Publication details
Why a World State is Unavoidable in Planetary Defense : On Loopholes in the Vision of a Cosmopolitan Governance
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| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Description | The idea of global planetary defense against threats from outer space requires an effective global decision-making system that would both implement the necessary technology (or oversee its implementation) and deploy it in case of emergency. The main claim of this chapter is that planetary defense against asteroids, as variously envisioned in the chapters in this book, cannot be implemented under a “semi-cosmopolitan” model of democratic global governance. All relevant indices point to the necessity of establishing a global political authority with legitimate coercive powers, one that retains basic elements of statehood. Put bluntly, planetary-wide, physical-threat, all-comprehensive macrosecuritisation , coupled with deep transformations of international law, global centralization of core decision-making powers, de-stigmatization of nuclear weapons, and the like, can hardly proceed, succeed, and be implemented in a non-hierarchical international system where PD constitutes only one regime among many and states basically remain the major actors – sovereign principals. However, it remains to be seen whether such a political system can be in any recognizable sense democratic. |
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