by
James, Harold, 1956-
Call Number
325.32 23
Publication Date
2008 2006
Summary
Modern America owes the Roman Empire for more than gladiator movies and the architecture of the nation's Capitol. It can also thank the ancient republic for some helpful lessons in globalization. So argues economic historian Harold James in this masterful work of intellectual history. The book addresses what James terms "the Roman dilemma"--The paradoxical notion that while global society depends on a system of rules for building peace and prosperity, this system inevitably leads to domestic clashes, international rivalry, and even wars. As it did in ancient Rome, James argues, a rule-based world order eventually subverts and destroys itself, creating the need for imperial action. The result is a continuous fluctuation between pacification and the breakdown of domestic order. James summons this argument, first put forth more than two centuries ago in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, to put current events into perspective. The world now finds itself staggering between a set of internationally negotiated trading rules and exchange--rate regimes, and the enforcement practiced by a sometimes-imperial America. These two forces--liberal international order and empire--will one day feed on each other to create a shakeup in global relations, James predicts. To reinforce his point, he invokes the familiar bon mot once applied to the British Empire: "When Britain could not rule the waves, it waived the rules." Despite the pessimistic prognostications of Smith and Gibbon, who saw no way out of this dilemma, James ends his book on a less depressing note. He includes a chapter on one possible way in which the world could resolve the Roman Predicament--by opting for a global system based on values as opposed to rules.
Format:
Electronic Resources
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by
Coicaud, Jean-Marc.
Call Number
341.209051 21
Publication Date
2001
Summary
In the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, international organizations and in particular the United Nations seemed finally capable of redeeming the promise invested in them forty-five years earlier. In the late 1990s, however, the picture was quite different. A number of international organizations had been able to retain or even reinforce their roles and new organizations had been created. On the other hand, the United Nations and other organizations with a 'progressive' rather than market oriented or technical agenda seemed out of vogue. Now, in the early 2000s, the situation has changed again. While the United Nations appears to be less under attack, the international organizations that were the stars of the second half of the 1990s the IMF, the World Bank, and WTO are being challenged and asked to evolve. The end of the Cold War is only one in a series of events that has radically modified the operational environment of international organizations since their establishment. These changes, many of which have lately been discussed under the term 'globalization, ' include: decolonization; growing awareness of the global nature of many economic, environmental, and public health problems; multiplication of non-governmental organizations; globalization of mass media and the market; rapid developments in the field of biotechnology; and the emergence of new information technologies, particularly the Internet. These developments suggest that the time has come to take a fresh look at the philosophy of international organizations. The Legitimacy of International Organizations presents the results of an interdisciplinary research project by the Peace and Governance Programme of the United Nations University. The authors are experts in the fields of law, political science, social and political philosophy, economics, and environmental studies.
Format:
Electronic Resources
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0.0864
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