Search results for ""author laura westra""

Terrorism, a widespread global phenomenon, manifests itself in the actions and the policies of individuals and groups, but also and primarily in the actions and policies of states. Delving into the seldom-discussed question of the motivation for most episodes of terrorism, this book studies terrorism's effects based on the economic and geopolitical imbalances that frame today's global governance.

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Exploring how society may yet reconstruct a true system of international rights enforced by international laws and contemplates the limitations of international organisations to effectively address truly international problems. Through the lens of political ecology, Westra offers a call for action to protect the global environment and the people. Offering insights into our currently reality by exploring the content and consequences of power relationships under capitalism and by considering the spaces of opposition and resistance to these changes.

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In the past migrations opened the world to knowledge, science, and understanding among peoples, but increasingly migrants are viewed with disfavour and even hate, especially in the Mediterranean Basin and the MENA Region. I had published with two other scholars a book intended to promote the rights of migrants in 2015, but today the situation has become so much worse, particularly in our chosen area, that I believe the time has come to re-examine the situation. A number of issues conspire to render the fate of migrants truly desperate, as they are forced to leave their lands that, due to the increasingly grave effects of climate change, can no longer feed and support them and their families, while the ongoing conflicts in the area render their situation truly unliveable. In addition, in the last few years, extreme right-wing political parties in Europe have conspired to treat people of different colour, ethnicity, or religion as unworthy of the respect due to all human beings. In 2019 a further disaster struck the whole world, a pandemic that imposed particularly harsh conditions to migrants, who were clearly unable to practice social distance and who found themselves in situations where testing, medicines and even sufficient food and water were not available. There are important aspects of this work that have global applications beyond the focus area we have chosen, such as the spread of racism, the fostering of conflicts to advance the interests of powerful countries, the dangerous spread of populism with fascist tendencies, and the spread of imperialism. Most of all, there is a lesson to be learned: walls to exclude and separate people provide no solutions for any of the grave problems we all face. Such problems can be solved all together or not at all; what is needed is a concentrated effort to acknowledge our need for each other, as only a belief in the true brotherhood of all can help.

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International law has evolved to protect human rights. But what arehuman rights? Does the term have the same meaning in a world beingtransformed by climate change and globalized trade? Are existing lawssufficient to ensure humanity’s survival? Drawing on case law and practice and examples from philosophy, law,and ecology, Laura Westra argues that the current system is notadequate: international law privileges individual over collectiverights, permitting multinational corporations to overlook thecollectivity and the environment in their quest for wealth and power.Unless policy makers redefine human rights and reformulateenvironmental law and policies to protect the preconditions for lifeitself -- water, food, clean air, and biodiversity -- humankind facesthe complete loss of the ecological commons, the preservation of whichis one of our most basic human rights. A new kind of cosmopolitanism,one centred on the United Nations, offers the best hope for preservingour common heritage and the survival of future generations.

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In The Supranatural Corporation, Laura Westra lays bare corporate actions both domestic and international - under the guise of legal 'personhood' - and shows how corporations flaunt laws and act as controlling powers beyond the constraints imposed on legal state citizens. Corporations are now embedded within domestic legal regimes and insinuate themselves to subvert the very systems designed to restrain corporate power and protect the public.

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Just Ecological Integrity presents a collection of revised and expanded essays originating from the international conference "Connecting Environmental Ethics, Ecological Integrity, and Health in the New Millennium" held in San Jose, Costa Rica in June 2000. It is a cooperative venture of the Global Ecological Integrity Project and the Earth Charter Initiative. Beginning with an in depth look at the history and meaning of the Earth Charter itself, Just Ecological Integrity moves to consider the systems of measurement necessary to indicate progress in achieving the Earth Charter's goals. Contributors to the volume explore such issues as the reciprocal impacts between humans and nature; human destructiveness; and the various ways in which the revaluation of nature in terms of intrinsic qualities affects broader notions of justice. A rich collection of case studies enhances the volume and examines such issues as violence, risk, and the preservation of nature in local circumstances.

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