A comparative analysis of extreme heat events across two urban environments, Sydney (Australia) and Ahmedabad (India). Extreme heat events (EHEs) are a hazard that have recently increased in their distribution and severity around the world. Within the scope of this paper, EHEs will be defined as a period—three or more days—of weather that is hotterContinue reading “Extreme heat and the urban environment”
Category Archives: International Relations
Does the World Trade Organisation act as a stumbling block to effective action on climate change?
This paper seeks to investigate whether the World Trade Organisation (WTO) acts as a stumbling block to effective action on climate change. Within this article, ‘effective action’ will refer to maintaining the global average temperature rise under 2-3°C, through both unilateral and multilateral initiatives. The WTO as the central component of the global trade regimeContinue reading “Does the World Trade Organisation act as a stumbling block to effective action on climate change?”
The failures of neoliberalism in China
An analysis of the major changes that have taken place as a result of post-Mao economic and political reforms and their relationship to Western democratic values in China. To understand trends of reform and democratisation towards a Western model, the characteristics of Western democracy and how it evolved will be extrapolated to ground the possibleContinue reading “The failures of neoliberalism in China”
Regionalism and multilateralism, coexisting within the global trade regime
Ultimately, regionalism can coexist alongside global multilateral trade liberalisation, assisting and deepening liberalisation efforts. Within this essay regionalism will refer to both geographically contiguous and non-contiguous trade agreements in all forms, including free trade agreements (FTAs), bilateral trade agreements (BTAs) and regional trade agreements (RTA). These will hereafter be termed under preferential trade agreements (PTAs).[i]Continue reading “Regionalism and multilateralism, coexisting within the global trade regime”
Rising Dragon: China’s challenge to global security in the South China Sea
Is China’s expansion into the South China Sea in recent years a significant challenge to global security? Has this issue been dealt with better by global liberal institutions, or by realist precepts? China’s slow, methodical and at times aggressive expansion into the South China Sea (SCS) in recent years, and spanning back to the 1970s,Continue reading “Rising Dragon: China’s challenge to global security in the South China Sea”
Realist approaches to global governance: Aspects, strengths, and weaknesses
The neorealist paradigm understands global governance through a consideration of the global structure. A structure characterised by anarchy, rooted in state sovereignty, resultant in a self-help system. Whereby states, as singular rational actors, are engendered with an innate will to survive, showing states to be the most important actors within the system, with all otherContinue reading “Realist approaches to global governance: Aspects, strengths, and weaknesses”
Do the BRICS states represent a challenge to the current global governance system?
Emerging from a report by Goldman Sachs analyst Jim O’Neill, entitled “Building Better Global Economic BRICs”,[i] as a quantifiable bloc, the BRICS (South Africa joined in 2010) states, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa do not represent a challenge to the current global governance system. Global governance is defined as how people,Continue reading “Do the BRICS states represent a challenge to the current global governance system?”
The Tragedy of the Commons: The Inadequacy of the International System in the face of Climate Change
The established Westphalian international state system is incapable of addressing the global threat of climate change. This inept attitude stems chiefly from the problem itself, it’s truly global scale and the slow methodical change it engenders upon Planet Earth, without discrimination for state boundaries or sovereignty. Additionally, the international trade and economic regimes act asContinue reading “The Tragedy of the Commons: The Inadequacy of the International System in the face of Climate Change”
The Task Ahead 