The current war in Ukraine demonstrates that global governance is ineffective. Evaluate
this statement (20 marks).
The current war in Ukraine demonstrates that global governance is ineffective as it fails to
consider the differing goals of induvial countries and the lengths, they would go to achieve
them. Intergovernmentalism only works if all nations involved adhere to the rules agreed
upon in international treaties, but when these treaties no longer serve the interests of those
involved, there is little incentive to maintain them: Putin wanted to prevent Ukraine’s
joining the Western defensive alliance NATO, and so launched a military offensive in Ukraine
in February 2022, violating the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine as well as the UN Charter.
The intergovernmental organisations which are meant to promote peace and international
security such as the UN have therefore been shown to be ineffective in this regard,
especially with peace talks continuously stalling. Some believed that the increasing
interdependence of countries will lead to greater political stability as nations increasingly
cooperate as part of international organisations, with some going so far as to suggest this
will result in fewer wars, but the situation in Ukraine clearly demonstrates the flaw in this
theory.
In addition, global governance is often controlled by the biggest or most economically and
militarily powerful, and so decisions are often weighted in their favour; the UN for example,
is the leading organisation for global governance but relies on the funding of powerful
nations, which has led some to question its bias in rulings and actions. This is seen in the
case of Ukraine and Russia, which is not a new issue. When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014,
there was little consensus in the UN on passing resolutions about this. In addition, Russia is a
permanent member of the UN Security Council and therefore exert considerable political or
economic power in global systems, such as vetoing any security resolutions passed.
Similarly, under Article 108, all amendments to the charter must be approved by 2/3rds of
the General Assembly, including all permanent members of the Security Council, so Russia
could not be removed from the Council without its own vote agreeing. Similarly, it can be
hard to politically sanction powerful countries like Russia as many countries in Europe are
heavily reliant on Russia for its oil and energy supply, making it much harder for the EU to
respond with embargoes or sanctions.
However, these intergovernmental organisations are able to condemn Russia’s aggressive
actions and some countries are able to enforce sanctions. For example, the UN General
Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council during an Emergency
Special Session on Ukraine in April, while in September Russia was also suspended from the
European Convention on Human Rights. In addition, the Council of Europe and the UN have
both passed resolutions which condemn the aggression committed by Russia against
Ukraine and calling for the “swift and veritable withdrawal of Russian troops and armed
groups from Ukraine”, with the International Court of Justice ordering Russia to immediately
suspend its military operations in Ukraine. These actions all serve to demonstration
international cohesion and moral cooperation between international groups on a certain
issue and showing that global governance is effective as multiple intergovernmental
organisations can come together to agree on certain condition or issue. However, such
this statement (20 marks).
The current war in Ukraine demonstrates that global governance is ineffective as it fails to
consider the differing goals of induvial countries and the lengths, they would go to achieve
them. Intergovernmentalism only works if all nations involved adhere to the rules agreed
upon in international treaties, but when these treaties no longer serve the interests of those
involved, there is little incentive to maintain them: Putin wanted to prevent Ukraine’s
joining the Western defensive alliance NATO, and so launched a military offensive in Ukraine
in February 2022, violating the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine as well as the UN Charter.
The intergovernmental organisations which are meant to promote peace and international
security such as the UN have therefore been shown to be ineffective in this regard,
especially with peace talks continuously stalling. Some believed that the increasing
interdependence of countries will lead to greater political stability as nations increasingly
cooperate as part of international organisations, with some going so far as to suggest this
will result in fewer wars, but the situation in Ukraine clearly demonstrates the flaw in this
theory.
In addition, global governance is often controlled by the biggest or most economically and
militarily powerful, and so decisions are often weighted in their favour; the UN for example,
is the leading organisation for global governance but relies on the funding of powerful
nations, which has led some to question its bias in rulings and actions. This is seen in the
case of Ukraine and Russia, which is not a new issue. When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014,
there was little consensus in the UN on passing resolutions about this. In addition, Russia is a
permanent member of the UN Security Council and therefore exert considerable political or
economic power in global systems, such as vetoing any security resolutions passed.
Similarly, under Article 108, all amendments to the charter must be approved by 2/3rds of
the General Assembly, including all permanent members of the Security Council, so Russia
could not be removed from the Council without its own vote agreeing. Similarly, it can be
hard to politically sanction powerful countries like Russia as many countries in Europe are
heavily reliant on Russia for its oil and energy supply, making it much harder for the EU to
respond with embargoes or sanctions.
However, these intergovernmental organisations are able to condemn Russia’s aggressive
actions and some countries are able to enforce sanctions. For example, the UN General
Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council during an Emergency
Special Session on Ukraine in April, while in September Russia was also suspended from the
European Convention on Human Rights. In addition, the Council of Europe and the UN have
both passed resolutions which condemn the aggression committed by Russia against
Ukraine and calling for the “swift and veritable withdrawal of Russian troops and armed
groups from Ukraine”, with the International Court of Justice ordering Russia to immediately
suspend its military operations in Ukraine. These actions all serve to demonstration
international cohesion and moral cooperation between international groups on a certain
issue and showing that global governance is effective as multiple intergovernmental
organisations can come together to agree on certain condition or issue. However, such
