The Future of Global Affairs Managing Discontinuity, Disruption and Destruction Edited by Christopher Ankersen · Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu Foreword by Helen Clark and Vera Jelinek DOWNLOAD CSS Notes, Books, MCQs, Magazines www.thecsspoint.com Download CSS Notes Download CSS Books Download CSS Magazines Download CSS MCQs Download CSS Past Papers The CSS Point, Pakistan’s The Best Online FREE Web source for All CSS Aspirants. Email: [email protected] BUY CSS / PMS / NTS & GENERAL KNOWLEDGE BOOKS ONLINE CASH ON DELIVERY ALL OVER PAKISTAN Visit Now: WWW.CSSBOOKS.NET For Oder & Inquiry Call/SMS/WhatsApp 0333 6042057 – 0726 540141 Join CSS Point Forum Today Discuss, Learn and Explore The World of CSS www.csspoint.com.pk For any Query, Please Call/WhatsApp 03336042057 - 0726540141 ENGLISH PRECIS & COMPOSITION HAFIZ KARIM DAD CHUGTAI For Order Call/WhatsApp 03336042057 - 0726540141 The Future of Global Affairs “The Future of Global Affairs is an exciting and balanced contribution to the debate about the potential trajectory of a world in flux. Tinged more with concern than utopian optimism, this volume captures a panoramic view of our cacophonous and disorderly world that is on the verge of disequilibrium and potential destruction unless key political actors, institutions, and processes can find a way to adapt global affairs to an increasingly plurilateral and intermestic era. A must-read for serious IR scholars; written in a way that is understandable to the lay person.” —W. Andy Knight, Ph.D., FRSC, University of Alberta “What is the future of the state? Is multilateralism overrated as an answer to the diverse ills plaguing the global system? How might climate change disrupt geopolitical alliances that have been essential to peace in different regions of the world? Inspired by these and other urgent questions, this simultaneously illuminating and profoundly unsettling book traces the contours of the ascendant geopolitics, illustrating how one class of events can have contrasting resonances and implications around the world. Each chapter explores a different facet of global affairs, offering perspectives that, though not rosy, serious students of world politics will do well to take to heart.” —Ebenezer Obadare, Professor of Sociology, University of Kansas Christopher Ankersen · Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu Editors The Future of Global Affairs Managing Discontinuity, Disruption and Destruction Editors Christopher Ankersen Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu Center for Global Affairs Center for Global Affairs School of Professional Studies School of Professional Studies New York University New York University New York, NY, USA New York, NY, USA ISBN 978-3-030-56469-8 ISBN 978-3-030-56470-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56470-4 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and informa- tion in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover image: Felix Lipov/Alamy Stock Photo This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Foreword by Helen Clark The United Nations (UN) was founded 75 years ago to advance peace, human rights, and development—a mandate as relevant today as it was in 1945. Its most remarkable year in recent times in achieving global consensus on a better future for all was 2015. That year, agreement was reached on Agenda 2030 and its seventeen Sustainable Develop- ment Goals (SDGs), the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduc- tion, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, and the Paris Climate Agreement. The New Urban Agenda was agreed the following year at the UN’s Habitat III Conference on Housing and Sustainable Development. Taken together, these constitute an ambitious agenda, which if implemented in full would transform the prospects of the world’s peoples and ecosystems. This ambition is consistent with the UN’s impressive track record of agenda-setting—the UN was credited by the UN Intellectual History Project for having been an incubator of new and powerful ideas which have shaped norms, policies, and practice in many areas. It has been a platform for the negotiation of a substantial body of international law, and it has enabled much practical development, and humanitarian work. In earlier years, it played a significant role in supporting decolonization, which in turn led to the expansion of its membership from the 51 member states present at its founding to the 193 of today. That is not to say that the UN’s record has been without blemish. The 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica—also v vi FOREWORD BY HELEN CLARK called a genocide by many—where peacekeepers were present and did not act to save lives, will always be a stain on its reputation. Ongoing issues of sexual and gender-based violence by peacekeepers and in individual UN organizations are a disgrace. Despite those shortcomings, however, we should not lose sight of the fact that the reason for the UN’s existence is to contribute to global public goods, and these days, in doing so, to contribute to the protection and management of the global commons. Yet this premier institution in the multilateral system is now under significant strain. Our world is preoccupied by a wide range of conflicts, other geopolitical and geoeconomic tensions, environmental crises, and disease outbreaks. In zones of conflict, there continue to be loss of life, poor services, and little hope for many. Displacement crises are protracted, and the numbers of those forcibly displaced are at record levels—now over seventy million. Essential humanitarian relief is a first call on official devel- opment assistance, leaving less for the poor in low income but more stable countries. And, on reflection, the major international agreements reached in 2015 could not have been concluded today; such is the impact of polit- ical change since then in key capitals from Washington DC to Brasilia and beyond. The current situation makes reaching the SDG targets a stretch. In 2030, we could well see some six percent of the world’s population still living in extreme poverty—far from the target of eradication. The absolute numbers of hungry people in the world are increasing—according to the World Food Programme, the total stands at around 820 million, or one in every nine people on earth. UNESCO reports suggest that one in every six children will not be able to achieve the SDG target of having twelve years education by 2030. While the SDGs were always an aspirational agenda, to fall so short of their targets not only makes a mockery of them, but also calls into question the seriousness of the member states which committed to them and the credibility of the international system. The same is true of the woeful underperformance on implementation of the Paris Climate Agree- ment, which the 2019 Madrid climate change Conference of Parties made plain. If solemnly reached agreements are followed by little action, what, many will ask, is their point? For a variety of reasons, the UN has also found it hard to address new waves of conflict effectively. Its conventional response of dispatching peacekeepers where there is a peace to be kept is often inadequate—peace- keepers may be sent where there is no peace to keep, and they may be FOREWORD BY HELEN CLARK vii neither equipped to act nor have a mandate to act to stem the violence which greets them. In a number of the currently raging conflicts, there is no mandate for UN peacekeepers to be present at all. All too often these conflicts are in effect proxy wars, with the powerful patrons who back warring parties having little interest in international mediation. Additionally, the UN is largely a bystander as key parts of the nuclear weapons control architecture are being dismantled. An egregious example is that of the Iran nuclear deal which was endorsed by the UN Security Council. The US withdrawal from the agreement was a direct challenge to the authority of the Council which all UN member states are bound to uphold. The expiry of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States and what is now Russia is a major threat to peace and security, but one which the multilateral system in its current state is not equipped to address. Challenging as the outlook for the multilateral system currently is, however, it would be wrong to walk away from it. Its institutions need to be maintained for times when geopolitics are more conducive to making them effective. Disengaging only contributes to their decline in rele- vance.