Toward holistic governance in an interdependent world. In: South Eastern European Journal of Public Health (SEEJPH). 26.11.2017
Inhalt
- In an informative piece, ‘What do we mean by governance?’ (1), Anna Bruce-Lockhart, editor at the World Economic Forum, cuts through a lot of the ‘buzzwords’ that are used to describe governance. She refers to governance in its ‘purest form’, that is ...
- She emphasises that it is a central concept that applies to most areas and levels of human activity, and includes human rights, freedom of speech, economic transactions on a worldwide basis, full access to the internet, and to financial markets. Unfor...
- More might agree that as things stand “textbook” political governance is generally not working on the global, regional and national stage anymore. On many counts, it is a failing concept.As Edward Lucas, former editor of The Economist, points out, ‘th...
- Professor Ian Goldin at Oxford Martin School in his book “Divided Nations: Why global governance is failing, andwhat we can do about it” (4), highlights that one of the main reasons why we are failing ‘to manage global issues’-migration, climate chang...
- The author puts forth that we need ‘a fundamental rethink of the way we approach global governance’. In his view governance is failing in global institutions because their power or authority is ‘circumscribed by its members.’ In other words, as we hav...
- One option for Professor Goldin is to view sovereignty in a different light –‘to imagine a world where sovereignty is not just about preventing but also about enabling. If we redefine sovereignty, to look beyond coercion and exclusion but also conside...
- A hallmark of the seventeen UN -2030 Sustainable Development Goals (5) with which most are now familiar,is their interconnectedness and interdependency-as examples, climate, health, food production, peace, education, prosperity, security - and that pr...
- This fundamental principle underpinning the UN-2030 Agenda and the SDGs could apply equally well to other issues of global governance (trade, migration, conflicts), that is, ensuring that interactions and negotiations take a more holistic approach tac...
- While research into distinctive areas of knowledge continues to be vital in gaining a better understanding of the world we inhabit, it has also been the cause of fragmentation, competition and tensions (6). The differentiation of school subjects and m...
- Reductionism and silo approaches to tackling global issues as applied in the 19th and 20th centuries persist (e.g., Ebola crisis) but no longer work when we know, as example, that the drought in California is linked to deforestation in the Amazon Rain...
- Rather than focusing strictly on human dimensions governance is tasked with taking a broader perspective considering the interplay between humans, animals, plants and the environment. The concept is known as One Health (8,9) and has been taken on boar...
- The pressing need to adopt the concept and collaborative approach is exemplified by the devastation in Syria: not only did it lead to the destruction of a society – over 500,000 lives - half children - needlessly lost along with countless farm animals...
- While agreeing with the attributes about ‘good governance, identified earlier (1), perhaps consideration might also be given to another,that is, recognising that ‘governance’ has a higher purpose - the sustainability of people and planet. Achieving th...
- References
- Bruce-Lockhart A. What do we mean by governance? https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/02/what-is-governance-and-why-does-it-matter/ (accessed: 26 February, 2016).
- Laaser U. A plea for Good Global Governance. Front Public Health 2015;3:46. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2015.00046.
- Lucas E. It’s not only Mugabe who has failed his people. The Times (Comment, p. 31); November 17, 2017.
- Goldin I. Divided Nations. Why global governance is failing, andwhat we can do about it. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2013.
- United Nations. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs (accessed: 23 November, 2017).
- Lueddeke G. Global Population Health and Well-Being. Toward New Paradigms, Policy andPractice. New York: Springer Publishing Company; 2016.
- Laaser U, Dorey S, Nurse J. A plea for Global Health Action bottom-up. Front Public Health 2016;4:241. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2016.00241.
- One Health Commission (OHC). Mission. https://www.onehealthcommission.org (accessed: 23 November, 2017).
- Lueddeke G. Achieving the UN-2030 global goals for a sustainable future through One Health principles and practice. 2nd Global Conference on One Health. World Veterinary Association and the World Medical Association in association with the Japan Veter...
- Lueddeke G. Toward a New Worldview: One Health, One Planet, One Future (in progress).