Locarno Treaties (1925) in the Context of the Versailles System Transformation as seen from London

This paper is an attempt to reassess the role of the Locarno Treaties (1925) in terms of the Versailles-Washington system of international relations evolution. The authors argue that the Locarno Treaties represent one of the turning points in the development of the international order after World War I. The Treaties were not a mere add-on to the Versailles system, in fact, they had replaced it and became the main legal instrument for maintaining security in the region. In order to test this hypothesis and provide a better understanding of how the contemporaries themselves assessed these agreements, the authors examine them within a broader context of debates on the European security issues, which took place in the 1920s.The views of the British elites on this matter are of particular interest here, since it was the British diplomacy that was at the origin of the Locarno Conference in 1925. The paper draws on a wide range of recently declassified archival documents, as well as on the materials of the debates in the House of Commons and publications in the leading British newspapers. It allows the authors to trace the evolution of approaches by the main British political parties to security issues in Europe. A systematic comparison of views of the Conservative and the Labour party representatives on the Geneva Protocol and the Rhineland Pact shows that by mid-1920s the British political elites advocated for an in-depth transformation of the Versailles order, particularly, through the development of an effective mechanism for maintaining international security. On that basis a broad political consensus had arisen, which led to the formation of a new two-party structure (Tory-Labour) after World War I.The study begins with an overview of the political situation in Europe and in Great Britain in the early 1920s. Then, it examines the Labour Party’s draft of the Disarmament Protocol, as well as the principal causes of its failure. Finally, the paper covers the preparatory process for and the progress of the Locarno negotiations. Special attention is paid to the debates in the House of Commons on the conference, particularly, on its outcome document - the Rhineland Pact.

Measurement Analysis of Trade Facilitation in China-asean Free Trade Area

Economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN countries has made new progress with the introduction of the concept of Belt and Road. In 2015, China and ASEAN formally signed the outcome document of negotiations on an upgraded free trade area, which shows that China-asean relations have became better. Enhancing the trade facilitation level of the Free Trade Area can improve the economic and trade exchanges between China and ASEAN. The premise of studying how to improve the trade facilitation level of Free Trade Area is to measure the trade facilitation level of free trade area. In this paper, trade facilitation is divided into four categories and 19 sub-indexes, and the measurement model of trade facilitation in free trade area is established to measure the trade facilitation level between China and ASEAN countries.

Progress, Problems, and Prospects: R2P 15 Years after the World Summit

This short article introduces the GR2P Forum reflecting on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine 15 years after it was institutionalised at the international level through the World Summit Outcome Document. It contextualises the relevance of critical reflections on the R2P at its 15th anniversary and then lays out the aims and objectives of the Forum. It provides an overview of the different contributions, describing the perspectives of the authors and the key arguments they present.

The Vital Contribution of MagLev Vehicles for the Mobility in Smart Cities

The role of transport in sustainable development was first recognized at the 1992 United Nations (UN) Earth Summit and reinforced in its outcome document—Agenda 21. It is also part of objective 11 of UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The improvements in the traditional methods of transportation lag behind the necessities. This paper shows that Magnetic Levitation (MagLev) can fulfill the demand and fits with smart grid concepts. Moreover, the levitation method based on the diamagnetic property of high-temperature superconductors in the proximity of rare-earth permanent magnets presents advantages in comparison with other levitation methods. This technological solution was tested with the operation of a real scale prototype inside the campus of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), operating since 2014. The paper presents a historical and technological overview of the steps necessary to turn this prototype into a commercial product. The development is framed within NASA’s Technological Readiness Levels (TRL). A new transportation paradigm is on the verge of becoming a reality.

Sustainable Development in International Law: History, Normative Consolidation and Value for the Legal Protection of the Baikal World Heritage Site

The article continues the study of the international legal basis of the regime of legal protection of Lake Baikal, supported by the RFBR grant (Project No. 20-011-00618). The origin of the category “sustainable development” is revealed, and the main stages of the formation of perceptions of sustainable development are noted. Particular attention is paid to the basic ideas of the report “Our Common Future”, also known as the Bruntland Commission report. Two components of sustainable development under this instrument are noted: needs (present and future generations) and constraints. The normative integration of the concept of sustainable development into international instruments is analysed: the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (Rio Declaration); the Millennium Development Goals; The Future We Want, the outcome document of the 2012 Conference on Sustainable Development; and the sustainable development goals of 2015. A separate block of research is the criticism of the concept of sustainable development developed both in Western (D. Carruthers, I. Bluhdorn, L. Tulloch) and in the domestic (M.M. Brinchuk) doctrine of environmental law. Based on the results of the analysis of the concept, it is concluded that the concept should be used primarily for the organic development of settlements located within the Lake Baikal Natural Territory. In the system of sustainable development goals, the issue of settlement development is addressed in Goal No. 11. In addition, the conclusions of the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Development (Habitat 3) have considerable potential. The article reviews Habitat Outcome Document 3 The New Urban Agenda, briefly compares it with the documents of previous UN-Habitat conferences, describes the content of the New Urban Agenda, identifies the basic principles of sustainable human settlement development, and addresses criticisms of the document analysed in the article. In the final part of the article, the authors analyse the documents on the territorial development of settlements located within the boundaries of the Lake Baikal Natural Territory. The conclusion is formulated that the principles of the New Urban Agenda should be incorporated into the development plans of the above-mentioned settlements, in particular, the principles of the development and introduction of indicators of urban sustainability. A number of proposals are made to reflect the principles of sustainable development in such documents.

Situating New Constellations of Practice in the Humanities

What forms will sustainability research that integrates the humanities take? This chapter seeks to explore this question. Adamson provides a brief field genealogy of the environmental humanities and situates this emerging field within a deepening critical engagement with the concepts of “sustainability” and “sustainable development” that has been taking shape since the publication of “The Future we Want,” the outcome document of the 2012 Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, and “On Care for Our Common Home: Laudato Si´,” the encyclical published in advance of the 2015 Paris Climate talks by Pope Francis of the Catholic Church. She then evaluates an ambitious humanities project emerging from calls at the international levels for more equity- and justice-focused definitions of sustainability. Titled “Humanities for the Environment,” or HfE, this project is designed to explore the roots and consequences of human caused change in the Anthropocene, or Age of the Human. Choosing the term “Observatory” as the formal mechanism they will use to network researchers, institutions, communities, NGOs, HfE projects are designed to align with other global scientific research projects, platforms and initiatives by evoking a sense of a humanities “laboratory” or “research space” where HfE researchers pilot new constellations of practice within the humanities and new forms of collaboration with the sustainability sciences. Adamson evaluates three HfE projects that bring humanists, scientists, policy-makers, and local communities together to creatively work for a more just and sustainable “future we want.”

The Maintenance of International Peace and Security through Prevention of Atrocity Crimes

This chapter focuses on the role and responsibility of the Security Council to maintain international peace and security through the prevention of atrocity crimes, as reflected in the World Summit Outcome Document. It is argued that, considering the near impossibility of seeking consensus by the veto-wielding members of the Council, in some cases that require its intervention, it is essential that regional institutions assume a greater role in preventing and protecting populations against atrocity crimes. This chapter argues for a renewed approach to international efforts to provide requisite support to these institutions to ensure that they assume a proactive role in protecting populations.