The big idea: Global challenges are the problems that belong to everyone and no one — climate change, pandemics, terrorism, poverty. They cross borders, so no single state can solve them alone; they force states to cooperate whether they like it or not.
Interdependence has a flip side: if we share networks, economies and a planet, we also share problems. A challenge that no border can keep out is the ultimate proof that states depend on one another.
- Climate change — emissions anywhere warm the whole planet.
- Pandemics — a disease anywhere can spread everywhere.
- Terrorism & crime — networks that cross borders.
- Poverty & migration — problems that spill from one country to others.
The collective action problem: Shared problems create a collective action problem: everyone is better off if all states act, but each is tempted to free-ride — let others cut emissions or pay the cost. That temptation is why global challenges are so hard to solve.
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The clearest example of a global challenge — and of the effort to solve one together — is climate change and the Paris Agreement.
Case study — climate change and the Paris Agreement (2015): Climate change is the ultimate shared problem: greenhouse gases emitted anywhere warm the planet everywhere, so no country can fix it alone.
What Paris did
- In 2015, nearly every state signed the Paris Agreement, promising to cut emissions to limit global warming.
- It showed states can cooperate on a shared problem.
- But targets are largely voluntary, so the temptation to free-ride makes it hard to enforce.
Paris shows both sides of global challenges. The hope: nearly every country agreed a shared goal — proof cooperation is possible. The problem: with no world government to enforce it, states can fall short, and each hopes others will do the hard work.
The key point: Global challenges are problems too big for any one state, so they demand cooperation — but the collective action problem (the temptation to free-ride) makes that cooperation hard. Climate change and the Paris Agreement show both the possibility and the difficulty at once.
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Can states actually solve global challenges together, or are they doomed to fall short? Weigh both sides.
Link it up: Global challenges link straight to global governance (the IGOs and treaties built to manage them), sovereignty (states resist being told what to do) and the HL 'global political challenges' topics — a perfect bridge to the rest of the course.
How global challenges come up in Paper 1: A Paper 1 source might show a problem no single state can fix — climate, a pandemic, terrorism. The idea is that these shared problems force cooperation, yet the temptation to free-ride makes it hard.
With reference to a source and one example you have studied, explain why global challenges are so hard to solve.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Easy marks to lose: 1. Just listing problems. Explain why they are shared and hard to solve.
2. Forgetting the collective action problem. That is the key idea.
3. No real example. Use climate change and the Paris Agreement.
4. Only one side. Show both that cooperation is possible and why it often falls short.