Denouement: World Politics, Systemic Leadership, and Climate Change

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Thompson ◽  
Leila Zakhirova
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
World Politics ◽  
First Century ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Climate Fluctuations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Agrarian Economy ◽  
Historical Processes

In this final chapter, we conclude by recapitulating our argument and evidence. One goal of this work has been to improve our understanding of the patterns underlying the evolution of world politics over the past one thousand years. How did we get to where we are now? Where and when did the “modern” world begin? How did we shift from a primarily agrarian economy to a primarily industrial one? How did these changes shape world politics? A related goal was to examine more closely the factors that led to the most serious attempts by states to break free of agrarian constraints. We developed an interactive model of the factors that we thought were most likely to be significant. Finally, a third goal was to examine the linkages between the systemic leadership that emerged from these historical processes and the global warming crisis of the twenty-first century. Climate change means that the traditional energy platforms for system leadership—coal, petroleum, and natural gas—have become counterproductive. The ultimate irony is that we thought that the harnessing of carbon fuels made us invulnerable to climate fluctuations, while the exact opposite turns out to be true. The more carbon fuels are consumed, the greater the damage done to the atmosphere. In many respects, the competition for systemic leadership generated this problem. Yet it is unclear whether systemic leadership will be up to the task of resolving it.

Systemic Leadership and Energy: The Argument

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Thompson ◽  
Leila Zakhirova
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Single Case ◽  
World Politics ◽  
First Century ◽  
Industrial Economy ◽  
Interactive Model ◽  
Agrarian Economy ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Significant Factors

This chapter introduces the issue of how systemic leadership and energy are intertwined. One compound question is: How did we shift from a primarily agrarian economy to a primarily industrial economy, and how did this shift shape world politics? We develop an interactive model of the significant factors involved in this change, not all of which necessarily had an equal impact in each single case. A second set of questions involve the linkages between the systemic leadership that emerged from these historical processes and the global warming crisis of the twenty-first century. How is systemic leadership linked to the crisis in the first place? What is systemic leadership’s likely role in responding to the crisis?

scholarly journals ACTUAL DISCOURE ABOUT TIPES FND DEVELOPMENT TENDENCIES NATIONAL STATE

2013 ◽  
pp. 195-203
Author(s):  
E. G. Ponomareva
Keyword(s):  
Political Process ◽  
World Politics ◽  
The State ◽  
First Century ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Social Communities ◽  
Nation States ◽  
International Systems

The processes of globalization have determined significant changes in the prerogatives of nation states. In the twenty-first century the state no longer acts as a sole subject having a monopoly of integrating the interests of large social communities and representing them on the world stage. An ever increasing role in the global political process is played by transnational and supranational participants. However, despite the uncertainty and ambiguity of the ways of the development of the modern world, it can be argued that in the foreseeable future it is the states that will maintain the role of the main actors in world politics and bear the responsibility for global security and development. All this naturally makes urgent the issues related to the search for optimal models of nation state development. The article analyzes approaches to understanding patterns, problems and prospects of the development of this institution existing in modern political science. These include the concept of "dimensionality" based on the parameters of scale (the size of the territory) of the states and their functions in the international systems, as well as the "political order". In the latter case the paper analyzes four models: the nation-state, statenation, consociation, quasi-state. The author's position consists in the substantiation of the close dependence of the success of a model of the state on its inner nature, i.e. statehood. On the basis of the elaborated approach the author understands statehood as "the result of historical, economic, political and foreign policy activity of a particular society in order to create a relatively rigid political framework that provides spatial, institutional and functional unity, that is, the condition of the society’s own state, national political system." Thus statehood acts as a qualitative feature of the state.

Climate Change and Cultural Dynamics: Lessons from the Past for the Future

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
David G. Anderson ◽  
Kirk A. Maasch
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Important Lesson ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Technological Civilization ◽  
Nuclear Warfare

As the twenty-first century winds onward, it is becoming increasingly clear that understanding how climate affects human cultural systems is critically important. Indeed, it has been argued by many researchers that how we respond to changing global climate is one of the greatest scientific and political challenges facing our planetary technological civilization, comparable and closely intertwined with concerns about biological or nuclear warfare, famine, disease, overpopulation, or environmental degradation. By any reasonable evaluation of the evidence, this century, and likely the several centuries that follow it, will be characterized by dramatic climate change, perhaps as significant in terms of its impact on our species as any climatic episodes that have occurred in the past. What we don’t know with much certainty is how these environmental changes will play out across the planet, and how individuals as well as nation states will respond to them. Archaeology has a major role to play in helping us move through this period of crisis, however, by showing us how human cultures in the past responded to dramatic changes in climate. As the work of many archaeological scholars has shown, climate change has not invariably proven to be a bad thing: it is how people respond to it that is critical (e.g. Anderson et al. 2007b; Cooper and Sheets 2012; Crumley 2000, 2006, 2007; Hardesty 2007; McAnany and Yoffee 2010; McIntosh et al. 2000; Redman 2004a; Sandweiss and Quilter 2008; Sassaman and Anderson 1996; Tainter 2000). Archaeology working in tandem with a host of palaeoenvironmental and historical disciplines has lessons for our modern world and, as this volume demonstrates, we as a profession are making great strides in getting our message out. Perhaps the most important lesson from the past is that people, through their actions, are the drivers of cultural change, including response to climate change. Societies are not, however, monolithic entities that ‘chose’ to succeed or fail; people as individuals, groups, or factions through their actions generate outcomes, and often some demonstrate remarkable flexibility and resilience (Cooper and Sheets 2012; Diamond 2005; McAnany and Yoffee 2010).

scholarly journals New Fractures, Old Wounds: Africa and the Renewal of South Agency

2010 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 69-85
Author(s):  
Carlos Lopes
Keyword(s):  
Vital Role ◽  
World Politics ◽  
First Century ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Regional Powers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Gdp Growth Rate ◽  
New Frontier ◽  
Global Discourse ◽  
Sub Saharan

Africa has recently come to the forefront of world politics as part of the emerging South. Its increased prominence in the global discourse as a “new frontier of development” signals the recognition of its economic potential. Indeed, the continent has registered an average 5 per cent annual GDP growth rate over the past decade. However, there is more to the story than that: The rising profile of the African continent also reveals the growing role of a number of its countries in the emergence of a new South agency. It is argued that South–South cooperation is an opportunity. The discussion of the current situation in Africa understood as a continent in all its diversity including sub-Saharan Africa, but also the Maghreb and Egypt, will therefore be placed into this wider context. The renewal of a South agency witnessed over the past decade is somewhat different from the trilateral alliance of Asia–Africa–Latin America formed in the wake of decolonization. Current mega-trends demonstrate that the global South, driven by a number of regional powers, will play a vital role in shaping the twenty-first century. Understanding the complexities of this renewed agency is vital for addressing old wounds that marked the emergence of a South voice in the not-so-distant past.

scholarly journals Strategic Triangles and Balancing in World Politics

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 23-43
Author(s):  
D. A. Degterev ◽  
M. S. Ramich
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Composite Index ◽  
World Order ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Past ◽  
Regional Conflicts ◽  
Buffer States

Trilateral diplomacy is a common format of interaction in international relations, which forms various configurations of the balance of power within the framework of triangles. The concept of a “triangle” is characterized by ambivalence, has a variety of characteristics and principles of formation.The article provides an overview of the theoretical discourse on strategic triangles, as well as of practical examples of trilateral diplomacy of the past and present day. The main characteristics of strategic triangles and the features of changes in their configuration are identified (the case of USA–PRC–USSR triangle). Classification of both symmetric and asymmetric triangles (unicenter and bicenter) are given, the concept of buffer states, as well as regional conflicts with the participation of a great power as a defender, are presented.The most influential countries at the global and regional levels, forming geopolitical triangles, are identified basing on the Composite Index of National Capability (CINC). The concept of pivot states is analyzed permitting to indicate relatively small but geopolitically important countries, forming triangles together with influential states.The main strategic triangles of the modern world order are analyzed, presenting mostly countries of Asia (China, Japan, India), Russian Federation, USA and EU. The main trends of global competition based on geopolitical triangles in the XXI-st century are identified.

scholarly journals Drought in the Twenty-First Century in a Water-Rich Region: Modeling Study of the Wabash River Watershed, USA

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer R. Dierauer ◽  
Chen Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Climate Warming ◽  
Meteorological Drought ◽  
Hydrological Drought ◽  
First Century ◽  
Drought Risk ◽  
Wabash River ◽  
The Past ◽  
Twenty First Century

Climate change is expected to alter drought regimes across North America throughout the twenty-first century, and, consequently, future drought risk may not resemble the past. To explore the implications of nonstationary drought risk, this study combined a calibrated, regional-scale hydrological model with statistically downscaled climate projections and standardized drought indices to identify intra-annual patterns in the response of meteorological, soil moisture, and hydrological drought to climate change. We focus on a historically water-rich, highly agricultural watershed in the US Midwest—the Wabash River Basin. The results show likely increases in the frequency of soil moisture and hydrological drought, despite minimal changes in the frequency of meteorological drought. We use multiple linear regression models to interpret these results in the context of climate warming and show that increasing temperatures amplify soil moisture and hydrological drought, with the same amount of precipitation yielding significantly lower soil moisture and significantly lower runoff in the future than in the past. The novel methodology presented in this study can be transferred to other regions and used to understand how the relationship between meteorological drought and soil moisture/hydrological drought will change under continued climate warming.

‘We will change’

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-412
Author(s):  
Christy Tidwell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Natural World ◽  
First Century ◽  
Environmental Concerns ◽  
Glacier Change ◽  
New Combinations ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Western Values ◽  
The Many

One of the many threats accompanying climate change is that of deadly viruses being revived or uncovered when the permafrost melts, as in the 2016 uncovering of anthrax in Siberia. Blood Glacier (Kren Austria 2013, originally Blutgletscher) addresses this in creature feature form, telling the story of something nasty emerging from the natural world (in this case, microorganisms emerging from a melting glacier) to threaten humans and human superiority. Blood Glacier reflects a larger twenty-first-century creature-feature trope of prehistoric creatures emerging from thawing ice as well as an expansion of ecohorror beyond familiar nature-strikes-back anxieties or fears of humans becoming food for animals. Instead, the microorganisms discovered within the glacier change people (and other animals), causing mutations and leading to the creation of new combinations of species. The film juxtaposes these environmental concerns with one character’s past abortion, which comes to represent another, more personal, challenge to Western values. As a result, the film asks questions not addressed by other similar creature features: Which life has value? What does the future look like, and who decides that? The film therefore addresses the ethics of bringing life into being, gesturing toward the responsibilities inherent both in bearing children and in choosing not to bear children. These questions are addressed in the end of the film, with the birth and then adoption of a mutant baby. By bringing these issues of reproduction and environmental futures together, the film asks us to consider how our past and current choices help shape the future - both personal and planetary. The conclusion of the film serves in part to reinforce heteronormativity and reproductive futurism, both of which stake the future on the replication of the past through traditional relationships and by reproducing ourselves and our values through our children. Simultaneously, however, it gestures toward new possibilities for queer, nonhuman, mutant kinship and care.

18. Race in world politics

2019 ◽  
pp. 287-302
Author(s):  
Robbie Shilliam
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Global Impact ◽  
Universal Negro Improvement Association ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter examines the ways in which race can been understood as a fundamental ordering principle of world politics. It explores how the histories of European imperialism and colonialism are crucial for understanding the global impact of race, and whether contemporary world politics is less racist than it was in the past. It also considers the relationship between race, biology, and culture. The chapter concludes by discussing the historical processes that gave rise to race, some key debates around the conceptualization of race, and how race continues to order world politics. Two case studies are presented: the first is about the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) and the second is about caste and Dalits in India. There is also an Opposing Opinions box that asks whether racism emerged as a consequence of the slave trade.

scholarly journals When could global warming reach 4°C?

2011 ◽  
Vol 369 (1934) ◽  
pp. 67-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Betts ◽  
Matthew Collins ◽  
Deborah L. Hemming ◽  
Chris D. Jones ◽  
Jason A. Lowe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Carbon Cycle ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
General Circulation Models ◽  
First Century ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Emissions Scenario

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) assessed a range of scenarios of future greenhouse-gas emissions without policies to specifically reduce emissions, and concluded that these would lead to an increase in global mean temperatures of between 1.6°C and 6.9°C by the end of the twenty-first century, relative to pre-industrial. While much political attention is focused on the potential for global warming of 2°C relative to pre-industrial, the AR4 projections clearly suggest that much greater levels of warming are possible by the end of the twenty-first century in the absence of mitigation. The centre of the range of AR4-projected global warming was approximately 4°C. The higher end of the projected warming was associated with the higher emissions scenarios and models, which included stronger carbon-cycle feedbacks. The highest emissions scenario considered in the AR4 (scenario A1FI) was not examined with complex general circulation models (GCMs) in the AR4, and similarly the uncertainties in climate–carbon-cycle feedbacks were not included in the main set of GCMs. Consequently, the projections of warming for A1FI and/or with different strengths of carbon-cycle feedbacks are often not included in a wider discussion of the AR4 conclusions. While it is still too early to say whether any particular scenario is being tracked by current emissions, A1FI is considered to be as plausible as other non-mitigation scenarios and cannot be ruled out. (A1FI is a part of the A1 family of scenarios, with ‘FI’ standing for ‘fossil intensive’. This is sometimes erroneously written as A1F1, with number 1 instead of letter I.) This paper presents simulations of climate change with an ensemble of GCMs driven by the A1FI scenario, and also assesses the implications of carbon-cycle feedbacks for the climate-change projections. Using these GCM projections along with simple climate-model projections, including uncertainties in carbon-cycle feedbacks, and also comparing against other model projections from the IPCC, our best estimate is that the A1FI emissions scenario would lead to a warming of 4°C relative to pre-industrial during the 2070s. If carbon-cycle feedbacks are stronger, which appears less likely but still credible, then 4°C warming could be reached by the early 2060s in projections that are consistent with the IPCC’s ‘likely range’.

scholarly journals Antiquarianism: A Reinterpretation

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsey Jackson Williams
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
First Century ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
The Past ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Breaking Work

Antiquarianism, the early modern study of the past, occupies a central role in modern studies of humanist and post-humanist scholarship. Its relationship to modern disciplines such as archaeology is widely acknowledged, and at least some antiquaries—such as John Aubrey, William Camden, and William Dugdale—are well-known to Anglophone historians. But what was antiquarianism and how can twenty-first century scholars begin to make sense of it? To answer these questions, the article begins with a survey of recent scholarship, outlining how our understanding of antiquarianism has developed since the ground-breaking work of Arnaldo Momigliano in the mid-twentieth century. It then explores the definition and scope of antiquarian practice through close attention to contemporaneous accounts and actors’ categories before turning to three case-studies of antiquaries in Denmark, Scotland, and England. By way of conclusion, it develops a series of propositions for reassessing our understanding of antiquarianism. It reaffirms antiquarianism’s central role in the learned culture of the early modern world and offers suggestions for avenues which might be taken in future research on the discipline.

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