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Energy Security: Co-operating to Enhance the Protection of Critical Energy Infrastructures |
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Energy security, which is generally defined - from the consumer's point of view - as access to adequate, affordable and reliable energy supplies, has become a matter of growing concern in Europe and North America in recent years. Most states in the Euro-Atlantic region are far from full energy independence, and rely on resources located abroad, often in faraway and unstable regions. They are therefore dependent on a series of external developments, some of which have recently indicated worrying trends.
The first of these is the evolution of the global energy market. Current projections indicate a trend towards an increasingly tense market in the coming decades, due, in particular, to a soaring demand in developing countries, which is expected to account for 74% of the overall increase in the global energy demand between 2005 and 2030. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the global energy demand will increase by more than half by 2030 compared with 2005. Additionally, studies by the IEA confirm that the current course is not sustainable, given global objectives to reduce CO2 emissions.
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Last Updated on Sunday, 22 February 2009 21:01 |
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Irregular Migration as an International Problem |
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Irregular migration is one of the fastest-growing forms of migration worldwide. For many countries it presents a serious challenge. It undermines state sovereignty, calls into question the legitimacy of government action, and brings with it numerous risks for state, social, and individual security. To reduce the number of irregular immigrants, many countries have invested significant sums of money in recent years to develop instruments of governance and control. Up until now, however, these efforts have failed to produce the desired results.
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Last Updated on Sunday, 22 February 2009 21:00 |
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From Capital Flow Bonanza to Financial Crash |
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Developing countries often seek foreign capital to quickly acquire resources for development. Research by Carmen M. Reinhart and Vincent R. Reinhart finds that the systems designed to allow capital to easily flow into a country often allow it to leave just as easily. Speedy shifts from large capital inflows to outflows make "capital inflow bonanzas" a reliable indicator of banking, debt, and currency crises. While developing countries have been relatively immune to the financial crisis in the United States, if past trends continue, they may face a darkening future if capital departs.
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Last Updated on Sunday, 22 February 2009 21:05 |
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Energy security for the euro-atlantic region |
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It should not come as a surprise that energy security has become one of the most central themes for the international community and organisations such as NATO, which was created primarily to deal with "hard security" challenges. Energy has always been a factor in international relations, sometimes even causing military conflicts. However, the importance of energy has never been as overwhelming as it is today, and it will undoubtedly increase in coming decades. We are already consuming twice as much energy resources than 30 years ago and this trend is projected to accelerate. In the mid-19th century, an average human being consumed an amount of energy equivalent to 150 watts per hour (Wh). In the 21st century, this figure has increased more than 13 fold to about 2,000 Wh. Our societies are more "addicted" than ever to energy and any major disruption of supply would cause much more damage to our economies and our way of life than it would have done in the not too distant past. Such a tremendous growth in energy consumption also results in a dependence on foreign energy supplies, not to mention the increase in pressure on the environment.
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Last Updated on Sunday, 22 February 2009 21:01 |
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An Uncertain Future: Law Enforcement, National Security and Climate Change |
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Climate change is riding high on both domestic and international political agendas as countries face up to the huge environmental challenges the world now faces. Whilst this attention is welcome, less energy is being focused on the inevitable impact climate change will have on global and domestic security issues and the related policy implications.
Climate change can no longer be considered solely as an environmental issue. The well-documented physical effects of climate change (global average temperature increase, rise in sea levels and altered weather patterns) will have knock-on socio-economic impacts (loss of infrastructure, resource scarcity and the mass displacement of peoples). These in turn could produce serious security consequences (civil unrest, intercommunal violence, and international instability) that will present new challenges to governments trying to maintain domestic stability.
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Last Updated on Sunday, 22 February 2009 21:00 |
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Global challenges: accountability and effectiveness |
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The complex nature of today’s globalisation requires a reinforcement of international law and the multilateral institutions and a change of direction in the governance of the world economy, David Held, co-director of the Centre for the Study of Global Governance at the LSE, in his paper for the Progressive Governance Conference.
“These global problems cannot be solved by any one nation-state acting alone,” he says. “They call for collective and collaborative action—something that the nations of the world have not been good at, and which they need to be better at if these pressing issues are to be adequately tackled.”
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Last Updated on Sunday, 22 February 2009 21:08 |
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There is no evidence of human-induced financial crisis |
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It’s disappointing that Crikey, like others in the liberal media, have fallen for the nonsensical line that the so-called "financial crisis" is either real or requires urgent action. Anyone who disputes this claim, which is advanced with evangelical fervour by its advocates, is howled down as a heretic and a "denialist". The days of the witch-hunt are truly back. Put simply, there is no evidence of a human-induced financial crisis, regardless of the hysterical claims advanced in trendy films like Al Gore’s Inconvenient Loot.
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Last Updated on Sunday, 22 February 2009 21:08 |
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