Re-Appraising Revolution and Change in International Politics: A Case Study of America Revolution 1776, French Revolution 1789 and Russian Revolution 1917

Change and continuity are characteristics of human history. Strategic change in any society has significant impacts that becomes reference points for similar transformation in the near future. Fundamentally, the numerous internal upheavals that characterized North Africa and Middle East that culminated in a change of government in these countries has raised fundamental question about subject of change and revolution. Such questions include: is every change a revolution and does every revolution culminate in a change? What are the distinguishing features of change and the significance of such change for contemporary international politics? Using secondary data derived from books, and journals, the paper therefore examines the revolution and change in international politics drawing from historical examples of America and France Revolution. Also, noting the causes and implications of these of revolution on International Relations. It also seeks to distinguish between socio-political upheaval and internal disruptions that may culminate in change from revolution, that is, a vital change that affects institution, structure and value system of a society. The paper recommends a cautious use of the term revolution from change of government

Impact Of Global Climate Change On Women's Health: An Overview

Global climate change is a topical issue in multidisciplinary discourse. Specifically, the vulnerabilities and health risk posed by climate change to the health of women have been a major concern. This paper presents a descriptive analysis, utilizing secondary data, to examine the link between climate change and the health of women. The study finds that climate change affects women more than men. More so, vulnerabilities of women to the numerous life· threatening effects of climate change have been exacerbated by the insensitive nature of most climate change response programmes and policies. The study concludes that solving the health implications of climate change on women goes beyond drafting a special protocol or framework protecting women. Rather, there is need for collective effort of all concerned to act responsibly towards the environment. Therefore, the study recommends among others, the need to create knowledge based jobs for women as a way of ameliorating the impact of climate change on the health of women

GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE: RESPONSES AND CHALLENGES

No doubt that the issue of Global climate change has been one ofthe greatest environmental problems whose effects cannot be denied in diverse countries and the world at large. The avert effect from this issue has led tq several local, regional and international conferences which have culminated in several protocols, and international legal frameworks formulated (Ranging from The Rio Earth Summit, Kyoto Protocol, and Copenhagen Conference among others) to tackle this issue. Yet Global climate change remains a global concern and a major threat to human security. The study examines the responses to Global Climate Change and the factors limiting the effectiveness and efficiency of the response. This paper adopted the descriptive historical approach and relied solely on secondary sources for data collection. This paper found among others that there are gaps between policy formulation and policy implementation, the major debacle to the effectiveness of the policies is the proliferation of Multilateral Environment Agreement (MEA), overlapping interest between market and nature and lack of gender sensitivity of the responses. Based on the findings, we recommend the need for the feminization of climate change response and more effort towards implementatio

REGIONALISM AND HEALTH: THE OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

The study examines the nexus between ‘regionalism cum regional integration’ and health. Health issues, especially in the time of emergencies, pose some challenges for regional integration efforts and could, in some cases, lead to the stagnation of a regional project. On the other hand, health is a viable platform on which regionalism can thrive and be strengthened. More so, regional initiatives for health promotion and management can also help in improving the health of the people of a region or in some adverse cases exacerbate health issues. The relationship between the two concepts is never unidirectional. This article is premised on the proposition that ‘health is development’ and regionalism is essentially for development too. Consequently, there is a point of convergence. Lessons are drawn here from different regions on how regionalism and health can interact for the attainment of sustainable health goals. The study involves a historical, descriptive and prescriptive analysis of the phenomena. A systematic review of existing literature in PubMed and Web of Science databases is done to indicate the links between the concepts with relevant cases; to identify the opportunities and the challenges of the interaction between the two concepts. The theoretical underpinnings of ‘relationships’ is also examined. Regionalism offers states an opportunity to pool resources for the attainment of the highest standard of health for the region. The paper, therefore, recommends more health’ consciousnesses in macro-regional planning and policy. Health can aid regionalism, and the latter has much utility in the attempt to govern and respond to health issues

Global Health Governance, Human Rights, and the Control of Infectious Diseases: A Case of the Ebola Epidemic in West Africa

The human right to the highest attainable standard of health has both a legal and normative basis. The legal foundations derive from a range of international agreements and declarations while the normative basis is rooted in humanitarianism. Alongside the rights‐based declarations came the growing recognition of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, as ill effects of globalization and potential risk to peace and development. The threats posed by infectious diseases like the Ebola virus disease (EVD) are now seen as universally relevant, as the speed and volume of international travel has made an outbreak or epidemic anywhere in the world a potential threat anywhere else. The question then arises as to where individual freedom is given up in the protection of the collective interest and national security of states. This chapter examines these right issues, with respect to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, as they collide with state actions to combat infectious diseases

Regional Health Governance in the Ebola Outbreak: The Need for African Solutions to African Problems

The need for context specific health policies and interventions in health systems in Africa cannot be overemphasized. Amongst many recommendations, the roles that regional organizations can play in health governance and policy implementation are important to this paper. Regional formations are already playing a significant role in shaping the formation of new socio-political intra-regional agendas. They also have the potential to engage as global actors through extraregional diplomacy and bloc activism in support of those agendas. They can also act as bridge organizations between global initiatives for health cooperation and national health policy implementation. Regional organizations have great utility, owing to their familiarity with the region’s specific political and cultural context. In terms of representation, they can provide leadership in translating global goals into regional context-specific priorities, a forum for the exchange of views and negotiation of legal instruments. The roles that regions can play are obviously enormous. The goal therefore is to understand how regional institutions in Africa, especially in West Africa, are taking advantage of their immerse potentials to affect global policies and governance for health. Also, in light of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the paper seeks to assess the roles played by the African Union (AU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and its health organization, the West Africa Health Organisation (WAHO) in response to the epidemic. The paper recommends that regional organizations in Africa can play central roles in health governance, by steering global governance for health priorities in Africa, thereby reducing the burden of diseases

Nigeria's Foreign Policy and Codification of National Interest: A Prescriptive Analysis

Nigeria has an ambitious foreign policy but an ambiguous, unscripted, not well defined and inconsistent national interest. Aside the fact that this is not good for a country that pursues an ambitious external agenda and incongruent with its stature in global politics; it also makes the concept and reality of national interest susceptible to personalized interpretations, manipulations and distortions by the different political regimes. In other words, national interest becomes different strokes for different folks, depending on how each perceives and wishes it. Like every other sovereign country of the world, Nigeria's national interests have been largely determined and defined by the various leaderships that have over the years ruled the country. This paper builds its argument on the premise that a country's national interest is pivotal to its foreign policy and national development. Using the National Interest Theory (NRT) for a historical-descriptive discourse, the underlying issues found include the fact that in the case of Nigeria, as vital as the concept is both to the existence of a nation and as a source for the analysis of foreign policy behaviour of states, national interest has been subject to exploitation. Successive leadership of the country has hidden under the cover of national interest to perpetuate their individual interests. The probability for carrying out such acts is very high because Nigeria's national interest lacks proper codification and documentation. This paper thus makes a case for the codification and documentation of Nigeria's national interest. It does not suggest what the "interests" should be, but argues for intelligible national interest for direction, focus and attention to topmost priorities in the country's external relations