Suchergebnisse

A review essay on books by (1) Louis Emmerij, Richard Jolly, & Thomas G. Weiss, Ahead of the Curve? UN Ideas and Global Challenges (Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana U Press, 2001); & (2) Thomas G. Weiss, Tatiana Carayannis, Louis Emmerij, & Richard Jolly, UN Voices. The Struggle for Development and Social Justice (Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana U Press, 2005).

The term 'vulnerability' is often used in law and policy to refer to disadvantaged, marginalized or excluded human beings. This book explores how a vulnerability focus in basic assistance policies can contribute to substantive equality and therefore to the realization of universal human rights in the migration context. It concentrates on the potential that such a vulnerability focus can have to mitigate stigmatization and stereotyping and to facilitate socio-economic participation

In this essay, I argue that the alleged failure of the Copenhagen climate summit in December 2009, rather than labelling it as the collapse of climate politics, should be embraced as an essential political fact. Admittedly, Copenhagen was a failure, albeit of a populist consensual policy practice that invokes an apocalyptic doomsday scenario to make everybody toe the neo-liberal line. In my view, consensus-driven UN policy is running into its own limits as was clearly illustrated at the climate summit in Cancun (December 2010) where the blame was pinned on Bolivia for its fierce resistance against a weak agreement. The time has come to revive the climate and, by extension, the environment as a matter of genuine political concern, open to struggle and contestation, in this way constituting an essential component of social change. Adapted from the source document.