Unconquered Peaks

The looming crisis of global warming, caused by unsustainable carbon emissions, will continue to dominate contemporary politics. The politics of global warming can be separated into two parts. Firstly, it necessitates increased international co-operation, especially ‘green’ technology and the sharing of common goals to combat global warming. Secondly, more decisive and significant action by governments is essential to adequately address the changes needed to reduce carbon emissions. Though ostensibly counter-intuitive, the solution to addressing these politics lies in the nation state; geographically distinct, politically autonomous regions usually sharing a common culture. Their origins rooted in the Peace of Westphalia (Yale, 2008), nation states are able to harness three characteristics, stability, nationalism and sovereignty, to facilitate effective action to mitigate the impacts of global warming. Nations states also provide a framework for meaningful international co-operation; focusing on international treaties as the most useful form of this, it is clear these are dependent on the existence of nation states. Though the strengths of nation states do come with some drawbacks, these are markedly outweighed by the benefits. The principles and advantages of the nation state make it by far the most robust system of global governance to address the politics of global warming.