:

• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established in 1988. It's important as it provides detailed, scientific, and impartial research on the way the climate is changing and what the impact of this is now and likely to be in the future.
• In 2018 the IPCC issued a stark warning that on current projections, temperature rise in the 21st century is likely to be closer to 3 degrees than the 1.5 degrees nation-states agreed to work on together at the Paris Agreement in 2015.

The challenge of Climate Change:

• Rising global temperatures will increase the likelihood of drought, makes some parts of the planet unhabitable, threaten resources and food security, and encourage extreme weather events.
• They will also lead to a rise in sea levels, which is already threatening the existence of islands in the Pacific.
• The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) is lobbying hard at UN climate change conferences for more action to reduce temperature increases because the impact of climate change is threatening their national existence.

The role and significance of the UNFCCC, Cont:

• The UNFCCC also monitors the carbon-reduction strategies of nation-states and the extent to which they fulfill the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions agreed at the Paris Agreement (2015).
• 197 nation-states have signed the UNFCCC, so although it has no binding power, it has considerable international legitimacy.
• According to the UNFCCC, carbon emissions should be reduced according to 'differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities'.
• This is controversial because it has hitherto placed the most responsibility for cutting greenhouse gases on developed nation-states.
• The difficulty of ensuring a fair and impartial reduction in carbon emissions that doesn't unjustly impact the economic development of nation-states is a major challenge for the UNFCCC

The meaning and significance of sustainable development:

• It's difficult to achieve sustainability because the consequences of how we act now will only be felt in the future.
• As a result, governments and individuals can often choose to concentrate on their immediate well-being and so ignore the potential long-term impact on the global commons

The meanings and significance of the tragedy of the commons:

• The principle of the tragedy of the commons is fundamental in explaining why it is so difficult to achieve progress on climate change.
• Because of this, they are unprepared to take necessary action to limit consumption since they will face an immediate and immeasurable loss.
• Nation-states have often been unwilling to commit to drastically lowering their carbon emissions at climate change conferences because other nation-states may choose to do less.
• As a result, if nation-states do dramatically cut their carbon emissions, they lose put in the immediate short term because other nation-states fail to act.
  

Sovereignty:

• Nation-states resent outside interference in their domestic policies, therefore are unwillimng to accept supranationally imposed carbon reducing targets.
• So, it hasn't been possible to establish binding and extensive targets.
• In 2017, Trump announced that the US was withdrawing from the Paris Treaty because of the damage which the INDC's were doing to the American economy.
• According to Trump in 2017, contiuning to observe the Paris Treaty would 'undermine our economy, hamstring our workers, weaken our soveriegnty and put us at a permanent disadvantage to the other countries of the world'.
• In 2019, President Bolsonaro of Brazil condemned Presidents Macron's offer of international support to help Brazil put out its rainforest fires.

Developed Vs Developing states, Cont:

• The rapid growth of the developing world means that it's increasingly responsible for carbon emissions.
• However, because of the large populations, nation-states like India and China have been able to claim that their per capita carbon footprint is significantly less than that of the developed world.
• The key reason President Bush withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol in 2001, and Trump withdrew from the Paris Treaty in 2017 is both believed that developing countries weren't expected to make the same level of commitment as the US.