Peter Hough
Middlesex University, Law Department, Faculty Member
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In this chapter you will come to: • Understand what an Intergovernmental Organization is and the variety of forms they take. • Appreciate how Intergovernmental Organizations have evolved in line with globalization and other changes in the... more
In this chapter you will come to: • Understand what an Intergovernmental Organization is and the variety of forms they take. • Appreciate how Intergovernmental Organizations have evolved in line with globalization and other changes in the international political system. • Be able to evaluate the political significance of Intergovernmental Organizations from rival theoretical perspectives
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The 1998 Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, which came into force in 2004, commits exporters of chemicals banned in their own countries... more
The 1998 Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, which came into force in 2004, commits exporters of chemicals banned in their own countries because of their human or environmental toxicity to notify importers of this through a Prior Informed Consent procedure (PIC). The Convention made legally-binding Article 9 of the voluntary FAO’s 1986 International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides, inspired by the tragedy of the 1984 Bhopal chemical plant disaster. The establishment of PIC as a binding international rule was sealed by eventually gaining the support of the chemical industry in the early 1990s, after they had opposed its inclusion even in the voluntary code, after a civil society campaign led by the Pesticides Action Network. The reason for this “U-turn” by the industry was a fear of the alternatives, such as an outright prohibition of the export of certain pesticides, a bill of which was debated in the United States during 1991-1992.
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A number of international regimes have emerged over the last thirty years contributing to the global regulation of pesticides and other chemical pollutants. These developments bear testimony to the work of pressure groups and epistemic... more
A number of international regimes have emerged over the last thirty years contributing to the global regulation of pesticides and other chemical pollutants. These developments bear testimony to the work of pressure groups and epistemic communities in highlighting the environmentally polluting effects of hazardous chemicals, which the regimes have helped alleviate. However, unlike the ecocentric restrictions that emerged in North American and Western European domestic pesticide legislation from the 1960s, these regimes were achievable only because they also satisfied anthropocentric values, given greater priority at the global level. It has emerged that human health and economic values are at stake, as well as the conservation of the non-human environment. Crucially, transnational business interests have come to favor worldwide regulation as a means of circumventing variable and sometimes more stringent domestic restrictions on chemical production and trade and so allow an unlikely consensus to emerge and permit the first steps of global governance to be taken.
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This book offers a wide-ranging account of the emerging issues of international politics in the Artic, and the emerging Geopolitical debates that surround the region. In this thorough but accessible book covering environmental issues, the... more
This book offers a wide-ranging account of the emerging issues of international politics in the Artic, and the emerging Geopolitical debates that surround the region. In this thorough but accessible book covering environmental issues, the author examines the Geopolitics of emerging land and resource disputes and the rise of both nationalist and pan-Arctic movements in the region. Whereas existing literature on the politics of the Arctic tends to focus either on the environment or on Geopolitical interests, this book considers both of these themes in addition to the politics of the region’s indigenous peoples and provides an overview on the emerging issues of international politics in the Arctic. The book makes full use of pedagogic features such as maps, diagrams, timelines, biographies and boxes highlighting key concepts and issues in order to make this an accessible book for both students and scholars alike. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of International Relations, Arctic Politics, Environmental Politics and European Politics.
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This chapter explores the evolution and impact of the unique Inuit voice for sustainability, paradoxically increasing in global influence at the same time as this lifestyle has come to be most threatened.
In this chapter you will learn about the following; • The legal and political meaning of sovereignty. • Rival perspectives on the significance of sovereignty in the contemporary world. • The idea of global civil society. • Competing... more
In this chapter you will learn about the following; • The legal and political meaning of sovereignty. • Rival perspectives on the significance of sovereignty in the contemporary world. • The idea of global civil society. • Competing theoretical predictions over whether the future of international relations will continue to be based on interactions between sovereign states or on some alternative form of global governance.
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Climate change is literally and metaphorically bringing the Arctic in from the cold in international affairs with new economic opportunities emerging with the retreat of the ice sheets. Prominent amongst these is the prospect of... more
Climate change is literally and metaphorically bringing the Arctic in from the cold in international affairs with new economic opportunities emerging with the retreat of the ice sheets. Prominent amongst these is the prospect of previously inaccessible oil and gas sources in the High North becoming available for extraction. A spate of extended maritime claims by the states of the region and some high profile diplomatic posturing has prompted much anticipation of a new scramble of resources and even a new, more literal Cold War. The reality, however, appears to be more mundane with the Arctic oil rush proving to be more of a slow and cooperative saunter thus far, as the Arctic powers, and others, seek the new riches with a degree of caution, employing – and even sharing – lawyers and geologists rather than deploying troops.
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The annual global death toll from accidents at work far outstrips that accrued in acts of war or terrorism, but the phenomenon struggles to command anything like the prominence of these traditional priorities of international security in... more
The annual global death toll from accidents at work far outstrips that accrued in acts of war or terrorism, but the phenomenon struggles to command anything like the prominence of these traditional priorities of international security in global politics. Whilst the 'securitization' of many non-military issues, such as climate change and disease, has come to be accepted in some sections of the academic and 'real' political world, this status has very rarely been granted to workplace accidents. This seems to be because of the perception that a) accidental deaths cannot be equated to deaths inflicted directly by enemies (including non-human ones) and b) protecting workers is a domestic rather than international political concern. Protecting people against such accidents, though, is a legal and political task which has been accepted by industrialized governments from as far back as the late nineteenth century when 'social security' policies began to evolve in res...
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... 2 Walt and the traditionalists fear that widening the definition of security risks would render the concept redundant by mak-ing it ... Mohammed Ayoob highlighted that internal, rather than external, threats were the principal... more
... 2 Walt and the traditionalists fear that widening the definition of security risks would render the concept redundant by mak-ing it ... Mohammed Ayoob highlighted that internal, rather than external, threats were the principal security concern of most less developed countries (ldcs).6 ...
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This article evaluates the political theory that heightened fresh water scarcity is a root cause of war; a concern that has risen in prominence with climate change. Whilst water insecurity is indeed likely to become more acute, the... more
This article evaluates the political theory that heightened fresh water scarcity is a root cause of war; a concern that has risen in prominence with climate change. Whilst water insecurity is indeed likely to become more acute, the article, nevertheless, argues that there is no compelling evidence for ‘water wars’ and even hope to imagine that this might prove a spur for more cooperation rather than conflict.
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In this chapter readers will learn about the following: • The emergence of environmental politics and political ecology. • How and why environmental politics has globalized. • Why achieving global consensus for political action on... more
In this chapter readers will learn about the following: • The emergence of environmental politics and political ecology. • How and why environmental politics has globalized. • Why achieving global consensus for political action on environmental issues has proved difficult. • How, in spite of such difficulties, a consensus on global political action on the environment has emerged, persisted and survived US-led resistance.