FINAL International Relations Q2 copy.pdf

23~25 The Global Environment ● ● ● Resolving environmental problems Interest and interactions International institutions and cooperation Environmental Problems ● Air ○ Global warming/ ozone depletion ● Land ● ● ● ● ● ○ Deforestation/ land degradation/ desertification/ threatened biodiversity W...

23~25 The Global Environment ● ● ● Resolving environmental problems Interest and interactions International institutions and cooperation Environmental Problems ● Air ○ Global warming/ ozone depletion ● Land ● ● ● ● ● ○ Deforestation/ land degradation/ desertification/ threatened biodiversity Water ○ Polluted water/ water depletion/ threatened biodiversity And these problems are likely to worsen due to… ○ Population growth ○ Per capita consumption level ■ Per capita production should equal per capita consumption On some issues, states fail to take action Other important issues have been successfully resolved (like the ozone issue) Many of these issues are global/ international in scale Puzzle ● Nearly everyone wants a cleaner and healthier environment. Why, then, is it so hard to cooperate internationally to protect the environment? ● Tragedy of the commons and the Herder’s dilemma ○ Example of the sheep → causes depletion of resources due to them acting on their own interests ○ Limited capability to have greenhouse gas emissions, however it is the cheapest way to produce energy for economic development Interests and interactions - Private vs Public goods, and their variants Excludable Nonexcludable Rival Private Goods (cell phones) Common-pool resources (public parking, Saudi Arabian oil fills, tuna) Nonrival Club Goods (membership clubs, IR class) Public Goods (stable climate, national defense) ● If my consumption does not reduce your availability it is nonrival ● Many environmental issues are either public goods or common pool resources ○ “No one owns it, and everyone abuses it” Collective action problems ○ Temptations to free ride Complexity and magnitude of the problem influences the ability of states to cooperate Groups that interact frequently and repeatedly are more likely to cooperate At times, public and common goods can be privatized ○ Eg. the tragedy of the common goods can be solved by dividing land and privatizing it. Regulations and fertilizers are solutions once the land is privatized ○ However the environment like the issue with the ozone cannot be privatizedk Privileged groups tend to be more effective ● ● ● ● ● Pollution and development ● Distributional conflicts bwreen developing and developed countreis ○ Development is dirty ○ Historically, the largest polluters have been rich countries: Since 1850, these countries have emitted almost 70 percent of cumulative carbon dioxide ○ But the biggest source of new pollutants going forward will be developing countries. China’s carbon dioxide emissions grew from 15 percent of the world’s total in 2001 to 30 percent today ● Bargaining over the future: who bears the costs? ○ Actors fight over who should bear the costs over negative externalities created by various production and consumption activities ○ Developing countries vs developed countries ○ Dirty industries vs taxpayers and consumers ○ Past generations vs future generations ● developing countries can’t afford to use environmentally efficient alternatives however there has been research that it’s cheaper to have developing countries to develop economically eco consciously than developed countries that already have infrastructure and foundations set up in the past International institutions ● How can institutions help to promote international environmental cooperation? ○ Setting standards, verifying compliance ○ Enforcement mechanism ○ No WTF/IMF-like institutions in international environment ● General principles ○ States have the responsibility not to caus environmental damage within thier jurisdiction ○ The good neighbor principles of cooperation ○ The polluter pays principle ○ The precautionary principle (unless its known to be safe, you should be cautious) ○ The nondiscrimation principle ○ The principles of sustainable development ● Specifics ○ Montreal protocol (1987) ○ Biological Diversity, Desertification (1992) ○ Kyoto protocol (1997) ■ Responsibility fell on developed countries, therefore many developing countries were free riding ○ Paris agreement (2016) Paris agreement ○ A global treaty within the UN Framework Convention on Climate change (UNFCCC), adopted in December 2015 and went into effect in November 2016 ○ ● ● ● ● Its primary goal is to address climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels, with efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees Mitigatinon: Countries commit to nationally determined contributions (NDCs) outlining their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions Adaptation: The agreement emphasizes the importance of adapting to the impacts of climate change, particularly for vulnerable nations ○ Giving in to the fact that we need to live in a warming earth Finance: Developed countries pledge to provide financial support to developing nations to assist in both mitigation and adaptation efforts Technology Transfer: The agreement promotes the development and transfer of environmentally sound technologies to help developing countries in their mitigation and adaptation efforts Summing up ● Collective action problems complicate efforts to protect the environment ● Small groups of actors can cooperate more effectively ● Bargaining over who bears costs is difficult ● International institutions and Transnational Advocacy Networks (TANs) can support cooperation 26~28 Human rights ● Half a century of progress ○ For more than 40 years, South Africa was run by a white-dominated government known as the apartheid regime ○ TANs (Transnational avocacy networks) and South African opposition groups brought international pressure (normative and economic) against the regime ■ Not enough to make change domestically ■ TANs share informations to international human rights organizations, which then they pressure their domestic governments to intervene, then those states pressure non-democratic states to intervene as well (through sanctions, etc) ○ ○ ○ The apartheid regime fell in 1990 This case illustrates two developments: ■ TANs’ success in the area of human rights ■ States’ willingness to use theri influence to punish cruelty and immorality Yet, interfering in cases of human rights abuses can be risky ■ Violates the principle of national sovereignty (non-intervention principle) ● The states can argue that they are a sovereign state and have the right of domestic jurisdiction. Other states have no say → rights of a state vs. rights of an individual makes this difficult ■ Few countries respect all human rights ● “Don’t look at us, look at yourselves” Human rights ● The rights possessed by all individuals by virtue of being human, regardless of their status as citizens of particular states or members of a group ● ● ● ● ● International human rights ○ Universal declaration of human rights ■ Adopted by the UN general assembly in 1948 in an attempt to clarify what rights were embodied in Article 55 ■ Today, the UDHR is the authoritative standard of human rights ○ Two seperate agreements were formed to translate the UDHR into legally bidning treaties: ■ The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) ■ The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) The ICCPR provides rights reside in individuals and was largely favored by the Western states (1966/1976). ○ Examples of what the ICCPR secures: ■ Right to life, liberty, equality before the law ■ Freedom of thought, religion, and expression ■ Protection against torture and slavery ○ Often called as negative rights ○ As of December 2023, 173 members of the UN ratified the ICCPR. The ICESCR provides basic economic, social and cultural rights and favored by the Communist or newly independent states (1966/1976) ○ The right to equal pay, a minimum standard of living, form trade unions and strike, free primary education, copyright, etc. ○ Often called as positive rights ○ The treaty has 171 ratifiers as of December 2023. The International Bill of Rights refers to the UDHR and the twin covenants. Today, the international community possesses a wide variety of international human rights which have been supplemented over time. Controversies of human rights ● ● ● ● ● States have different ideas (thus, interests) in human rights because of conflicting political institutions, legal traditions and philosophies. ○ “Human rights” are a human-created institution, evolving over time. ○ Conflicts over the two covenants during the Cold War ○ While freedom from torture is a widely held human right, after September 11th some have questioned whether it is acceptable to use on terrorist suspects, or more broadly, for national security purposes. Rights conflict. ○ Some rights seem to have broader support than others. ■ The ICCPR identifies some non-derogable rights that can never be suspended. ○ Freedom of speech vs. Islamic States Why Don’t States Observe International Human Rights Law? ○ The deadliest and most frequent form of violence in the world today is by governments against their own citizens. ○ The Great Leap Forward in China (1958-1962) caused a nationwide famine and killed about 38 million people. ○ Human rights practices on average have remained the same or even deteriorated in the past 25 years. Why do states violate human rights? ○ Some states simply lack the capacity to prevent human rights violations. ○ Other states do so in order to defend their national security. ○ Some governments violate human rights in order to preserve their own rule. ■ Unstable democracies or autocracies are generally more likely to violate human rights than established democracies. Will protection improve? ○ Transitional justice: some innovative forms include noncriminal and nonjudicial forms of reconciliation, such as truth and reconciliation commissions ○ Individual petition: some state grant in their constitutions the right of individual citizens to appeal to international bodies for final jurisdiction in rights cases. ○ Universal jurisdiction: new opportunities for victims of human rights abuses to bypass their state to seek redress. ○ The International Criminal Court (ICC) ■ Try individuals for war crimes and threats to peace ■ Before the ICC’s creation in 1998, only states could be tried. ■ Though more than 100 states have accepted the jurisdiction of the ICC since it was established in 1998, the United States refuses to join. ■ As of December 2023, 31 cases have been brought before the court for investigation and trial. ○ Human Rights Council ■ Universal Periodic Review ○ The ICC has had mixed results. ■ ■ ■ ● Ratification of the ICC and prosecutions by the Court have been found to reduce state sponsored violence, while prosecutions reduce rebel group abuses. The ICC is deterring some abuses, at least at the margin. Yet other research suggests that involvement of the ICC in a conflict prolongs the strife and killings, especially when the risk of prosecution at home is relatively low. ● The risk that the leader who loses will be prosecuted by the ICC creates an incentive to fight on longer than would otherwise be the case. Summing up ○ International human rights law is an institution. ○ Individuals and states have an interest in human rights. ○ International human rights law promotes improved state practices but is not a remedy.