Globalization of Crises and/or the Crisis of Globalization
193their population and the projected level of industrialization), the largest
part of the burden of responsibility lies on developed countries.^19
The challenges of achieving a coherent and effective global agreement
on climate change are complex and uncertain. While democratic states
essentially have developed mechanisms to implement social pressure on
those who threaten the environment, in autocratic ones this is not the case.
They have more problems to enforce such a mechanism in situations
where the problem requires collective action, or when its performance
impacts future generations. This is because then a large number of
structural weaknesses come to the surface–a short term electoral cycle, the
concentration of interest groups, the focus on the immediate effects
regarding the voters–all of which handicap their ability to address long-
term environmental problems. After all, these problems have been present
in Serbian society for a long time. The pressures of civil society and
enlightened leadership can make a clear distinction. However, bringing
environmental problems to the level of domestic policy priorities in
different countries is an accomplishment that, in reality, is hardly feasible,
as has already been shown at the UN conferences related to climate
change, especially in the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).^20
Problem of management
All these aspects of the global crisis suffer from the same paradox. It is
impossible to successfully treat them from the aspect of individual
national states. A global strategy and strong multilateral action are needed.
Of course, there are international institutions that are supposed to deal
with finance, economic development, security, and ecological aspects at
the planetary level. However, these institutions are fragmented and access
to their power is very uneven. In economy a considerable number of
institutions have greater or lesser importance. Here are just a few of them:
the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade
Organization and the International Labour Organization. In addition, there
is the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development, a number of regional organizations
like the European Union, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and
(^19) UNDP, Human Development Report 2007/2008, 41. According the data from,
World Resources Institute, Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT):
http://www.wrl.org/climate/project/description2.cfm?pld=93
(^20) Kyoto Protocol: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol