INDONESIA DEFENSE UNIVERSITY

THE PIECES OF GLOBAL GOVERNANCE IN

NUCLEAR CHALLENGES TO LIABILITY FRAMEWORK

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT
Diplomacy, Theory and Practice

Written by :

DIAN MAY FITRI

120140106010

DEFENSE DIPLOMACY DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF DEFENSE STRATEGY
2015
Global governance is not the same as global government, not in the single word order,
not a top-down, hierarchical structure of authority. It can be defined as the collection of
governance-related activities, rules, and mechanism, formal and informal, existing at a
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variety levels in the world. The pieces of global governance are the cooperative problemsolving arrangements and activities which states and other actors have put into place to deal
with various issues and problems, including international rules or laws, norms or soft law
and structures such as formal international intergovernmental orgaizations (IGOs) as well as
improvised arrangements that provide decisionmaking processes, information gathering and
analytical functions, dispute settlement procedures, and operational capabilities for managing
technical and development assistance programs, relief aid and force deployments. Those
rules, norms, and structures are linked together as international regimes which govern a
particular problem such as nuclear weapons proliferation, whaling, trade, food aid,
transportation, ozone, and other issues (Karns and Mingst, 2004).
Recently, nuclear issues have blown the problem consent which are particularly
challenging the context of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and any associated
regimes. On one side, nuclear can produce large and cheap energy for efficient longer period
of time. It is of course would attract the universal membership with its critical importance for
proven, durable, and resilient across four challenging decades; furthermore, it is given at least
some credit for helping prevent the widespread proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Nonetheless, since nuclear is still considered as a very potential energy, there are still
chronical debates, related to crisis and setbacks and possible defections, the nuclear issues
will rise fears for the future and doubts about adequacy.
Power and threat are two faces in one coin for nuclear issues. Within the power,
comes potential threat in line of it. States that want to develop their nuclear must first be
aware about their purposes and upcoming effects domestically and internationally. There are
several aspects in global governance to be concerned about related to nuclear issues for
power issues, namely:
Economy. As mentioned before, nuclear is a kind of energy which can be very
powerful yet efficient to build industry and modern civilization. If we can calculate the exact
advantages from numbers and results of developing nuclear, then we can start building the
correct process starting by the framework.
Defense and Security. For its strong power of energy, states can effectively use
nuclear as a strategic weapon which first will create deterrent effects toward other countries.
Not necessarily to show off only, but to make them see how damaging could be this mass
destruction weapon if being used in any particular situation. We might recall the gunboat
diplomacy term, held when a state shows its military capabilities, such as flying armed
warplanes through a military parade on air.
However, we also have to consider the other part of threat as the other side. As
explained below:
Environment. To build the nuclear, we need a very high and advanced technology.
Nuclear can create a very dangerous radiation, it is not good for humans and environment.
Natural ecosystem can also be affected by this radiation, genes mutation of living things are
further effects of nuclear radiation. The ownership and usage of nuclear is a very sensitive
issue in global politics. The most important factor is nuclear security. Leakage of nuclear
reactors and nuclear weapons attack bring negative impacts for many countries due to
extensive and destructive nuclear radiation. Thus, the nuclear issue became a global issue and
requires a comprehensive management.
The growing interest worldwide of nuclear power has to meet increased energy
demands. The spread of nuclear technology, in the absence of rigorous independent
regulatory regimes and international inspection programs can create serious security risks
issues, the proliferation of weapons capabilities and safety dangers could lead to accidents
(Miller, 2014).

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is a regime that has the legitimation to limit
the ownership of nuclear weapons, especially the Five Nuclear Weapon States, namely United
States, Russia, Britain, China, and France. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has three
basic principles, for instance proliferation, disarmament, and nuclear energy for energy
saving.
Nuclear weapons proliferation, not allowed either by Nuclear Weapon States and
non-Nuclear Weapon States which have never had nuclear weapons before.
Nuclear disarmament, arranges the owner of the nuclear states to decrease the
number of nuclear weapons ownership in certain limit in Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Meanwhile, nuclear is also used to be a source of energy to conserve non-renewable energy
resources.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was originally aimed to reduce nuclear weapons in Nuclear
Weapon States. Groups of countries have great influence in the formation and management of
the nuclear regime because they were the first countries which have acquired nuclear
capability. Nuclear Weapon States are also countries that have strong influences in the
International Atomic Energy Agencies (IAEA). The IAEA is an independent organization that
aims to develop the use of nuclear collectively through international cooperation to develop
the use of nuclear peacefully. In addition to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, other
regimes that govern the use of nuclear, among others are the Paris Convention in 1960, the
Vienna Convention in 1963, 1988 Joint Protocol, and the Convention on Supplementary
Compensation (CSC).
Nuclear energy for energy saving, the nuclear energy aspirants with regard to the
scope and adequacy of nuclear liability coverage still discuss the efficacy of deploying
nuclear power since the nuclear liability regimes need to be more transparent and fair to
compensate all parties related to nuclear issues, as following complex issues mentioned
(Abraham, 2014):
1. The tension among nuclear suppliers, nuclear operators, and the host and
neighboring states in sharing the cost of liability.
2. The continual debate regarding the sufficiency and availability of funds to meet
potential compensation demands in case of accident.
3. Altering the balance in the area of nuclear liability law jurisprudence by
identifying the nuclear supplier as the responsible party in case of an accident.
4. Reliance by growing number of nuclear aspirants on foreign technology and
expertise, including safety oversight.
5. Unavailability of a universal framework regarding the liability conventions across
all states.
In conclusion, the nuclear issues are part of global governance in a way that all states
cannot stand and work alone to develop nuclear. We have to look back on the terms
diplomacy, defense, and development. The connectivity of states will be built through
diplomacy among them, while at the same time states need to build their defense and security
and also develop their countries.
References
Abraham, Mohit. (2014). Nuclear Liability: A Key Component of the Public Policy
Decision to Deploy Nuclear Energy in Southeast Asia. Cambridge: American Academy of
Arts and Science.
Karnst, Margareth P. and Mingst, Karen A. (2004). International Organizations The
Politics and Process of Global Governance. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
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