Loosing soft power in hard places

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Munslow ◽  
Tim O'Dempsey
Keyword(s):  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
First Century ◽  
Humanitarian Emergencies ◽  
Hard Power ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The Us ◽  
International Attention ◽  
Invasion Of Iraq

The US choice of a misdirected target of priority concern, a ‘War on Terror’, combined with the use of hard power to the absolute detriment of soft power has undermined the enlightenment values that had begun to flourish in the form of humanitarian policies, values and laws which could have informed international cooperation and development in the twenty-first century. The US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 has had serious implications for humanitarianism worldwide, has provided a huge propaganda victory to Islamic extremists, and has diverted international attention and resources from major humanitarian emergencies elsewhere and from today's most significant threat to human survival, global climate change.

Public Diplomacy in Confl ict Zones:Military Information Operations Meet Political Counter-Insurgency

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Potter ◽  
Daryl Copeland
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
First Century ◽  
Hard Power ◽  
Information Operations ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Foreign Ministries ◽  
Made In

AbstractThe case made in this article is threefold: that the resolution of conflicts in the twenty-first century will depend much more on the judicious use of soft rather than hard power; that the type of soft power exercised through public diplomacy will move increasingly from monologue to dialogue and collaboration; and that there is an increasing convergence of thinking both in defence departments and foreign ministries on the role of public diplomacy in resolving conflict in asymmetrical warfare. That convergence is expressed in this article's characterization of the 'guerrilla diplomat'.

scholarly journals Projections of atmospheric mercury levels and their effect on air quality in the United States

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 20165-20194
Author(s):  
H. Lei ◽  
D. J. Wuebbles ◽  
X.-Z. Liang ◽  
Z. Tao ◽  
S. Olsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Warming ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Wet Deposition ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
The United States ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Western Us ◽  
The Us ◽  
Ipcc Sres

Abstract. The individual and combined effects of global climate change and emissions changes from 2000 to 2050 on atmospheric mercury levels in the US are investigated by using the global climate-chemistry model, CAM-chem, coupled with a mercury chemistry-physics mechanism (CAM-Chem/Hg). Three future pathways from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) are considered, with the A1FI, A1B and B1 scenarios representing the upper, middle and lower bounds of potential climate warming, respectively. The anthropogenic and biomass burning emissions of mercury are projected from the energy use assumptions in the IPCC SRES report. Natural emissions from both land and ocean sources are projected using dynamic schemes. The zonal mean surface total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentrations in the tropics and mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere are projected to increase by 0.5–1.2 ng m-3 in 2050. TGM concentration increases are greater in the low latitudes than they are in the high latitudes, indicative of a larger meridional gradient than in the present day. In the A1FI scenario, TGM concentrations in 2050 are projected to increase by 2.1–4.0 ng m-3 for the eastern US and 1.4–3.0 ng m-3 for the western US. This pattern corresponds to potential increases in wet deposition of 10–14 μg m-2 for the eastern US and 2–4 μg m-2 for the western US. The increase in Hg(II) emissions tends to enhance wet deposition and hence increase the risk of higher mercury entering the hydrological cycle and ecosystems. In the B1 scenario, mercury concentrations in 2050 are similar to present level concentrations; this indicates that the domestic reduction in mercury emissions is essentially counteracted by the effects of climate warming and emissions increases in other regions. The sensitivity analyses presented show that anthropogenic emissions changes contribute 32–53% of projected mercury air concentration changes, while the independent contribution by climate change accounts for 47–68%. In summary, global climate change could have a comparable effect on mercury pollution in the US to that caused by global emissions changes.

scholarly journals Battling Deforestation in Brazil: Implementing a REDD Framework to Combat Global Climate Change

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helaina Matza
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Output ◽  
International Attention ◽  
The United Nations

Much international attention has focused on how deforestation has contributed to overall carbon dioxide output, thereby exacerbating global climate change. This paper will focus specifically on Brazil’s current efforts to combat deforestation and the suggested modifications to the design and future implementation of programs based on the United Nations’ Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) framework in Brazil.

Sex and the Constitution by Geoffrey R. Stone

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Robert P Holley
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Behavior ◽  
First Century ◽  
Reproductive Freedom ◽  
Founding Fathers ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Traditional Morality ◽  
Religion And Law ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Constitution ◽  
The University

The title, Sex and the Constitution, minimizes both the scope and importance of this book. Even the subtitle, Sex, Religion, and Law from America’s Origins to the Twenty-First Century, does not completely correct the misimpression about its content. More than a legal treatise, this book examines sexual behavior from the beginning of Western civilization as well as how various cultures have informally and legally regulated sexual behavior. As the title indicates, the emphasis is on the US Constitution and its interpretation. In part 1, “Ancestors,” Geoffrey R. Stone, Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, summarizes sex and the law from the ancient world to the Christian era, concluding with the Enlightenment in England. Part 2, “Founders,” crosses the Atlantic to recount the diverse, surprisingly unfettered sexual proclivities of the American colonists and how the founding fathers dealt with individual freedoms in the Constitution. Traditional morality returns in part 3, “Moralists,” as religious beliefs, starting in the 1790s, dominate the culture and its laws; but cracks begin to appear in the 1950s at the conclusion of this section. The final three parts of the book focus explicitly on how judges have interpreted the Constitution in the areas of sexual expression, reproductive freedom, and sexual orientation from around 1960 to the present.

scholarly journals ‘Age of Lovecraft’?—Anthropocene Monsters in (New) Weird Narrative

Nordlit ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gry Ulstein
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Graphic Novels ◽  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
First Century ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Weird Fiction ◽  
Twenty First Century

This paper considers whether the twenty-first-century resurgence of H. P. Lovecraft and weird fiction can be read as a conceptual parallel to the Anthropocene epoch, taking Carl H. Sederholm and Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock’s The Age of Lovecraft as a starting-point. The assumption is that the two ‘ages’ are historically and thematically linked through the ‘monsters’ that inhabit them; monsters that include—but are not limited to—extensions, reproductions, and evolutions of Lovecraft’s writings. Preoccupied with environmental issues such as global climate change, the twenty-first-century imaginary has conjured monsters that appear to have much in common with early twentieth-century cosmic horror stories. Considering the renewed interest in Lovecraft and the weird, such developments raise the question: What can (weird) monsters tell us about the Anthropocene moment? This paper maps the ‘monstrous’ in the discourses emerging from the Anthropocene epoch and ‘The Age of Lovecraft’ by considering (new) weird narratives from contemporary literature, graphic novels, film, TV, and video games. Mindful of on-going discussions within ecocriticism, philosophy, and critical theory, the paper discusses a handful of unconventional texts to investigate the potential of the weird for expressing Anthropocene anxieties and for approaching nonhuman realities from new angles.

Alternative approach to security – soft power

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (38) ◽  
pp. 66-78
Author(s):  
Jan Maciejewski ◽  
Donata Borowska
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Smart Power ◽  
Security Culture ◽  
Hard Power ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Face

The purpose of the article is to describe, from the perspective of political science and sociology, an alternative approach to security connected with soft power in the context of the endeavour to ensure security to every human being. The authors propose to consider security-related alternatives of the second half of the 21st century as a combination of soft power and hard power – that is, smart power – applied in the area of social and political relations. Conducting politics in the spirit of soft power seems particularly justified and substantial in the face of the contemporary immigration and refugee crisis. Modern states, especially European states and the US, are security subjects that both defend security and seek it using soft power with potential support – when necessary – on the part of hard power. The authors discuss this phenomenon on the example of the US. The article shows, in a manner substantive for security sciences, the relations between knowledge and power, because it is them that determine contemporary societies. An approach to security in the spirit of soft power is becoming a significant factor shaping security culture.

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