Over the last decades and especially in the new millennium, global society is increasingly facing new risks and challenges on a global scale, demanding global solutions. With their articles on global risks, the authors have contributed to a topic that suffers from severe under-specification. Their contributions can be summoned up under three headings: Identification and Assessment, Normative Reflections and Alternative Modes of Governance. Each of the assembled articles shows, from very different academic perspectives, how international actors – states as well as regional and international organisations – deal with global risks that in today’s globalised world affect not only one state or region, but the international community as a whole.

Jana Hertwig, LLM, serves as Research Associate at the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV), Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Sylvia Maus, LLM, Almut Meyer zu Schwabedissen, MA, and Matthias Schuler, MA, are all researchers and lecturers at the Technische Universität Dresden.

Contents: Jana Hertwig/Sylvia Maus/Almut Meyer zu Schwabedissen/Matthias Schuler: Global Risks - An Introduction – Jörn Richert: Climate Change and the Transformation of Security - Political Consequences of the Emerging Discourse on Capitol Hill – Anke Dahrendorf: Global Proliferation of Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements: A Threat for the World Trade Organization and/or for Developing Countries? – Christian Burckhardt: Building a Better World? Assessing the European Union’s Military Operations in Africa – Kinka Gerke-Unger/Solveig Richter: Global Risks: Identification, Assessment and Management – Vanessa Holzer: The Relevance of the 1951 Refugee Convention for the Protection of Individuals Forced to Flee Armed Conflicts – Joris Larik: Corporate International Criminal Responsibility: Oxymoron or an Effective Tool for 21st Century Governance? – Nicolas Lamp: Democracy in the WTO - The Limits of the Legitimacy Debate – Alexander Brand/Tina Roeder: Normative Reflections to Enhance Existing Modes of Governance - Comment – Susanne Lechner: The Exit Option in the Treaty of Lisbon: More Harm than Good? – Ewa Karwowski: Challenging the Conventional Banking System: Does Islamic Banking Provide More Financial Stability? – Carolin Görzig: Risking War to Take a Chance on Peace? The Risk Paradox of Self-Perpetual Violence – Regina Heller/Cornelia Manger-Nestler: Alternative Modes of Governance - A Critical Appraisal. Inhaltsverzeichnis