global governance Blog
Welcome to CGS’s vibrant online platform where contributing authors explore global governance issues. We aim to foster a global community where perspectives are valued, conversations are ignited, and understanding flourishes.
Let’s Think About How to Build a More Peaceful World
by Lawrence Wittner | Aug 8, 2024 | Peace
Although the current U.S. presidential campaign has focused almost entirely on domestic issues, Americans live on a planet engulfed in horrific wars, an escalating arms race, and repeated threats of nuclear annihilation.
Reaching Across the Generations to Oppose War
by Donna Park | Jul 12, 2024 | Peace
Even though the demonstrations in which I participated were peaceful, we were often told we were “anti-American” if we were against war.
Fixing Our Broken International System of Justice
by Sovaida Maani Ewing | Jul 2, 2024 | Peace
We live in a global family of more than 190 countries. Disputes and squabbles inevitably arise in all families; what matters is how we settle them.
The Best Thing You Can Do to Save Humanity from Itself
by John Vlasto | Jun 22, 2024 | World Federation
Most people do not benefit from wars or from degradation of our global environment. Allowing them to continue year after year carries existential risk through unconstrained conflict or environmental catastrophe.
Are We Sleepwalking Our Way Into a Nuclear War?
by Sovaida Maani Ewing | Jun 18, 2024 | Disarmament
The threat of nuclear war is at the highest level it has been since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. However, there is a crucial difference: in 1962, most of us were alert to the threat and its existential nature.
Israel, Russia, and International Law
by Lawrence Wittner | Jun 18, 2024 | Peace
International law―the recognized rules of behavior among nations based on customary practices and treaties, among them the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights―has been agreed upon by large and small nations alike.
The Forgotten Element in Averting Nuclear Catastrophe
by Lawrence Wittner | May 2, 2024 | Disarmament
What will it take to end the nuclear nightmare that has gripped the world since the atomic bombings of 1945?
Einstein’s Postwar Campaign to Save the World from Nuclear Destruction
by Lawrence Wittner | Mar 2, 2024 | Disarmament
Although the popular new Netflix film, Einstein and the Bomb, purports to tell the story of the great physicist’s relationship to nuclear weapons, it ignores his vital role in rallying the world against nuclear catastrophe.
It’s Getting Late
by Lawrence Wittner | Feb 20, 2024 | Climate Justice, Disarmament
For some time, it’s been apparent that the world’s nations are not meeting the growing challenges to human survival.
Reviving the Concept of Trusteeship as a Stepping-Stone to Peace in the Middle East
by Sovaida Maani Ewing | Feb 8, 2024 | Peace
We should urge the UN General Assembly to create an ad hoc Trusteeship Council that would act as a time-limited cocoon (say of 5 years) around Gaza, allowing it to heal at all levels until it is able to take up its role as a mature member of the international community of nations.
Overcoming the Obstacles to UN Maintenance of International Peace and Security
by Lawrence Wittner | Jan 31, 2024 | Peace
Although, according to the UN Charter, the United Nations was established to “maintain international peace and security,” it has often fallen short of this goal.
Russia’s Ukraine Invasion: How Do We Find A Peaceful Solution To End War?
by Jerry Tetalman | Jan 19, 2024 | Peace
A more democratic United Nations, with greater funding and enforcement power, is necessary if we hope to survive this dangerous time. We can move from war to law by reforming and strengthening the United Nations, but it will take some creative thinking and action by all of us.
Climate Change, the SDGs, and My Father
by Daniel Perell | Dec 30, 2023 | Climate Justice
My father was always the smartest person in the room. Despite never studying medicine, he once assisted a pre-med friend in preparing for an exam entirely by recalling intricate anatomical structures from a biology course he had taken thirty years prior.
Replacing a Disastrous War with a Just Peace in Ukraine
by Lawrence Wittner | Dec 14, 2023 | Peace
Grinding on for nearly two years, Russia’s massive military invasion of that country has taken hundreds of thousands of lives, created millions of refugees, wrecked Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and economy, and consumed enormous financial resources from nations around the world.
Time to Unite and Prosper: 75th Anniversaries of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the World Citizenship Movement
by David Gallup | Dec 8, 2023 | World Citizen
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the World Citizenship Movement (WCM).
UN Reform: Three Paths Forward
by Augusto Lopez-Claros and Daniel Perell | Oct 29, 2023 | UN Reform
The pillars upon which the international order was built seem to be rapidly deteriorating—from territorial integrity to the laws of war to the breaking of promises—and we find ourselves asking: what is to be done?
Pope Francis’ “Laudate Deum” (2023)
by David Oughton | Oct 28, 2023 | Climate Justice
According to Pope Francis, “it is no longer possible to doubt the human–‘anthropic’–origin of climate change.” (#11) He says that it is a fact that the average global temperature has risen dramatically with the increase use of fossil fuels.
Time to Abandon International Anarchy
by Lawrence Wittner | Oct 25, 2023 | Peace
n December 1934, Arthur Henderson, a leader of the British Labour Party, declared in his speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize that the immense human suffering caused by World War I “led to the very clear realization that international anarchy must be abandoned if civilization was to survive.”
World Peace and Security Require a Stronger United Nations
by Lawrence Wittner | Sep 27, 2023 | UN Reform
This call for strengthening international security under the aegis of the United Nations makes sense not only for Ukraine―a country suffering from brutal military invasion, occupation, and annexation by its much larger, more powerful neighbor, the Russian Federation―but for the nations of the world.
From the Partial Test Ban Treaty to a Nuclear Weapons-Free World
by Lawrence Wittner | Sep 14, 2023 | Disarmament
This September is the sixtieth anniversary of U.S. and Soviet ratification of the world’s first significant nuclear arms control agreement, the Partial Test Ban Treaty. Thus, it’s an appropriate time to examine that treaty, as well as to consider what might be done to end the danger of nuclear annihilation.
Daniel Ellsberg Remembrance (1931-2023)
by Anne Zill | Sep 12, 2023 | Disarmament
One of the most wonderful qualities about Daniel Ellsberg, (1931-2023), is that unlike too many of us he got better and better as he grew older.
The Parliaments of the World’s Religions
by David Oughton | Sep 5, 2023 | Human Rights
The first time that many religious representatives met with each other was at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. Three of the goals of this gathering were to show “what and how many important truths the various Religions hold and teach in common;” to discover “what light Religion has to throw on the great problems of the present age;” and “to bring the nations of the earth into a more friendly fellowship, in the hope of securing permanent international peace.”
Hope Gives Rise to Hope: Proposal for a New Posture
by Daniel Perell | Jul 21, 2023 | UN Reform
We all aim to build a better world. Through positive, constructive language and examples, we encourage progress by inspiring each other and learning what is working. This, in itself, accelerates bringing that hopeful world into being.
J. Robert Oppenheimer’s Tragedy―and Ours
by Lawrence Wittner | Jul 13, 2023 | Disarmament
The July 21, 2023 theatrical release of the film Oppenheimer, focused on the life of a prominent American nuclear physicist, should help to remind us of how badly the development of modern weapons has played out for individuals and for all of humanity.
Two Ways That the Ukraine War Could Have Been Prevented and Might Still Be Ended
by Lawrence Wittner | Jun 29, 2023 | Peace
Perhaps the greatest tragedy of the immensely destructive Ukraine War lies in the fact that it could have been averted.
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