17th Annual International Conference on Law, 13-16 July 2020, Athens, Greece | |||
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| 1 | International Law & Politics Academic Responsible: Dr. Jorge Emilio Núñez, Academic Member, ATINER & Senior Lecturer, Manchester Law School, UK Any community or population consists of people who are different in many senses. Pluralism is a permanent feature. Similar to the civil society, the international community includes several agents of very different natures (sovereign states, cultures, subcultures, religions, individuals). Whilst the international community includes rules and mechanisms that in principle acknowledge equality of states and give central roles to non-governmental organizations and, to an extent, people (for example, European Union law), realpolitik shows clearly that impartiality in the way different international agents are considered is scattered (for example, there are some states that are “more equal” than others) and therefore, the fairness of the current world order is highly questionable. Simply put, the symposium intends to explore a major gap in international relations, law, and the political sciences: it will be a multi-disciplinary platform for debate to the different views of territorial dispute, conflict and sovereignty offered by different sciences (law, political sciences, international relations). | Abstract Submitting Form |
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| 2 | Environmental Law Academic Responsible: Dr. Kurt Olson, Academic Member, ATINER & Professor, Massachusetts School of Law at Andover, USA. Widely recognized in the scientific community as perhaps the biggest threat to face mankind, climate change has captured the public’s attention while politicians, constrained by re-election realities, often ignore, downplay, or completely dismiss the threat. However, in this symposium we would endeavor to discuss the nature and extent of the threat, and also to address more diverse issues involving other threats to the global environment, ecological issues, and sustainability. It is our goal to make this symposium truly inter-disciplinary in terms of seeking out input from scientists, public policy experts, environmentalists, economists and others because issues around climate and the environment impact every aspect of our lives as global citizens. To quote from Earth Under Fire, How Global Warming is Changing the World by Gary Braasch: “Let me state the goal clearly: No policy should be promulgated, no program initiated, no alliance sealed, no machine designed or built, no land use permitted, no product introduced, no law passed, no politician elected unless the action is a step forward to reduction and reversal of the effect of greenhouse gases.” Braasch published his book in 2007; tragically, few governments have taken steps to meet his challenge. Among those that have, the United States is conspicuously absent. As many of the leaders of the movement to address this most monumental of challenges have said, action to address the issue will have to come from the bottom up because politicians remain blissfully unaware of the gargantuan challenge facing humankind. Global citizens often don’t recognize the climate change threat and others (land degradation, water shortages, invasive species, and fouling of our oceans) threatening the ecosystems on which we all depend. While public ignorance or avoidance are inevitable given the daily pressures of earning livings and caring for families, we aim to both inform the general public, increase inter-disciplinary engagement, and spark debate within the relevant communities. | Abstract Submitting Form |
