Amid Security, Trade and Environmental Diplomacy

Security, trade and environmental diplomacy are every states main concern. Security issues are everyone’s concern in this day and age. It is a complex portfolio in the relation between nation states. Central to international relations is the issue of security which is the notion of collective security whereby each state in the international system accepted that the security of one is the concern of the others and agreed to join forces in a collective response to aggression.

It must be noted that onboard the notion of security comes: unemployment, poverty, inequalities and environmental degradation. However, since the events of 9/11 it appears as though states are more preoccupied with terrorism than any other security threats mentioned. Indeed, if world politics and diplomacy today is characterised by the global war on terror alone then world leaders are missing the point and the cause of the problem with security. Although the attack of 9/11 was as many would argue to some extent religiously motivated but there are reasons to believe that poverty can trigger civil war, violence and finally bring a state and the world as a whole in a stand steal as did 9/11. Many would argue that foreign policy should start with a reasonable and realistic analysis of the world and that a failure to do so will constitute a misunderstanding of the real crisis facing the world.

The modern world trade is governed by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) which is the Group seven (G7), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), The Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), The United Nations, The world Bank Group (WB), and the World trade Organisation. These major organisations have major disagreements in relation to the notion of fair trade and cannot easily agree on the issues of environmental agenda whereas the diplomacy carried out in this area constitutes wealth distribution and resources. In short, the existing negotiation in trade and the environmental diplomacy are not directly based on the notion of normative approach which is defined by Margot and Groom as the questions of justice, rights, duties and obligation. That of course should govern world affairs but national interests remain the dominant diplomacy of all states.

The issues of trade is integral to economics which is as defined the production, exchange and consumption of resources at the same time it is equally integral to politics, helping to determine where power lies and how it is exercised. Arrangements in relation to environmental diplomacy which started to emerge in the twentieth century as a major international concern and activity is increasingly taking grid of talks and small progress on tackling environmental issue is recorded world wide by the media.