Editor: Albena Azmanova
The Spring issue of the BSIS journal directs our thinking beyond the coronavirus pandemic. The writing by our young scholars brings not just a respite from the public health crisis, but also a reminder that, whenever humanity has successfully tackled the gravest of its challenges, it has done so through a combination of resolute will and inspired pragmatism; failures are often due to poor judgment and faulty institutions. The authors explore four such cases.
The inter-governmental Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was adopted under the auspices of the United Nations in December 2018, with the ambitions to provide a comprehensive approach to human mobility. Taylor Covey assesses its capacity to address the problems faced by labor migrants.
The tragedy of the melting Arctic sea-ice is creating a fresh economic potential, transforming the area into the El Dorado of the North. The pursuit of these natural resources will only exacerbate the destruction of the environment. The Arctic states have openly championed environmental sustainability while still exploring resource exploitation opportunities in the region. They are trapped in this Arctic Paradox not because of their unwillingness to resist the economic growth imperatives, but for quite another reason, argues Sarah Jane Strong.
In December 2018 Japan withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC), after having invested considerable political capital and financial resources in this international organization. Ashlee Cawley makes sense of this surprising political move by bringing together a game theoretic approach and Foucauldian power analysis.
Can a corporation, an economic actor whose primary purpose is the maximisation of profit, be motivated to go against its own constitutive logic? Can it be compelled to look beyond the interests of its shareholders? Silke Shanley takes a serious, and a spirited, look into the matter.
Contributions:
Taylor Covey, “The Global Compact on Migration: A Solution to the World’s Labor Migration Needs?“
Sarah Jane Strong, “The Arctic in the Age of the Anthropocene: Economizing and Colonizing the Seabed Floor“
Ashlee Cawley, “Reactionary Withdrawal: Japan’s 2018 Decision to leave the International Whaling Commission”
Silke Shanley, “Enlightened Sovereign Control – Every Little Helps”