THINGS DEBATERS MUST KNOW

SOCIETY & LAW Social contract theory In very simple words, social contract means when people give up some rights to the government in return to the obligation of government to maintain social order. This concept appeared since very early of society civilization, when human beings were aware they could not live without rules or authority to keep their survival. But political philosophers who are popular of speaking about this idea were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and J.J. Rousseau. For deeper information please see this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract

UNITED NATIONS Organization of UN The United Nations system is based on five principal organs (formerly six the Trusteeship Council suspended operations in 1994); the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Secretariat, and the International Court of Justice. Four of the five principal organs are located at the main United Nations headquarters located on international territory in New York City. The International Court of Justice is located in The Hague, while other major agencies are based in the UN offices at Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi. Other UN institutions are located throughout the world. For deeper information please see this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations

Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action. Its powers are exercised through United Nations Security Council Resolutions. The Security Council held its first session on 17 January 1946 at Church House, London. Since its first meeting, the Council, which exists in continuous session, has traveled widely, holding meetings in many cities, such as Paris and Addis Ababa, as well as at its current permanent home in the United Nations building in New York City.

Further information, see www.un.org/sc/

Peace Keeping Mission United Nations peacekeeping is a unique and dynamic instrument developed by the Organization as a way to help countries torn by conflict creates the conditions for lasting peace. The first UN peacekeeping mission was established in 1948, when the Security Council authorized the deployment of UN military observers to the Middle East to monitor the Armistice Agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Since then, there have been a total of 63 UN peacekeeping operations around the world. Deeper information see http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/

NUCLEAR Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty The NPT is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote co-operation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament. The NPT represents the only binding commitment in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament by the nuclear-weapon States. Opened for signature in 1968, the Treaty entered into force in 1970. Since its entry into force, the NPT has been the cornerstone of global nuclear non-proliferation regime. Adherence to the Treaty by 188 States, including the five nuclear-weapon States, renders the Treaty the most widely adhered to multilateral disarmament agreement. Further information http://www.un.org/events/npt2005/background.html

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for military purposes. It was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957. Though established independently of the United Nations under its own international treaty (the IAEA Statute), the IAEA reports to both the General Assembly and the Security Council. The IAEA has its headquarters in Vienna, Austria. Two "Regional Safeguards Offices" are located in Toronto, Canada; and Tokyo, Japan. The IAEA has two liaison offices, located in New York, USA; and Geneva, Switzerland. In addition, it has laboratories in Seibersdorf and Vienna, Austria; Monaco; and Trieste, Italy.

See www.iaea.org/ & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Atomic_Energy_Agency

RIGHTS Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is the idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its contribution to overall utility: that is, its contribution to happiness or pleasure as summed among all people. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome. Utilitarianism is often described by the phrase "the greatest good for the greatest number of people", and is also known as "the greatest happiness principle". Utility, the good to be maximized, has been defined by various thinkers as happiness or pleasure (versus suffering or pain), although preference utilitarians define it as the satisfaction of preferences. It may be described as a life stance, with happiness or pleasure being of ultimate importance. Utilitarianism can be characterised as a quantitative and reductionist approach to ethics. It can be contrasted with deontological ethics (which do not regard the consequences of an act as being a determinant of its moral worth) and virtue ethics (which focuses on character), as well as with other varieties of consequentialism. In general usage, the term utilitarian refers to a somewhat narrow economic or pragmatic viewpoint. Philosophical utilitarianism, however, is a much broader view that encompasses all aspects of people's lives. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism & www.utilitarianism.com

SECURITY Collective Security Collective security can be understood as a security arrangement in which all states cooperate collectively to provide security for all by the actions of all against any states within the groups which might challenge the existing order by using force. According to Inis Claude's article "Collective Security as an Approach to Peace"[1] collective security is seen as a compromise between the concept of world government and a nation-state based balance of power system, where the latter is seen as destructive or not a good enough safeguard for peace, and the first is deemed un accomplishable at the present time. And while collective security is possible, several prerequisites have to be met for it to work. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_security

Democratic Peace Theory Democratic peace theory (or liberal democratic theory or simply the democratic peace) holds that democracies, for some appropriate definition of democracy, rarely go to war with one another. The wording "democratic peace theory" is often disputed since, even if the theory is accepted, it does not imply that the "peace" has the key characteristics of a "democracy" among countries. Some critics argue that it will be more accurate to label it the "democracies do not fight each other" hypothesis [3]. The original theory and research on wars has been followed by many similar theories and related research on the relationship between democracy and peace, including that lesser conflicts than wars are also rare between democracies, and that systematic violence is in general less common within democracies. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_peace_theory & www.spiritus-temporis.com/democraticpeace-theory/

Just War Theory There is a long-standing tradition in Western culture of differentiating between just and unjust wars. Although people who are opposed to war in principle will surely disagree that any such distinction can possibly be made, the basic ideas involved seem to present a plausible argument that there are times when war is, at the very least, less just and as a result should receive less support from the public and from national leaders. The basic starting point of Just War Theory is that while war may be awful, it is nevertheless sometimes a necessary aspect of politics. War does not exist outside of moral deliberation - neither the argument that moral categories do not apply nor the claim it is inherently a moral evil is convincing. Therefore, it must be possible to subject wars to moral standards according to which some wars will be found more just and others less just. Further information see http://atheism.about.com/od/warandmorality/a/justwartheory.htm

Golden Arches Peace Theory In his book, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Thomas L. Friedman proposed The Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention, observing that no two countries with a McDonald's franchise had ever gone to war with one another, a version of the democratic peace theory. Shortly after the book was published, the NATO bombing of Serbia proved the theory wrong, though in a later edition Friedman argued that this exception proved the rule: the war ended quickly, he argued, partly because the Serbian population did not want to lose their place in a global system "symbolized by

McDonald's" (Friedman 2000: 252253). It should be noted that Friedman framed this theory in terms of McDonald's Golden Arches "with tongue slightly in cheek" (Friedman 2005). Recently, Friedman has updated the theory with the Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention (Friedman 2005). In 1998, McDonald's host countries India and Pakistan fought a border war over Kashmir. While not a full scale war, both countries flaunted their nuclear capabilities. At least two wars between McDonald's hosting nations have occurred since the NATO bombing of Serbia: the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon; and the 2008 conflict between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Arches#The_Golden_Arches_theory