Cadmus is a journal for fresh thinking and new perspectives that integrate knowledge from all fields of science, art and humanities to address real-life issues, inform policy and decision-making, and enhance our collective response to the challenges and opportunities facing the world today.

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The Globethics library contains articles of Cadmus as of vol. 1(2010) to current.

Recent Submissions

  • Human Security, Individualism and Collectivism

    Ashok Natarajan (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2023-03-01)
    The quest for human security has pitted the individual against the collective throughout history. Individualism and collectivism are two competing philosophical and social movements that have divided the world for centuries and trace their origin back to ancient times. They are founded on different interpretations of the value and place of freedom and equality in society. The individual seeks the protection and support of the collective while at the same time insisting on freedom for personal self-expression and action without hindrance by the collective. The collective seeks the allegiance and conformity of the individual to the laws and dictates of central authority in the name of collective security and wellbeing, which is often perceived by the individual as a threat to personal security rather than assurance of it. Therefore, any ultimate solution to the quest for human security must necessarily address and reconcile these apparently contradictory viewpoints and arrive at a perspective that resolves them into complementary dimensions of a greater whole. This article traces the development of individualism in the West and positive and negative characteristics associated with its more extreme manifestations in order to understand both the strengths that perpetuate it and the weaknesses that continuously erode its stability. It points to the emergence of a reconciling formula based on a shift from individualism to mature individuality and the prevailing struggle within democratic societies in recent times. An evolutionary progression of this character constitutes an essential condition for arriving at a sound, stable, universal foundation for human security for all.
  • Human Security, Culture and Protection of Humanity’s Heritage

    Irina Bokova (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2023-03-01)
    WAAS should be credited for its contribution to promoting integrated, multidisciplinary approaches to tackling global problems, emphasizing the importance of science, education and culture in their entirety, in recognising their close interdependence and interconnection. In the Millennium Development Goals and in the Human Development concept before, there was one missing link—the recognition of culture and heritage protection as critical for human development. This recognition was finally made in 2015 with the adoption of the UN Agenda 2030, which emphasized that while safeguarding and promotion of heritage and culture is an end in itself, at the same time it contributes directly to many of the SDGs—safe and sustainable cities, decent work and economic growth, reducing inequalities, protecting the environment, promoting gender equality, peaceful and inclusive societies. It represents thus a true shift in the understanding of how much the issues of identity and belonging, diversity, culture and heritage are critical for sustainable development. The launch of the campaign on Human Security with the support of the United Nations goes into the heart of such an understanding and approach. Placing culture at the heart of development policies does not mean to confine and fix it in a conservative way, but on the contrary—to invest in the potential of local resources, knowledge, skills and materials to foster creativity and sustainable progress. Recognition and respect for the diversity of cultures also creates the conditions for mutual understanding, dialogue and peace.
  • Moving from Reason of Force to Force of Reason

    Federico Mayor (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2023-03-01)
    Faced with global threats that are today looming over mankind—some of them possessing an irreversible nature—and looking into the eyes of our descendants and the forthcoming generations, it is inevitably up to “Us, the Peoples” to fulfil our essential duties, now that we are aware of the seriousness of the situation and we know, at last, that we are equal in dignity and able to express ourselves freely. Joining our voices in a big popular clamour we shall firmly promote the following to achieve Human Security For All.
  • Key Findings Regarding a Comprehensive Human Security: Envisioning and Building a Better Future

    Ganoune Diop (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2023-03-01)
    Human security is a comprehensive paradigm to assess and understand the deepest needs of the whole human family. The concept of human security transcends the traditional reduction and limits of security to national security, border security, military security, or cybersecurity, to encompass other incontrovertible aspects and multifaceted dimensions of human existence and environment. They include not only international peace and security as indicated in the first pillar of the United Nations, but also justice and development, the second pillar and incontrovertibly, the third pillar of the UN, human rights, in terms of freedom from want, freedom from fear, and freedom from indignity. Framing international relations, societal and individual interactions through the lenses of human security is long overdue. Its time has come. This is good news for the global community. Without the lenses of human security, global, societal, and individual vulnerabilities would continue to escape the notice and attention of the international community in search of more sustainable peaceful coexistence. A holistic understanding of human security is needed. Human security is an aspiration of billions of people across the spectrum of world faiths and philosophies. Even casual human greetings reveal the deep aspiration of human security in people’s daily wishes. This is also true in prayers formulated in all traditions of all faiths. This article highlights the various dimensions of the concept of human security and calls for a global mobilization to protect not only sacred sites but more importantly, human beings who are more than temples, cathedrals, mosques, shrines, and pagodas. The infinite immeasurable value of every human person deserves respect, circumspection, and honor before the mystery of not only consciousness, but of all human beings as conscience bearers.Developing a global culture of human security deserves our best investment, resources, creativity, and plans of action. The peace of our fragile world, challenged by various threats, depends on it.
  • Report on COP27 and its Implications for Human Security

    Marta Neškovic (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2023-03-01)
    As a Youth Delegate of the Republic of Serbia, from the Institute for Political Studies, in Belgrade, Serbia, and a representative of the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS), I summarize in this report the most capturing sessions I attended during the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – COP27, which took place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on November 6–18, 2022. This report presents the existing efforts by governments, international organizations, educational institutes and academies, and civil society organizations to address the climate change problem from the perspective of human security.
  • Securing Our Commons: New Forms of Financial Engineering to Secure Our (Global) Commons and Mobilise Trillions of Private Sector Liquidity

    Stefan Brunnhuber (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2023-03-01)
    "There is no human security without economic security and this in consequence requires proper funding of our global commons."
  • The Health and Economic Burdens Inflicted by Human Security Destruction

    Alberto Zucconi; Luca Rolle (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2023-03-01)
    Finally, after many years of resistance, the majority accepts the scientific evidence that we live in what Paul Crutzen, Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, defined as the Anthropocene Era, because humanity has left a major impact on not just the planet but all life forms. (Crutzen and Stoermer, 2000). Nowadays, with the rising frequency and magnitude of negative impacts that we bring upon ourselves by the way we act, the general public is becoming more and more aware of the rising threats we create for ourselves and the whole planet (UNESCO, 2021). Like in any other form of addiction, many humans tend to defend themselves by becoming aware of their self-destructive behaviors, tricking and soothing themselves by ignoring the mounting man-made threats and engaging in cognitive dissonance to avoid anxiety-inducing awareness. The exponential growth of the human population and its consumption patterns has resulted in such dramatic and exorbitant costs to the environment. Not only have our current lifestyles negatively impacted our planet’s ecosystems, but a growing number of scientists have warned us that we are rapidly reaching a tipping point where mitigation and/or reversal of trends is no longer possible (IPCC, 2014). If we do not act promptly and effectively, we will face not just the consequences but existential threats that threaten the survival of planet Earth’s self-proclaimed intelligent species.
  • Inside this Issue

    Editors (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2023-03-01)
    The multidimensional crises confronting humanity today defy solution through existing policies, strategies, institutions, theoretical knowledge, education and ways of thinking. We are called upon to conceive and strive to realize a new paradigm in thought that leads to action. Many long cherished ideas must be challenged, reformulated, discarded or replaced. Among these is the conventional idea of security as it has been dominating the thinking and action of nation-states for centuries.
 
 It is ironic that in an age of unprecedented knowledge, technology, economic development and financial capacity, a growing sense of insecurity seems to pervade and permeate the lives of people around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic, the sudden outbreak of war in Europe, the resurgence of fears of nuclear war, and the ever more threatening approach of catastrophic climate change are among the most apparent causes and expressions of this rising insecurity. But the roots lie still deeper in rising threats to democracy, the growing polarization of societies, growing inequality and a rejection of the universal values which have guided global progress since the founding of the United Nations. The security of national boundaries is no doubt as important as it has been in the past. But it is no longer a sufficient standard by which to govern relationships among this increasingly interconnected and integrated global community. The $2 trillion in annual military spending is not enhancing the security of the world’s people, even in the militarily strongest, most prosperous nations.
 
 The security humanity seeks today is not merely for the preservation of national boundaries and the integrity of nation-states, which have very often left individuals and communities within their borders oppressed by war, violence, famine, poverty, social and cultural discrimination. People around the world aspire for security at the personal level as well as the national—security that addresses the needs and aspirations of every individual. Today the world yearns for Human Security.
 
 The concept of Human Security as a seminal and essential element of human development was set forth by the UNDP in their landmark 1994 Human Development Report, which broadened the concept to include seven dimensions—food, health, economic, political, ecological, community and individual. It was later affirmed by the establishment of the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security in 1999, an independent Commission on Human Security in 2001, reports by the Secretary General in 2010 and a General Assembly resolution affirmed by more than 190 nations and second report by the UNSG in 2012.
 
 The essential elements of Human Security are set forth in detail in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets unanimously adopted by 193 UN member states in 2015. Human Security embraces all the SDGs and integrates them under a single comprehensive umbrella. But in addition, it emphasizes the individual as well as the collective dimension of security, by focusing on prevention and protection as well as relief from threats, the right of each individual to choose, and the empowerment of each individual to pursue security. Furthermore, the human security approach recognizes that security is a subjective as well as an objective phenomenon which cannot be assured by exclusive concentration on achieving certain quantitative goals such as per capita income, life expectance, years of schooling or CO2 emissions. It depends very largely on creating a safe and secure social environment which assures to each individual the right to live in freedom from fear, want and indignity.
 
 This special issue of Cadmus is issued in support of the HS4A global campaign on Human Security for All launched in January 2023 by the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security and the World Academy of Art and Science. The intention of the report is to foster awareness and understanding of the concept of human security from a multitude of perspectives and different dimensions at the local, national and global level.
 
 The views expressed in these articles represent those of their authors and do not necessarily reflect those of HS4A, Cadmus or the World Academy of Art & Science. We hope this issue will prompt many readers to seek further reading on this topic on the UNTFHS and WAAS websites, to monitor and support the activities of HS4A as they unfold during the year at www.humansecurity.world, to reflect on how a shift in thinking to human security can and should promote changes in higher education, and to identify ways in which the organizations to which readers are affiliated can actively advance a new paradigm on human security both in thought and action.
  • Basic Sciences and Human Security

    Nebojša Nešković (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2023-03-01)
    "One of the necessary conditions for the sustained growth and inclusive development of a country, which eliminates dangers, fears, and anxieties of all kinds for all humans and social groups, is to have a thriving scientific and technological community capable of generating new knowledge and applying it."
  • Ukraine: A Post-War Phoenix Perspective

    Peter Nijkamp; Karima Kourtit; Gabriela Pascariu (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2022-06-01)
    This paper argues that science has not been very successful in preventing wars between nations, but may play a significant role in re-building a country or region after devastations from a military conflict. This is illustrated by the case of Ukraine. The specific potential contribution of regional science to the country’s recovery process is highlighted (a ‘phoenix perspective’).
  • Evolving Meanings of the War for Ukraine: Winning, Losing, Fearing, Needing

    David Harries (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2022-06-01)
    The accelerating pace of change and even the near-term unpredictability of its consequences calls for more enlightened and timely analyses of the most globally disruptive events. The continuing war for Ukraine is indisputably such an event. This essay presents an academically unconventional assessment of what that war means, addressing its consequences in terms of four conditions; winning, losing, fearing and needing. Until the war, at least, stalemates, it will be, if not impossible, unwise to decide on the winners and the losers, or on the fears that were fully realized, or on what needs remain to be met. Every effort has been made to express the listed issues in ways that do not foreclose their analysis, recognizing that, for all of them, tomorrow will be different not only to 24 February but to yesterday.
  • Putin’s Folly and Rethinking the SDGs

    Michael Marien (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2022-06-01)
    The invasion of Ukraine is widely seen as Putin’s war, because he has a retrograde obsession to make Russia great again by reclaiming parts of the former Soviet Union. But Russia’s autocrat made several huge miscalculations regarding his military efficacy, resistance by Ukraine, military support and strong economic sanctions by the US and other nations, and many corporations withdrawing from Russia. Putin may still “win” at a huge cost, or clearly lose; he may settle for a compromise, or a stalemate could last for many months or more. Overall, it will be a lose-lose war, not only for a devastated Ukraine and its many displaced citizens, but for the Russian economy, and the world, facing food security and energy security concerns, huge refugee problems, inflation, and supply chain problems. This setback, roughly equal to the many disruptions from the ongoing COVID-19 setback, could very well be worse. Putin’s foolish and costly military action will lead to greater military spending in NATO countries, at the expense of other forms of security, such as addressing climate change and the necessary energy transition. Attention will focus on military security, at a time when more emphasis should be devoted to the broader concept of human security and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The two broad setbacks to the SDGs are likely to result in little or no progress, and even negative progress for some goals. In response, a forward-looking “war” for human security and sustainability is needed, by ongoing rethinking of the goals and their low visibility. We cannot have sustainability without security, and vice versa. Security aspects of the SDGs should be widely emphasized, as well as the most cost-effective actions for each goal, why investments now are needed to avoid steeply rising costs, and how to best promote the goals as a better and less expensive future for all.
  • A Renewed Non-Aligned Movement

    Janani Ramanathan (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2022-06-01)
    As the Russia-Ukraine war continues spreading human misery in its wake, more and more countries are being impacted directly or indirectly by it, bringing the world perilously close to a 1960s like Cold War scenario. As the world becomes divided once again, it is time for the Non-Aligned Movement to take its place in the world again. The Movement was founded to replace division, distrust and the threat of war with world unity, peace and development. A renewed and strengthened Non-Aligned Movement can provide the much needed dynamic, creative, values-based leadership we need today, and contribute to world peace.
  • An Assessment of thAn Assessment of the Efficacy of Economic Sanctions in Response to Russian Military Aggression in Ukrainee Efficacy of Economic Sanctions in Response to Russian Military Aggression in Ukraine

    Walton Stinson (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2022-06-01)
    Economic Sanctions are being deployed by the West in the Russia-Ukraine conflict at a level never before attempted with the intention of wrecking the Russian economy. Very little attention is given to the dismal record of sanctions or the consequences of sanctions on civilians, mercantile enterprises, global and regional economies, and the economies of countries applying the sanctions. This paper examines the unintended consequences of sanctions and argues that they are ineffective at countering military aggression because they are ambiguous when calibrated against military actions which require precise responses with strong signals. Criteria for the evaluation of possible responses to military aggression are proposed.
  • Energy – Adjusting to a New Global Order

    Maria da Graça Carvalho (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2022-06-01)
    Globalization was challenged by the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the European Union to acknowledge its limitations on many fronts, from access to raw materials to manufacturing, and from control of data to innovation in general. The ongoing geopolitical situation, which promises to be a game-changer for years to come, only reinforced the consciousness that we might be heading towards a new (old) reality of different blocks with little to no interaction between them. In the EU, the matter of strategic sovereignty has never been so urgent. Especially in regards to energy. The question, now, is how can the EU quickly release itself from the present excessive dependence on a single foreign supplier, while at the same time remain aligned with its green transition goals. Diversification of energy sources, with an emphasis on research and innovation; suppliers and supply chains, with a focus on interconnections; strategic reserves and energy efficiency; joint public procurement and the development of a true European Single Market for Energy. In this paper, I reflect on these and other possible solutions for the present energy crisis.
  • War, Complexity, and One-dimensional Thinking: Thinking is Acting

    Piero Dominici (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2022-06-01)
    Both democracy (nowadays known as “global democracy”) and war are examples of complexity. Simplification and closing-off (isolation) will never accomplish anything when dealing with either of these kinds of complexity. We have taken for granted that aggression, invasion and war are by definition immoral and illegal and that it is always necessary to distinguish between the “attackers” and the “attacked”, between the “oppressors” and the “oppressed”; war itself, in all of its unspeakable trauma, requires, no matter what the circumstances, a systemic approach to complexity, an analysis or explanation from a systemic perspective. Keeping in mind that there are currently a considerable number of conflicts in the world, ignored by the global media system and therefore completely forgotten, this latest war runs the tangible risk of escalating globally, with extremely heavy costs in human suffering and loss of lives, costs that will be “paid”, of course, by the civil populations, by the people of the world. The strategy of sanctioning, and even more so, of fostering hostilities towards Russian culture, systematically closing off all that comes from Russia or can be traced back to that country, risks further exacerbating the distances, reinforcing those “logics of separation” which render—and in the future, will continue to render even more impractical, not to say impossible, the (complex) path towards post-conflict reconstruction. Creating and fueling further divisions, in this moment, towards a people and a culture with—moreover—extraordinary qualities will end up radicalizing, even more deeply, dynamics that are already bellicose and highly destructive. The pathways of separation and isolation, in other words, run an all-too-real risk of permanently closing everyone off, including those who are struggling—using a range of effective instruments (not only in terms of “soft power”)—who are fighting an arduous and complex battle to construct modern democracies, to build societies that are truly open and inclusive. If we cut them off, the sole victims will be the populations, the people, the most vulnerable subjects. It has always been so. One “certitude” can indeed be taken to be certain: we must get ourselves back onto the path of diplomacy (by everyone, for everyone) and politics. These events, so dramatic for the history of humanity, have once again shown us how weak statesmanship is today, and how politics has by now become the “handmaiden” of economic powers. The very concept of an “international community” has laid bare its own incapacity to describe the current multi-polar global context. Let us start over, starting with politics, with diplomacy, “real” on-the-field diplomacy, continuous and systemic: less “theater” and more “backstage”; now is not the time for “simulated diplomacy” and/or media storytelling, which unfailingly leads us in the opposite direction from our expected and desired objectives. Let us start over, beginning with politics and diplomacy, and also with the value of culture and education in mind, for the future: Ukraine’s future, Russia’s future, humanity’s future, the future of our entire planet. Violence has never brought anything other than more violence, more division, more incurable fractures.
  • The Significance of the Ukraine Crisis

    Robert van Harten (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2022-06-01)
    When we view the world from above, can the Ukraine crisis be seen as the beginning of a grand opening and synthesis towards a world unified through collaboration? We are in the aftermath of the pandemic, faced with an increasing worldwide poverty through exploding energy and food prices and the accelerating climate disasters and have to wonder whether a viable future is possible without collaboration on war-footing and on an unknown scale. With such a scenario the Ukraine crisis can become a blessing in disguise that will indirectly free the world from all possible dictators and all sorts of dictatorship. Is collaboration the universal value that will usher us in an era where the centre stage of ego is replaced by the centre stage of being WE and save us all?
  • Globalization Weaponized, Dominance Fragmented, World Stability Ruptured

    Fadwa El Guindi (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2022-06-01)
    The current Russia-Ukraine military conflict reveals how the laws established by the United Nations to guide “war behavior” need to be realistically reconsidered in light of the changes since WWII that now characterize military conflicts. Today dominant nations circumvent rules of engagement by resorting to new tactics. It also unmasks a prevalent “global dominance by the West” favoring marketplaces for military weapons disguised in humanitarian rhetoric which reveals hypocrisy and double standards. This is reminiscent of how the COVID-19 pandemic has unmasked existing racial and economic inequalities especially in the prosperous West. But whereas the Pandemic was well managed by the United Nations, filtering down to local populations, demonstrating the strength of a globalized, inter-connected world, the current Russia-Ukraine conflict weaponized globalization when it dismantled economic linkages. Also the Pandemic has led to the creation of a vaccine against the virus, whereas the Russia-Ukraine war is yet to lead to a “vaccine”, as it were, against the use of military warfare as a solution to global issues of insecurity. This article suggests possibilities that might lead to a better path for humankind.
  • Human Security: A Strong Foundation for Multilateral Cooperation

    Jonathan Granoff (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2022-06-01)
    Human Security is the conceptual framework through which multilateral cooperation and common security amongst nations, which is now necessary, can be achieved. The article argues that the concept of human security has not reached its potential to catalyse progress yet. Human Security focuses on people-centered and context-specific responses to challenges. Several existential challenges such as a stable climate, healthy oceans, and pandemics cannot be addressed successfully at a national level. Even the SDGs require a human security integrated approach in order to overcome the inefficiency of silos. Change is needed quickly. Human security can help make that change.
  • War or Dance? Blind Spots and the Locus of our Fears

    Carlos Alvarez-Pereira (Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva, 2022-06-01)
    War is the ultimate expression of polarization. It instantly invokes in all of us the binary divide of life and death. Being supportive of the victims of aggression is a humane mandate. At the same time, the active engagement in the binary logic of war prevents us from recognizing the systemic and violent nature of modern international relations. If we intend to end violent conflicts among humans, a deeper perspective is required. Hopefully, this could contribute to paving the way for a truly Pluriversal World to emerge before it is too late.

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