Present International System Research Articles

Addressing Impacts from Climate Change Within International Legal System: More Precise Distribution of Responsibilities

As the international challenges resulting from climate change become emergent, how to reform international law and institutions to reduce the effects of climate change has become a crucial issue. This paper carries out surveys on regulating and restructuring the present international law system about current issues and provides suggestions for further practice. We can also consider building a climate club. The existing climate regulation mechanism needs to improve, leading to problems such as carbon leakage and free riding. Climate clubs can urge countries to fulfill their obligations by rewarding member states that fulfill their obligations and cracking down on non-member states. Apart from efforts in environmental governance, the international law system should also attach attention to the issue of climate refugees as a reaction to climate change. The last article argues that international society should provide legal protection for climate refugees, and it is reasonable for them to acquire a formally defined legal status for future humanitarian care. This thesis also explores the potential role of regional bodies in addressing climate change outside of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the legitimacy of their responsibilities based on constitutional treaties, their role in regulating the international commons, and their relationship to the UNFCCC. Based on this, this thesis suggests that regional institutions take on more responsibility in regulating state obligations and propose possible solutions to the climate change crisis. CBDR is an essential principle in the cooperation among countries to solve the problem of global climate change. It makes global cooperation fairer and more effective but also generates some problems. The main problem is that there is no clear division of responsibilities between countries, and policies must be implemented. This paper proposes three ways to divide responsibilities and argues that companies must actively participate in global emission reduction activities.

The Global Institutional Governance of AI: A Four-Dimensional Perspective

Abstract The present debate about the governance of artificial intelligence (AI) is dominated by a narrative of a “global race toward the regulation of AI.” Such a narrative bears serious dangers and should be rephrased as the “race toward the global regulation of AI” to adequately address the cross-cutting, cross-boundary, and cross-cultural nature of these technologies. If the debate about the future regulation of AI is to efficiently address the serious dangers and potentially existential risks related to AI, then it should be tied to other global governance issues, such as those summarized by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For this endeavor to be successful, the substantive questions of regulation must be combined with efforts to reform the present international system with a view to establishing a more efficient and coherent global institutional framework. It is important to be mindful of past obstacles in the reform of existing international organizations and to avoid the need for another global cataclysm to trigger institutional reform; thus, the article follows the idea that cognitive change leads to the transformation of international organizations. As both a technology aimed to replicate the human mind and an example of an important linguistic trend of a rise in essentially oxymoronic concepts, AI is deemed to provide the right point of departure to ponder future modes of human cognition – modes that reflect Einstein’s description of a world as a “four-dimensional space – time continuum,” – which may help to imagine the contours of a future global institutional framework.

An Overview of Tax Challenges of Digital Economy

The digital economy drives growth, innovation, and competitiveness. Rapid technological advancement contributes to economic and social transformations. Digitalization has produced entirely new business models and poses substantial problems for the current taxation system. An evaluation of the business models of Amazon and Google indicates that such a differentiated approach is required for both the proposed alternatives, i.e., a virtual PE or an equalisation tax. This paper presents the concept of the digital economy, features of the digital economy, business modes of the digital economy, and identifies deficiencies in the existing structure of international taxation as it relates to taxation of the digital economy. The paper further assesses nexus, data, and characterization as major components of the tax challenges of the digital economy, as well as providing mechanisms to address the emerging challenges in the present international tax system. From this study, it can be inferred that there needs to be global consensus that digital enterprises are detrimental to the tax system and that something needs to be done about it.

What Determines the Financial and Insurance Services Exports: The Case of the United Kingdom

The financial sector is a very basic pillar of the international financial system. Almost all countries of the present international economic system participate in international financial services. Today's era, due to intense globalization, constant capital movements, continuous commercial integration and the ever-increasing financial interconnection, have made financial and insurance services an essential element of the present reality. The financial sector is an industry that is very 'sensitive' to the macroeconomic and political stability of countries. This means that countries that are considered unstable cannot have a positive impact on their financial activities. One country that has a strong position in the financial sector is the United Kingdom (UK). The question that can be asked is this: what are the factors that determine the optimal functioning of financial and insurance activities. One answer could be the strong financial institutions of a country. Another answer is the corruption indicator. Or even the existence of intervention by the state apparatus in the financial functions. Of course, these factors must have tangible proof of the functioning of the economy. State intervention, for example, does not entirely mean that it is dysfunctional. This study will seek to create a framework for the analysis of financial services factors. The methodology applied is The Multiple Linear Regression - Ordinary Least Squares (OLS).

Introducing ‘Realizm’

According to realist paradigm, the present international system is anarchic and selfish, and therefore needs to be reset, because the gap between the developed and developing nations has reached dangerous levels. The wars between Unequal Military Powers (UMPs), have ruined several states, particularly in the Middle East. While the causes of such wars would be debated for a long time, the outcome is extremely dreadful for the people of Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Palestine, Kashmir, and Yemen, to name the few. Therefore, there is a need to do away with old schools of realism, liberalism, or the constructivism, which have failed to maintain peace, stability, and security of the people particularly in developing world. Adopting an inductive reasoning approach, the aim of the study is to present a revised international relations’ theory to reset the flawed international system, supported with the qualitative data. The rephrased political theory of realizm focuses on self-realization, mutual assistance and common good, for regional development; with a view that global peace is possible through cooperation with prudence for safety, security, and stability of the international system

Migrações e meio ambiente: desafios contemporâneos e o debate acerca dos “refugiados ambientais”

O presente artigo tem como problema de pesquisa o seguinte questionamento: quais são as relações intrínsecas entre as mudanças climáticas e as migrações forçadas, especificamente, aliadas à compreensão de um possível refúgio ambiental? A partir dessa proposição, o referido problema se encontra dividido em duas seções de análise: a primeira, destinada a debater os aspectos ambientais que obrigam os seres humanos a migrarem, discorrendo-se acerca da emissão de gases, do degelo, dos compromissos assumidos internacionalmente pelos Estados, entre outros; já a segunda, reserva-se ao direito internacional, especificamente, apresentam-se as discussões sobre o que é um migrante, um deslocado interno e um refugiado. Por fim, as considerações finais indicam que a solução para a migração forçada, por problemas ambientais, não possui assertividade na esfera do sistema internacional atual. Logo, não há a responsabilização compartilhada como aquela pretendida pelas autoras deste estudo.

Potentiating Loopholes: How Erratic and Piecemeal Implementation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention Has Failed to Protect Cultural Antiquities

Despite centuries-old international concerns, American protection of international cultural antiquities is a relatively recent phenomenon. For example, the United States joined a 1954 multilateral treaty on the protection of cultural antiquities only once the treaty had become binding international customary law, and thus likely binding on the United States nonetheless. The United States has been reticent to join many of the major treaties that protect cultural antiquities, and its adoption of these treaties remains piecemeal and inconsistently enforced. There are loopholes in the present international system that continue to permit looting and pillaging to take place worldwide. In this Note, I posit that the current implementation scheme of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership and Cultural Property (1970 UNESCO Convention), both in the United States and in other countries, creates these loopholes, which in turn render the entire system ineffectual. Despite the many attempts at creating broad, multilateral conventions to globally protect cultural antiquities, the United States is only party to two sections of the 1970 UNESCO Convention,9 and it only joined the 1954 Hague Convention in 2009. Additionally, joining the 1954 Hague Convention was merely a formality for the United States because several provisions had already become customary international law and were thus binding on the United States nonetheless.10 As I will show below, the United States’ failure to fully adopt international law on the protection of cultural antiquities hinders the judiciary, as well as our fellow signatories to the 1970 UNESCO Convention, in protecting international cultural antiquities.

Sovereignty, The Core Tenant of Public International Law?

The question whether the sovereignty still remains the core tenant of international law contains several dimensions of illustrations. This essay will try to not only make a factual judgement on the question but also give an in-depth discussion on the relationship between the modern theory of sovereignty and contemporary international law. The essay will first suggest that sovereignty still plays an essential role in the present international legal system, then argue that the new developments of public international law have undermined the basis of sovereignty theory, which will finally transfer the international law to a global legal system where the sovereignty does not matter. It will be followed by an argument that though this transition will benefit the international rule of law, it is better for the international society to keep sovereignty as a core tenant of international law in the near future, which will protect equality and justice of modern international law.

New Cold War

This paper explores Pakistan and Russia building relations at the backdrop of New Cold War in the South Asia. It argues and justifies that competing and rival groups in the present international system are forcing states to build new alliances. Hence, Pakistan’s new collaborative strategy of allying itself with Russia is due to several political and economic developments amongst its immediate neighbors in the region. While Russia, a former super power is trying to revive its role in the region is also looking for new partners with converging interests to deal with its security issues at home. Both states can benefit from the new partnership if they properly use their strength and capabilities in the region. The article also argues that how certain changes are forcing both Pakistan and Russia to revisit their foreign policies, thus indicating a beginning of the “New Cold War” in the South Asia.

Framing an Islamic Vision of Intellectual Property: Maqasid - Based Approach

The Islamic scholarship on Intellectual Property (IP) has extensively investigated its affinity to Shari’a upon a rule-based approach whereby a profound analogy and reasoning eventually generated a Fiqh rule that embraced the concept. However, a lingering discrepancy vis-à-vis the philosophical underpinning is hardly addressed. This paper undertakes an approach based on Maqasid al-Shari’a (objectives of Shari’a) to explore that underpinning as it pertains to the three key elements in the making of IP, namely, creativity, property, and policy. The major premise of the paper is that the current IP framework failed to fulfil the needs and aspirations of the Islamic countries. While its underlying objective emphasizes a strong utilitarian approach that contradicts in many ways the Islamic Shari’a. Consequently, better outcomes can be reached by adopting a holistic approach that takes into consideration the practical implication of IP system according to the benefits and interest of Muslim’s societies. Whereby, IP should be comprehensively addressed according to the sources, objectives, and principles of Islamic Shari’a. These can be employed to evaluate the current application of IP and to identify the elements required in an IP system that is congruent with Islamic Shari’a. The comparative analysis of the fundamentals of the present international intellectual property system and the Islamic perspective indicated that the core aspects of IP concerning the concept of creativity and the scope of protection are delineated differently under the Islamic framework. Moreover, the policy and regulations as can be derived from the principles and Maqasid al-Shari’a have a great potential in promoting a robust Islamic IP system that is in line with Shari’a, the needs, and orientation of the society.

Review of quantum electrical standards and benefits and effects of the implementation of the ‘revised SI’

In the present International System of Units (SI), the Josephson effect and quantum Hall effect have been utilized for voltage and resistance primary standards, and the electrical current standard has been derived from a combination of the two quantum standards. In 2018, it is planned that the SI will be revised based on the latest measurements results of the Planck constant, elementary charge, Avogadro constant, and Boltzmann constant. The adoption of the ‘Revised SI’ means we shall finally terminate the traceability of the kilogram tied to an artifact (the international prototype of the kilogram) and start a new traceability of the kilogram to the Planck constant h. In electricity and magnetism metrology, and related precision measurements, the traceability presently based on the ‘conventional values’ of the Josephson constant and the von Klitzing constant is going to be switched to the revised traceability based on the Planck constant and elementary charge. In this article, the foundation of the quantum electrical measurements and how the Revised SI, which is based purely on fundamental physical constants and quantum effects, will bring us a long‐term benefit with negligible impact to industry are detailed. © 2017 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Using Geopolitics in the Comparative Analysis of Two International Systems Based on Factors Considered Relevant

Abstract The international scene is still modeled on the states’ interests, despite the challenges of non-state actors, whose international policy intervention can not be described as new. The state still continues to play a central role in shaping the international system, even if it is forced to act in an environment where large corporations are designing many of the national economies of states whose nationality they do not have, and non-governmental organizations are at the outskirts of an emerging global civil society, which could jeopardize the state’s right and obligation to prevent injustice, and considering that at the global level there is no entity able to issue regulations in this regard, all of which amid testing international governance models. Looking retrospectively, during the Cold War, the state was much stronger and the threats which it had to face were characterized by a much higher degree of predictability. This paper aims to analyze the contemporary international system by reference to that specific to the Cold War, based on factors considered relevant, the objective being to identify the possibility of turning the present international system to a new Cold War.

The Human Right to Non-Religious Beliefs: A Prospectus

This paper proposes that there is an urgent need for an internationally recognized human right to non-religious beliefs, viz distinct from the right to religious freedom, within the corpus of international human rights law. The argument for the need for such treatment is essentially related to the fact that non religious beliefs have been sidelined by the preference over the religious beliefs. The main assumption of this proposal is that it implies that there is an irreconcilable yet overlapping dominion over the same area of inquiries where a competition is unavoidable in which the religious is on the winning side. For instance, the law to protect the religions is thriving not only in eastern countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Myanmar, but also in the U.S. and European countries. For all that, this proposal posits that currently there is no level playing field for this enduring conflict between these two views. Nevertheless, the main objective of this proposal is not simply about believers versus non-believers rather it is about the amplification of the existing aspiration for stronger legal protection for every individual without regard to her status of belief. Hence, it appears that the need has gone beyond the simple polarizing dualism between the religious and the secular. Simply put, in this proposal, I aim to investigate the international legal status and protection of non-religious ideas or beliefs in the present international legal system. Going further, the proposed project should not merely a description of its international legal status but also aims to discuss how it is protected so that it can identify the challenges which in turn may envisage a proposal for a more robust international legal regime to protect non-religious beliefs.

Some important features of the proposed new definition of the International System of Units (SI): realization and hierarchical problems that the users should know about

The paper, after a short introduction to measurement units in general and to the present international system of units (SI: Systeme International des Unites), deals with a digest of the basics of the proposed new SI:2018 and of its differences compared with the present SI. The latter issue also involves a review of some problems still unresolved in the last draft, concerning: the role of the constants of physics in the system and their role in the conceptual construction of this international standard; the method employed for using the relevant experimental data, and related statistical issues; finally, the implications for science of the New SI implementation. The consequences for and new duties of the national metrology institutes and practitioners are illustrated, involving the future conformity of the present standards and a possible hierarchy between countries that would result from the new definition, in contrast with certain principles of the Convention du Metre.

China-US Relations Today: Some Aspects

The biggest problem which will be discussed in world affairs in the first decade of the 21st Century is the People’s Republic of China’s fast paced economic growth which has become a key driver of international economic growth. Today the whole world is keeping an eye on China. China’s stunning high economic growth and a more active diplomatic relations has attracted not only Asia, Africa, the Pacific region, Latin America and the whole Eurasia. According to some analysts of leading countries American age is coming to its end. According to Albert Keitel (Carnegie foundation) China’s Gross Domestic Product nominal will be the same the United States of America by 2020. In 2050 the nominal Gross Domestic Product will become more than twice the size of America. Within 10-15 years America’s great economic power certainly will slow down. Here inevitably raises important questions about what developing process will be on an international system? Will China abolish or change the present international system or try to build a new system or be one of the members of the system or become a leading power in the world? Can the US keep its present position? What will happen if the United States and China compete in the same level? What will happen with the new world future under Chinese running if the United States can’t keep present position? The answers to these questions are of enormous importance and we will try to find the answers analyzing the United States-China relations at present times. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s1p360

Variables affecting Corporate Governance in the Profitability of Banks in Pakistan

Purpose: Understanding the issue of Corporate Governance requires to think beyond the Profit maximization for the firm. Corporate governance is the effective control of the issue regarding top management. Corporate governance is the major element of the present international business system. This research therefore investigates the connection between corporate governance and financial institutions profitability in Pakistan. Methodology: For this purpose a questionnaire is being adapted and responses are gathered from the executive body in banks of all the three divisions of Southern Punjab. Findings: The research found that good corporate governance is necessary for the profitability in banks. Limitation: The limitation of the study is that we had a small sample size due to the time constraint but it provides a research framework for future studies.

Çokkutuplu dünyaya doğru ilerlerken uluslararası ilişkilerde denge politikası analizi

The United States which has played a major role in the fate of the bipolar international system during the Cold War, has remained as the main actor in shaping the international system, after the Cold War as well. To accept the US as the only superpower directs the world is one of the most popular issues. Today it is a great debate, whether multipolar or unipolar international system is more convenient to ensure the enduring peace and stability. To end this discussion we have to determine the impacts of the unipolar and the multipolar international systems on the world firstly, and examine the effects of the United States' politics in the structure and mechanism of the present international system secondly. This work investigates the foreign policy applied by the United States to maintain its leadership on one side, and the process of the balance policies towards the other great powers on the other side.

The Realism of Veto and Balance of Power in Us-Russian Global Relations : The Syrian Chemical Weapons ( WMD ) Crisis ( 2013 )

This paper seeks to explain the sustenance of great power relations in a world espousing the principles of the collective security system under the United Nations. It shows how the system of veto rights enables the UN sustain an important role for itself, even in the calculations of the great power realism, by providing an interface between their need for balance of power and the desire of the rest of the international community for collective security system. Using the Syrian WMD crisis as a case study, and drawing from the experience of Berlin (1961) and Cuban missile (1962) crises for parallelism, it identifies patterns in the behaviours of US and Russia, the client states and the UN system, to suggest that the latter has acquired the role of seamless interface for great power bilateralism and the multilateralism of the present international system.

Features of the International Regulation of Space Activities

To identify key prerequisites for the formation of the international system of space activities regulation, there are analyzed the paper starts with the analysis of four distinctive space security theories. The author compares and contrasts special features relating to the international space activities regulation in the 20th century with the contemporary ones. Apart from the military side of the issue, there is tackled the problem of international private space activities regulation. Three development stages of private space activities are defined. The overall obsolescence of the present international legal system of space activities regulation is proven.

Actores, tendencias y nuevas temáticas en el mundo global: desafíos para Chile y América Latina

The paper identifies some trends of the present international system suchas globalization, interdependence, the challenges of competitiveness for governments and corporations and the various responses to the current crisis. Also, some actors are dealt with, including multinational corporations -and their legal status- and non governmental organizations of the international civil society, and BRICs such as China, India and Brazil, as well as new challenges such as global warming. Within this framework, the paper examines the role of Chile and Latin America as actors in the international scene, and recent trends towards democratization, new integration efforts and the challenges of an increased role of the region in world affairs. The final purpose would be to achieve an increased presence and voice in the present debate regarding the restructuring of international political and financial institutions.