The Role of Government

BIOLOGICAL, CHEMICAL AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS A MILITARY PERSPECTIVE 

Before the demise of the Soviet Union, the proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons was considered in the context of superpower relations. The breakup of the Soviet Union and the subsequent events have had many consequences. Regional conflicts, once constrained, are now increasingly likely to result in the use of weapons of mass destruction. Opportunities to acquire key technologies and components have expanded through the dual stimuli of underutilized technical expertise and difficult economic circumstances. Simultaneously, development and availability of applicable technologies have expanded. 

Responsible states have endeavored to stem proliferation of WMD through international agreements and export controls. Such tools, while imperfect, remain the basis for increasingly comprehensive steps to address the broad WMD threat. 

Concern about the proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and their means of delivery has reached exceptional levels. On November 14, 1994, the President of the United States found that ...the proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons ( weapons of mass destruction ) and of the means of delivering such weapons, constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. He declared a national emergency to deal with the threat. This executive order (12938) was extended on November 8, 1995 November 12, 1996 and again on November 12, 1997. 

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Despite the attractions of economic forces driving environmental protection, some cautions and failures have been noted. Firstly, the export of hazardous waste to countries where costs for treatment are lower enhances environmental risks during transport and has the potential for transboundary export in the event of pollution. At the same time, the loss of raw material may deprive the home market of an adequate supply of feedstock for the home-based industry. Secondly, there is considerable scepticism that self-regulation of TBT-based antifoulants could be achieved in a timely manner by the shipping industry. This is an instance where the cost benehts to one industry are born by another commercial sector, notably aquaculture. Thus, protection of the marine environment is likely to be aided by economic factors but the role of government, via taxation and standard setting, is not likely to be usurped. Public education and, in turn, pressure, can promote and support corporate environmentalism. 

The role of government, industry agencies and Non-Government Organizations (NGOS) agencies in policy development and implementation, Scientists do best provide brainman to decisionmakers in China for POPs control. 

Critiques of the role of government in basic and appKed research include Kealey... 

In keeping with the Conservative Governments desire to minimize the role of government, the White Paper emphasized private funding of science (paragraph 2.20), but also that there should be greater links between industry and the scientific expertise of British Universities ... 

Liberalism is concerned first and foremost with the preservation of the freedom of the individual. Freedom is understood as the absence of constraints on individual action and is exercised in the private sphere. The role of government is to protect this private sphere and its rights and freedoms, so government should not interfere in the actions of individuals unless such interference is warranted by the need to protect the rights and freedoms of others, in other words where the individual s actions cause harm to others this is the harm principle. 

The forms taken by our needs therefore depend on the world that we share with others. This is the same point that I made in Chapter 8 the content of individual interests is a function of the world in which the individual lives. To change the world we have to act with others. This action is political action and must be justified by arguments that are concerned with what the public world should be like. Such arguments should be at the centre of mainstream political discussion, and the role of government is to put their conclusions into effect. 

Merrigan, K. 2003. The role of government standards and market facilitation. In OECD (ed.) Organic Agriculture Sustainability, Markets and Policies. Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Paris, pp. 277-283. 

Wade, R. 1990. Governing the Market Economic Theory and the Role of Government in East Asian Industrialisation. Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press. 

Recommendation ES-4. The policy analysis capability of the Department of Energy with respect to the hydrogen economy should be strengthened, and the role of government in supporting and facilitating industry investments to... 

A thirty-second spot for cereal is just a commercial. Other than the occasional complaint that it encourages children to eat sugared foods or demand some tie-in toy, there s not much dispute about commercials for cereals. An ad for an allergy or arthritis drug, on the other hand, is a window into medical ethics, the role of government, the cost of health care, self-medication, and the doctor-patient relationship. 

Each nation that has implemented universal health insurance has created its system in the context of cultural, political, and economic values. The values held by other advanced countries that support universal health care include a sense of national and community responsibility, social solidarity, universality, equity, acceptance of the role of government, and skepticism about markets in addressing social and human needs. Political and economic values shape the administrative and financial dimensions of their health systems. As a result, each system is unique in its balance of central and local decision-making, the power and role of hospitals and physicians, and the extent to which market forces allocate resources. 

It follows then, that predominant libertarian values are deeply entrenched in the notion of the self-made person and that social rewards should only accrue if they are deserved and earned. The role of government is, therefore, limited to those functions that absolutely do not abridge the rights of the individual to exert his or her own will for what he or she believes to be best. Moreover, government s role would be limited to those functions and needs for which individuals could not provide (national defense, negotiation of treaties, etc.). 

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