The Value Of Diversity In Multilateral Disarmament Work

Success has been hard to attain in recent years in multilateral disarmament and arms control work. Political problems exist, but they are not the sole problem. Obstacles to progress can be the unintended consequences of past practice, or they can stem from the complex challenges those involved must deal with. Aspects of multilateral disarmament practice compound cognitive challenges that individuals face in managing their perceptions and interactions with others. While there is no way to ensure success in disarmament endeavours, multilateral practitioners can improve the chances by recognising and harnessing cognitive diversity, as humanitarian perspectives in disarmament processes have shown. This book discusses practical suggestions to help achieve this.

This book analyses the politics of the humanitarian disarmament community—a loose coalition of activist and advocacy groups, humanitarian agencies and diplomats—who have successfully achieved international treaties banning landmines, cluster munitions and nuclear weapons, as well as restricting the global arms trade. Two campaigns have won Nobel Peace Prizes. Disarmament has long been a dirty word in the international relations lexicon. But the success of the humanitarian disarmament agenda shows that people often choose to prohibit or limit certain violent technologies, for reasons of security, honour, ethics or humanitarianism. This edited volume showcases interdisciplinary research by scholars and practitioners seeking to understand the dynamics and impact of the new global activism on weapons. While some raise concerns that humanitarian disarmament may be piecemeal and depoliticizing, others see opportunities to breathe new life into moribund arms control policymaking. Foreword by 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams.

Activists and academics look back over ten years of 'politics from below', and ask whether it is merely the critical gaze upon the concept that has changed – or whether there is something genuinely new about the way in which civil society is now operating.

Humanitarian disarmament is not new, but instead represents a re-emergence of a long-standing sensibility in disarmament discourse

This is the second updated English edition of the German "Lexikon der Vereinten Nationen". The book provides in addition to concise and comprehensive information on the UN system, insight into recent UN developments and reform efforts in the face of global opportunities and challenges, such as the Millennium Summit 2000 and World Summit 2005, and the establishment of important new UN organs, the Human Rights Council and the Peacebuilding Commission, in 2006. The contributing authors are academic scholars of international law, economics and political sciences; active and former diplomats and UN officials; journalists and members of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and offer a variety of interesting perspectives.

This timely Handbook explores the relationship between public policy and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies across a broad range of geographical, technical, political and policy contexts. It contributes to critical AI studies, focusing on the intersection of the norms, discourses, policies, practices and regulation that shape AI in the public sector.

At the start of the twenty-first century, warnings have been raised in some quarters about how - by intent or by mishap - advances in biotechnology and related fields could aid the spread of disease. Science academics, medical organisations, governments, security analysts, and others are among those that have sought to raise concern. EDUCATION AND ETHICS IN THE LIFE SCIENCES examines a variety of attempts to bring greater awareness to security concerns associated with the life sciences. It identifies lessons from practical initiatives across a wide range of national contexts as well as more general reflections about education and ethics. The eighteen contributors bring together perspectives from a diverse range of fields - including politics, virology, sociology, ethics, security studies, microbiology, and medicine - as well as their experiences in universities, think tanks and government. In offering their assessment about what must be done and by whom, each chapter addresses a host of challenging practical and conceptual questions. EDUCATION AND ETHICS IN THE LIFE SCIENCES will be of interest to those planning and undertaking training activities in other areas. In asking how education and ethics are being made to matter in an emerging area of social unease, it will also be of interest to those with more general concerns about professional conduct.

This is a commentary on the legislation around the use of cluster munitions in warfare.--