REAL POLITIK
MARÍA CRISTINA ROSAS
HOMEPAGE


FROM MEXICO TO THE WORLD

The 21st century experienced a dramatic start. The transition initiated after the end of the Cold War came suddenly to an end on September 11, 2001. It was 10 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the proclamation by then U. S. President George Bush senior of a new world order. Once the threat posed by communism came to an end, a new set of challenges to international security entered the scene. The newly identified threats were, in fact, a list of monographic and non-hierarchical issues such as drug trafficking, undocumented migrations, human rights violations, non-democratic regimes, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, environmental degradation, and terrorism. This perceived “threats” revealed that the former East-West conflict was being replaced by the North-South conflict, where the South was becoming a major caused of concerned and source of trouble, by the North. The North, in fact, would not accept a shared responsibility in dealing with the mentioned new agenda.

This is why during the 90’s, developing countries reacted to the proposed agenda of the already mentioned new world order. Several world conferences sponsored by the United Nations Organisation (UN) at that time warned about a shared responsibility between North and South countries in addressing threats to the international security by insisting on the importance of supporting the development agenda.

It is worth mentioning that the Social Development World Summit that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1995, led to a very important debate on the importance of addressing the development agenda as well as reconciling it with the security agenda. In fact, in 1994 the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) released in 1994 its Human Development Report where the concept of human security was introduced. This concept considered that the well-being of the peoples of the word was critical for achieving security implying that any threat posed against them, was, in fact, a threat to international security.

Human security focussed on the security of individuals and peoples, rather than State security. The pros and cons of this approach are evident. By assuming that any threat to individuals and societies equals to threats to international security, human security seems to develop a “maximalist” approach, making difficult for governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations to adopt concrete measures to solve the problems. Yet, thanks to the importance gained by the human security debate, the development agenda received a wider attention, to the point that in year 2000, under the sponsorship of the UN, a Millennium Summit took place and several millennium goals dealing with development issues, were established. Institutions like the World Bank proclaimed the 21^st century should be a “century without poverty.”

Unfortunately, the events of September 11, 2001 reinstalled State security in the world agenda, thus sacrificing the attention to the human security agenda. After the terrorist attacks, the protection of borders, the reinforcing of intelligence, and the increasing of the military budget, aimed at protecting States from the terrorist threat, left very little room to discuss the human security agenda. Additionally, terrorism became the most important challenge to international security, as stated in UN Security Council resolution 1373 (2001), adopted on September 28^th, 2001. Despite the fact that there is no consensus on the exact meaning of terrorism, and the best ways to cope with it, it’s been said that it is an asymmetrical and no-traditional threat. Yet, the way this threat is being faced is by conventional wars, as seen in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003, respectively.

The war against terrorism has made a significant contribution to a new conflict: the one between “good” and “evil”, or rather, between those who “are with” the United States and those who “are not.” Emphasis is placed on punishing terrorists, rather than preventing it. Thus, the world seems to be approaching a very unstable path: the security agenda is being pursued separately from the development agenda, forgetting that security and development are to sides of the same coin, and that one cannot be achieved without the other. This has profound economic, political, strategic, social and cultural implications for the world.

Real politik-From Mexico to the world does not pretend to answer all the questions on what is that the future holds in the first years of the 21st century. Rather, it is aimed at promoting a better informed debate on the present and future of international relations and the role that Mexico could and should play in the world scene, not only as a spectator but mostly as a pro-active actor, whose decisions have an impact in the world. Domestic issues are being increasingly influenced by the international environment. Thus, in this site you will find in Spanish, English and French, various arguments, references, data and suggestions on today’s world.

María Cristina Rosas' biography (in Spanish)

The origins of Real politik-From Mexico to the world (in Spanish)

Biographies of political leaders (in Spanish)

How to quote sources from the internet? (in Spanish)

Courses taught by María Cristina Rosas at UNAM, semester 2009-1 (in Spanish)

Directory of embassies, consulates and delegations of Mexico's Ministry for Foreign Affairs (in Spanish)

Matías Romero Institute (in Spanish)

Media in Mexico and the world (in Spanish)

Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations

Permanent Missions of countries to the United Nations

International Governmental Organisations (in Spanish)

Non-governmental organisations (in Spanish)

United Nations member countries

Diplomatic representations to Mexico (in Spanish)

News in the world (in French)

Universities in Latin America (in Spanish)

  Global society

Esperanto e identidad global

Public health

Anorexia y bulimia

... more

Environment

Calentamiento global y responsabilidad de Estados Unidos

Drug trafficking

Europa y la guerra de las drogas

Arts and enterteinment

El Principito cumple 60 años

Biography

Mónica González. In memoriam

... more

And...

Humor

Date page last modified and links checked: December 4th, 2008.

Contact for information about this page: María Cristina Rosas

 

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