Global Governance Working Papers

Differences between nuclear and nonnuclear weapons states could seriously weaken the nuclear regime. Recasting disarmament as a common endeavor that addresses each country’s legitimate interests and priorities would improve its prospects.

Outer space is growing more crowded and contested. Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan recommends regulating activities that disrupt, deny, or destroy space systems to ensure outer space is available to all. 

African UN member states should act as unifiers and conveners rather than dividers. More coordination could help them overcome the structural challenges they face at the United Nations.

Mitigating potential communicable disease in refugee populations is a subset of efforts for human rights, equality, and dignity. A basic multilateral framework could improve health care in these situations and provide an example for future challenges.

Refugee health needs in non-camp, urban settings have increasingly shifted to noncommunicable diseases. Providing preventive care and specialist treatment requires a massive influx of resources, but it is well worth the investment.

Climate change poses an immense challenge to the biosphere and global economy. To make international trade more environmentally friendly, the world needs to use rules that have been around for decades, create new rules, and find new space for climate change policy.

Emission reductions alone are unlikely to prevent severe climate change impacts. As researchers and policymakers pay increasing attention to measures such as solar radiation management (SRM), states and private actors need to agree on the potential role of SRM in the overall climate change regime and to recognize its limitations.

India’s capability to grow in a carbon-scarce world will determine the fate of the Sustainable Development Goals. For India and other countries to conduct low-carbon transitions in an economically sustainable manner, it is imperative that they address the fractured financial state of power distribution companies, the lack of developed financial markets, and stringent international financial regulations.

As national governments, international institutions, and nonstate actors explore different approaches to Arctic governance, a cohesive approach is necessary to address the environmental, economic, sociocultural, and geopolitical challenges this region faces.

This paper has benefited from numerous comments and suggestion from Council of Councils members, in particular Jennifer Spence (Centre for International Governance Innovation), Sergey Kulik (Institute of Contemporary Development), Ettore Greco (Institute of International Affairs), and Tobias Etzold (German Institute for International and Security Affairs). The author also thanks CFR’s editorial staff and Terrence Mullan for their valued contributions to this paper.

To minimize the risk of greater global imbalances, U.S. policymakers should rethink U.S. fiscal policy and focus on the transatlantic imbalances, not the bilateral trade deficit with China.

This paper has benefited from numerous comments and suggestion from Council on Council members, in particular Brad Setser and Terrence Mullan.