BOOK REVIEW. Our Global Neighborhood by the Commission on Global Governance

OUR GLOBAL NEIGHBORHOOD BOOK REVIEW
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1 INTRODUCTION
Our Global Neighborhood is a published book containing the report of the Commission on Global Governance issued in 1995. The report is an extensive study resulting from many years of analysis on the issues affecting the current world reflected by the 28 members of the commission. It touches on the main political and economic subjects that have negatively impacted the whole world for a long time. Further, the report outlines information on the perception that there is ultimate strength in unity between nations. The main notion of the text is on the advancement of the United Nations. However, the report was highly questioned by The New American magazine, a group called John Birch Society and other lawyers of international sovereignty. Additionally, many renowned scholars have written significant essays expressing their utter disappointment in the report. This essay seeks to review the book, giving its summary, explaining its critique and offering knowledge on its application in the current world and in terms of how the text affected my understanding on globalization and sovereignty.[Leung, Cho Kin. “Book Review: Our Global Neighborhood.” The American Economist 40, no. 1 (2017), p. 1]
2 SUMMARY
One of the main themes of Our Global Neighborhood is that the world is changing and that there is, and there will continue to be, a new environment that, instead of human relationships encompassing the borders of their own countries, they now ought to span the globe. The text states that human beings should learn to accept the new realities that people and countries are now interconnected, interdependent and growing every day. This is evident in the first section of the text titled, A New World where it is written that “the collective power of people to shape the future is greater now than ever before, and the need to exercise it is more compelling”. The information in the quotation above has been proven throughout the other chapters for the betterment of the life of man in the twenty-first century since the phenomena explained in the text are some of the greatest challenges facing nations in the world now.[The Commission on Global Governance. “Our Global Neighborhood: the Report of the Commission on Global Governance”. Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 7.]
Our Global Neighborhood was written to initiate what would become a huge undertaking to address the many issues that the global community would be facing as it moved into the new century. In the wake of the argument and the facts provided by the authors, human efforts to organize life on the planet are created and enhanced in the development of global governance. Not since the foundation of the United Nations in 1945 has there been a more thorough attempt to recognize the importance of ensuring peace and progress throughout the world. This enormously important book was realized by the Commission on Global Governance and it serves as combined thinking of twenty-eight illustrious international dignitaries from an array of professional and public affairs backgrounds. The theme of international peace and harmony and cooperation among nations was one of the opportunities offered by the aftermath of the Cold War and this is where the Commission majored their research on globalization.[The Commission on Global Governance. “Our Global Neighborhood: the Report of the Commission on Global Governance”. Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 14.]
Basing the facts on the impacts of the Cold War and certain attempts of industrialization by specific nations, the document outlines the main shifts that have developed over the last seventy years in addition to political, economic, military, technological, intellectual, and institutional advances that have vigorously directed the last half of the twentieth century. The report analyzes extensive problems confronting world leaders, such as ethnic struggles, unemployment, environmental deterioration, and extensive population growth have placed additional burdens on natural resources. Furthermore, the book discusses the concept of life in the light of living together as a community in one neighborhood. It states that there are certain “neighborhood realities” that should be adhered to for the prosperity of its subjects. These include the address of tensions among people in the neighborhood, ethics that should be drafted to better living, values, liberty, respect for life, and mutual respect among nations, justice and equity and integrity as well as rights and responsibilities among others.[The Commission on Global Governance. “Our Global Neighborhood: the Report of the Commission on Global Governance”. Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 78.]
The document also focuses on the theme of world peace. The book implies that, fundamentally, the problems the world faced at the end of the Cold War have not been resolved. The authors write that the issues are far from over because while threats of a nuclear war between superpowers have somewhat declined, the number of countries becoming capable of using nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, and biological weapons has risen dramatically, increasing the dangers facing the world today. It states that conflicts between and within states such as Palestine and Israel, have continued to ravage lives globally. Our Global Neighborhood discusses two fundamental standards that have influenced relationships between states before and after the Cold War: sovereignty and self-determination. It is important that these standards be adapted to meet the new realities of the burgeoning global community. Additionally, the book states that “the readiness of the Security Council to authorize UN action, including military action, in support of humanitarian purposes represents a proper and necessary evolution of the exercise of international responsibility”. In the wake of this, the report recommends that the United Nations should utilize the General Assembly and Security Council to help improve global governance.[The Commission on Global Governance. “Our Global Neighborhood: the Report of the Commission on Global Governance”. Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 127.]
3 CRITIQUE.
The authors of the book have put a significant account of hard work and understanding in writing the book. There are a number of strong and supported ideas that are evident to everyone around the world. Reading the document, it is obvious that Our Global Neighborhood is an interesting piece of work that does an excellent job at expressing the various points that are of mutual importance to international cooperation and globalization, as well as problems associated with it. This section points out some of the main ideas from the book, explains the strength of the notion, then counters the assertion of the author in the view of criticizing the information. Firstly, self-determination is the existing principle of international order developed from the rise of democracy. This is true because the Versailles Peace Conference after World War I recognized the principl...