Summary Political Global Governance Notes

Political Global Governance Notes

Introduction

United Nations

 World’s principle INGO
 Founded in 1945
 Compromised of 193 member states
 Has a wide range of responsibilities and powers (e.g.: international peace and security,
economic development, human rights, and social progress)


North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)

 Military alliance consisting of the USA and its key allies in Western Europe
 The purpose is to protect Western Europe from military threats from the Soviet Union


What is global governance?

 Government of a sovereign state is easy to identify
- Has a leader, often elected and in the form of a president/prime minister
- The leader and his/her government have to follow clear rules that set out what their powers
are and the limits of their power
- If elected directly by the population – government is seen as legitimate (has a mandate) and
the population accepts their actions
- Governments make laws that their citizens have to follow
- Courts and a police force enforce these laws
- The government proposes policies to manage the state effectively (health and education)

 In most stable states, these combined activities are called governance
- State is managed effectively
- Resources are distributed fairly
- Challenges are met with decisive solutions
- There is good governance and bad governance
- Bad governance: where power may be held illegitimately, and resources are scarce or
managed incompetently
- Example: failed states such as Syria

 States have recognised the need for some form of global governance
- Challenges such as global financial crisis, international terrorism, climate change and global
poverty can only be resolved by states working together
- These threats affect states and states contribute to threats
- States must work together to reduce these threats




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,The lack of a world government

 Attempts at global governance is much harder and less successful than national governance
 Nation states remain powerful and decisive actors in global politics
 Nation states are sovereign, meaning that they are usually able to take their own decisions
 It is rare for a higher authority to do something against their wishes
 How far states are willing or able to participate in global governance is linked to the different
types of power they have and the way they use their power (hard/soft/smart power)
 Difficult to insert a layer of formal authority above nation states – no world government


These difficulties include:

States are the principal actors

 They make or break global governance initiatives
 Nothing is agreed unless states agree to act
 Some states can opt out or block agreements making the agreements meaningless
- Example: Kyoto Protocol


International law is largely unenforceable

 In the case of most nation-states laws, every citizen is required to comply to law and is held
accountable in courts if they break the law
 International law is optional and requires states to actively sign up in order for the law to cover
them
 States can choose not to sign key treaties
 States can change their minds and withdraw from treaties
 Customary international law – law that is so widely accepted that it applies to states regardless
of whether they have signed up for it or not


Lack of international enforcement

 Even if states have signed up for international law, there are few means of international
enforcement (international human rights court) that can hold states accountable.


Rogue states

 These states, particularly in ones that have an illegitimate government that is exceeding its
powers (North Korea) have no desire to be a part of any system of global governance




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, Failed states

 These states are not fully in control of their internal governance (Somalia)
 Rarely effective participants in global governance
 They cannot hold authority over their own populations
 Insurgent groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria often take over regions in failed states
 The government does not exercise full control over all of its territory


Powerful states

 These states can pick and choose which global agreements they are a part of and simply ignore
international pressure
- Example: Refusal of the USA to sign climate change agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol

 Since there is no single authoritative world government, states work within global institutions or
IGOs and negotiate treaties so they can reach agreements on issues of shared importance
 NGOs are increasingly important in global governance initiatives
- NGOS: Not for profit organisations that are independent from states and are engaged in a
wide range of activities
 The work of global governance is primarily conducted between nation states either within IGOs
or directly


Political global governance

 There are 3 main ways in which states can work together in political global governance
 Which approach is used? - depends on the nature of the issue and the motivations of the states
involved in tackling this issue

1. IGOs
 These organisations provide permanent and formal rules-based framework in which states can
negotiate and form agreements
 Most IGOs are intergovernmental in the sense that nation-states negotiate and agree upon their
decisions
 Only in regional organisations (EU) are supranational powers found, meaning that this IGO can
force states to do things they might not agree with

2. International treaties
 Means of creating international law more flexibly on specific issues
 Either within or independent of IGOs
 Between two (bilateral treaties) or more (multilateral treaties)

3. Ad hoc meetings
 States can meet in informal meetings and undertake negotiations and agreements on a more ad
hoc basis


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