The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (110 page)
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Authors: Iain McLean
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glasnost
Russian: literally ‘the fact of being public; openness to public scrutiny’; the term may have been picked up in a delayed response to a call for it made by the writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn in 1969. The policy of Mikhail Gorbachev , General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1985–91, of permitting more public discussion of current affairs than had been permitted earlier. It has been argued that the political liberalization symbolized by
glasnost
and
perestroika
, unaccompanied until 1991 by significant economic liberalization, was unstable, and contributed to the fall of Gorbachev and of the Soviet Union.
glasnost
and
perestroika
, unaccompanied until 1991 by significant economic liberalization, was unstable, and contributed to the fall of Gorbachev and of the Soviet Union.
global warming
A phenomenon (otherwise known as ‘
climate change
’ or ‘
the greenhouse effect
’) whereby solar radiation that has reflected back off the surface of the earth remains trapped at atmospheric levels, due to the build up of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, rather than being emitted back into space. The effect of this is a warming of the global atmosphere.
Climate change is a longstanding phenomenon, as the mix of the various gases that make up the earth's atmosphere have changed over long periods of time, so average global temperatures have fluctuated. What is alleged to be different about the current spell of global warming is that it is taken to be (1) caused by human action and (2) occurring at an unprecedented rate. The consequences of global warming remain uncertain, but climate change models predict deforestation, desertification, a poleward shift of vegetation and animal populations, rising sea levels and decreased precipitation.
Global warming has received increasing political attention over the past thirty years, having constituted one of the key themes in the rise of green politics over the same period. This increasing political salience resulted in an intergovernmental meeting in Kyoto in 1997, at which 38 industrialized countries signed up to the Kyoto Protocol. The terms of this agreement were that these nations would reduce their atmospheric emissions of CO2 by an average of 5.2% from 1990 levels by 2012. This is well below the 60% target that scientists working on climate change claim is necessary to present further global warming, but the agreement was seen by many campaigners as a useful first step that established the framework necessary for further cuts in the future. The Kyoto protocol will not, however, become effective until is has been ratified by 55% of the signatory nations, and only then if these nations contribute 55% or more of global carbon emissions.
There have been three crucial intergovernmental meetings in the attempt to transform the original protocol into a ratified treaty with legal powers of enforcement. The first of these was at The Hague in November 2000. This meeting broke down over disagreements between the European Union (EU) and the United States - in particular over American proposals to count forests and other vegetation as ‘carbon sinks’, against which their fossil fuel emissions could be set. The EU feared that this would create significant loopholes in the agreement, as the carbon storage capacity of vegetation is uncertain, temporary, and unstable. Following the election of George W. Bush the United States unilaterally withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol, claiming that it would inflict disproportionate damage on the US economy. Given that the US produces 24% of global CO2 emissions, its non-participation in any binding agreement remains a serious handicap.
Further climate change negotiations took place in Bonn in July 2001, involving 186 nations, where the Kyoto protocols were successfully translated into an international treaty. In order to achieve agreement the EU nations had to make concessions to Canada, Australia, Japan and Russia over the extent to which forests could count as ‘carbon sinks’, and over the mechanisms by which any agreement could be enforced. By some estimates this cut the effective size of emission reductions from the proposed 5.2 % on 1990 levels to between 1.8 and 3%.
MH
climate change
’ or ‘
the greenhouse effect
’) whereby solar radiation that has reflected back off the surface of the earth remains trapped at atmospheric levels, due to the build up of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, rather than being emitted back into space. The effect of this is a warming of the global atmosphere.
Climate change is a longstanding phenomenon, as the mix of the various gases that make up the earth's atmosphere have changed over long periods of time, so average global temperatures have fluctuated. What is alleged to be different about the current spell of global warming is that it is taken to be (1) caused by human action and (2) occurring at an unprecedented rate. The consequences of global warming remain uncertain, but climate change models predict deforestation, desertification, a poleward shift of vegetation and animal populations, rising sea levels and decreased precipitation.
Global warming has received increasing political attention over the past thirty years, having constituted one of the key themes in the rise of green politics over the same period. This increasing political salience resulted in an intergovernmental meeting in Kyoto in 1997, at which 38 industrialized countries signed up to the Kyoto Protocol. The terms of this agreement were that these nations would reduce their atmospheric emissions of CO2 by an average of 5.2% from 1990 levels by 2012. This is well below the 60% target that scientists working on climate change claim is necessary to present further global warming, but the agreement was seen by many campaigners as a useful first step that established the framework necessary for further cuts in the future. The Kyoto protocol will not, however, become effective until is has been ratified by 55% of the signatory nations, and only then if these nations contribute 55% or more of global carbon emissions.
There have been three crucial intergovernmental meetings in the attempt to transform the original protocol into a ratified treaty with legal powers of enforcement. The first of these was at The Hague in November 2000. This meeting broke down over disagreements between the European Union (EU) and the United States - in particular over American proposals to count forests and other vegetation as ‘carbon sinks’, against which their fossil fuel emissions could be set. The EU feared that this would create significant loopholes in the agreement, as the carbon storage capacity of vegetation is uncertain, temporary, and unstable. Following the election of George W. Bush the United States unilaterally withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol, claiming that it would inflict disproportionate damage on the US economy. Given that the US produces 24% of global CO2 emissions, its non-participation in any binding agreement remains a serious handicap.
Further climate change negotiations took place in Bonn in July 2001, involving 186 nations, where the Kyoto protocols were successfully translated into an international treaty. In order to achieve agreement the EU nations had to make concessions to Canada, Australia, Japan and Russia over the extent to which forests could count as ‘carbon sinks’, and over the mechanisms by which any agreement could be enforced. By some estimates this cut the effective size of emission reductions from the proposed 5.2 % on 1990 levels to between 1.8 and 3%.
MH
Glorious Revolution
GNP
Godwin , William
(1756–1836)
British radical philosopher and exponent of a distinctly utopian social theory of
anarchism
which saw all forms of government as evil, corrupt, and injurious to human happiness. Godwin wrote not only treatises on social and political questions, but also novels (such as Caleb Williams , 1794) embracing his philosophical world-view. His most celebrated work is
An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice
(1793), which sets out Godwin's belief in the perfectibility of man through the development of reason, and in the necessary relationship between reason and justice as mediated by the principle of utility ( see also
utilitarianism
).
KT
British radical philosopher and exponent of a distinctly utopian social theory of
anarchism
which saw all forms of government as evil, corrupt, and injurious to human happiness. Godwin wrote not only treatises on social and political questions, but also novels (such as Caleb Williams , 1794) embracing his philosophical world-view. His most celebrated work is
An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice
(1793), which sets out Godwin's belief in the perfectibility of man through the development of reason, and in the necessary relationship between reason and justice as mediated by the principle of utility ( see also
utilitarianism
).
KT
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