Global Issues

As Global Citizens in an interdependent world, it becomes essential to understand the challenges that all humanity faces, regardless of national priorities. Globalization through transnational corporations and worldwide connections through the Internet have brought us to a planetary era where our most challenging problems are global in scale. This section will address the issues that can only be solved through cooperation between nations and peoples. Our concern is particularly with exposing the exploitation of developed nations with less developed nations and creating a more just and democractic international order for all.

Cooperation between peoples appears to be much easier to achieve as we watch worldwide support for uprisings. Earlier we saw worldwide uprisings protesting the war in Iraq. And even earlier we saw people from all states participating writing The Earth Charter.

We will address such issues as global governance, cooperation between nation states, ethics and morality between states, international war and peace, freedom from totalitarianism, climate change, poverty, human rights, and sustainable development.

	"Another Peacekeeping" Is Possible by Rolf C. Carriere		Issue Article Type
	Peacekeeping is a most essential link between peacemaking—that is, all the diplomatic negotiations and mediation work that results in signing peace treaties—and peacebuilding—that is, solving conflicts and addressing their deep causes that often have been missing in peace processes. Peacekeeping involves stopping the war and deterring violence during fragile ceasefires, and stabilizing the environment to make serious peace processes possible during these brief war-free periods. But in many situations, peacekeeping by armed people in military uniform may not be the most appropriate way to secure and sustain peace or protect civilians. Read Article		Fall | Winter 2011 Kosmos

	Finding Sustainability in Ecosystem Restoration by John D. Liu		Issue Article Type
	In 1995, as the Chinese government and people were beginning an ambitious effort to restore the cradle of Chinese civilization, I was asked by the World Bank to document the “Loess Plateau Watershed Rehabilitation Project.” Originally the Loess Plateau had been fully vegetated with massive forests and grasslands. Resources extracted from the giant forests, rushing rivers, and abundance of the earth in this place blossomed into the magnificence of the Han, the Qin and the Tang dynasties. The accomplishments of the early Chinese dynasties, based in this area, rank among the greatest human scientific and artistic achievements of any age. The Loess Plateau gave birth to the Han race, the largest ethnic group on the planet, and the plateau is generally considered by historians and geographers to be the second place on Earth where human beings began to use settled agriculture. Read Article		Fall | Winter 2011 Kosmos

	World Governance Index by Multiple Authors		Issue Article Type
	Promoting, on a world scale, a legitimate, effective, and democratic governance, and forming a responsible, plural, and united community within which the system of governance holds an essential and vital position constitute the main objectives of the Forum for a new World Governance (FnWG). Read Article		Other Articles Other