Conference Program

This presentation explores the transformative role of food security in shaping the contemporary global security agenda. As we navigate an ever-changing international landscape, the significance of food security emerges as a new frontier with profound implications. We delve into the reasons why food security is now a critical factor influencing international stability. By unraveling its interconnectedness with broader security dynamics, we aim to provide a clear understanding of how addressing food security is integral to reshaping the priorities of the global security agenda. The transformative role of food security in the contemporary global security agenda lies in its recognition as a critical factor influencing geopolitical dynamics and international stability. Key aspects of its transformative role include: interconnectedness of security domains, linkages with conflict and stability, global economic impact, humanitarian and moral imperatives, climate change resilience, prevention of radicalization and extremism, diplomacy and conflict prevention. In summary, the transformative role of food security in the contemporary global security agenda lies in its recognition as a multifaceted factor with implications for peace, stability, economic prosperity, and the overall well-being of nations and the global community.

Tackling climate change is challenging not only because it poses an existential threat, but also because it requires coordinated political action amid an increasingly fractured international environment. However, while it is impossible to mitigate the effects of climate change without fostering an energy transition, the latter has become an increasingly complex process. First, because resources are no longer geographically concentrated, the division between producers and consumers is blurred, energy transportation no longer involves pipelines and tanks but electric grids, generation is decentralized, and the greatest advantage for states is not the physical possession of energy resources but the control of the technologies needed to transform them into actual electricity. Second, because green technologies have increasingly been securitized. As a result of the transformations in both the energy sector and broader international politics, traditional conceptions of energy security no longer support the complexity of the green transition. This paper investigates how these dynamics affect the concept of energy security. It addresses empirical changes that have challenged long-established conceptual and theoretical frameworks. Considering the central role that technology has taken in the energy transition, it proposes a re-conceptualization of energy security by bringing international political economy to the center of the concept.

According to specialized literature, it is acknowledged that energy is a fundamental element for global development. Considering this relevance, the United Nations, through the 2030 Agenda, outlines in its Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 7 the need to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. The SDGs constitute a compilation of objectives aimed at proposing solutions to various issues facing the global community.The four dimensions considered by goal 7 (affordability, reliability, sustainability, and modernity of energy) are the pillars upon which global efforts are based for the protection, distribution, and legislation of energy.

On the other hand, the cross-border region of Cali-Baja (comprising the states of California in the United States and Baja California in Mexico) is an area where there is a particular dynamic in energy matters. Both states cooperate locally and regionally to address common issues in this field due to a deep interdependence between both sides of the border.

The objective of this presentation is to discuss the policies and strategies implemented by the governments of California and Baja California to fulfill SDG 7, and their effectiveness in achieving the objectives of SDG 7 will be evaluated. The presentation will also address the challenges and opportunities that the Cali-Baja cross-border region faces in implementing SDG 7, and possible solutions to overcome these challenges will be discussed.

The security related impact of developmental challenges around the world is due to globalisation which magnifies the interdependence. The two kinds of security such as Traditional and Non-traditional security have taken a new place in International Relations. What one may find is that aftermath of the Cold War was perhaps the emergence of the concept of human security like the economic, food, health, environmental, personal, community and political security. With the identification of main threats to human security, that is, unchecked population growth, disparities in economic opportunities, migration pressures, environmental degradation, cyber security, drug trafficking, and international terrorism shifted the reference object from the state to the individual. Pandemic has given the world a valid reason to revisit non-traditional security threats and re-evaluate the preparedness to handle such crisis. Moreover, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has influenced the current world order. The rationale of the study is that today it is the pandemic or the Russia-Ukraine war which led to global emergency, tomorrow it could be bioterrorism, global migration, climate change, and hence it is conspicuous that due to intricate global integration of nations, non-traditional security concerns are becoming crucial. This paper, thus, examines the global challenges and threats to human security that exist in the modern world besides emphasising on the geopolitical ripples in International Relations. It also looks into the obvious role and the impact of non-state actors in tackling the pandemic and the situation thereafter the Russia-Ukraine war.

The paper presents the use of the PROMETHEE multicriteria method (Method of Organization of Ranking of Preferences for Environmental Assessment) in the simulation of complex negotiations for applying safeguards on the nuclear material for propulsion of submarines by Non-nuclear Weapons States (NNWS). The hypothetical negotiation case between the Brazilian State and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was selected, aiming at the Arrangement of Special Safeguard Procedures to be applied to the nuclear material of the future nuclear-powered submarine being developed for the Brazilian Navy. Therefore, the paper proceeds into four steps. Firstly, it discusses the context of the negotiations of Special Procedures Arrangement models for applying safeguards on the nuclear material for the propulsion of submarines by NNWS. Secondly and thirdly, the paper presents an overview of the multicriteria methodology and the PROMETHEE method, which incorporates interdisciplinary parameters for robust and exhaustive modelling, presenting its main characteristics in the use of attributes with which one seeks to identify and measure the preferences of decision-makers, allowing the ordering of alternatives for strategic decision making. Finally, the last section presents the results achieved in a set of simulations carried out with multidisciplinary and strategic teams.