ROOM
29
Space Security
What is increasingly lacking is
a prudent, efficient and strong
global governance - including a
robust space governance system
T
he global security landscape darkened
in 2016 as the international community
failed to effectively come to grips with
some of humanity’s most pressing
existential threats, namely nuclear weapons and
climate change.
As a result, on 26 January 2017 the Bulletin of
the Atomic Scientists - which informs the public
of threats to the survival and development of
humanity from nuclear weapons, nuclear energy,
climate change and biosecurity - moved the hands
on its infamous Doomsday Clock 30 seconds closer
to midnight. It believes humanity is now just ‘two
minutes and 30 seconds’ away from annihilation.
The only other time it has been closer to
midnight was in 1953, when it was set at just two
minutes from ‘Doomsday’, as the Soviet Union and
the United States tested new hydrogen weapons.
In July 2014, commenting on the state of the
world, the former US Secretary of State Madame
Madeleine Albright acknowledged, “To put it
mildly, the world is a mess.” Shortly before, at the
2nd Manfred Lachs Conference on Global Space
Governance at McGill University in Montreal,
Canada, Prof Barry Kellman had observed, “Space
is a mess. It is a physical mess [and]... is also a
legal mess.”
Technology, be it nuclear, space systems or
anything else, is important for the well-being of
humanity. However, it is law and order that will help
not only in making economic and social benefits of
technology expand in an equitable manner, but also
in ensuring the very survival of the human race.
The world is fast becoming a ‘failed State’ and
we believe the main reason for such a looming
catastrophe - the muddled state of the world and
disorder in outer space - is the current global
geopolitical environment, which is resulting
from narrow unilateralism and ultra-nationalism
mainly by major powers in the wake of increasing
globalisation in every sphere of human activity.
The nations, which initiated and aggressively
pushed for globalisation in the 1970s and ’80s,
seem to feel that they are losing their power and
hegemony and, thus, are reverting to nationalistic
policies and are opposing globalised decision-
making and international lawmaking processes.
