INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
2018-2019
A summary of the book mixing class notes, teacher’s power point
and book explanations.
1. Introduction and Wicked Problems
2. UN/Humanitarian Sector
3. Financial and Economic Organizations
4. Regional Organizations
5. NATO
6. International Non- Governmental Organizations
7. Climate change
8. Migration and Refugees
9. Conflict Resolution and Peacekeeping
, 1.- INTRODUCTION AND WICKED PROBLEMS
1. GLOBALIZATION
There has been a historical process of (cognitive) unification of mankind, whose main drivers are
technology, economic objectives, the unification of global languages (because of the colonies
that transferred them), and religion.
According to surveys, people tend to over-estimate the amount of current globalization.
Globalization:
- Liberalization of financial markets and of trade.
- Intensified exchanges (transport and communication).
- Technological revolutions in communication and transportation, initiated to a great deal
by the nation states themselves (end of the cold war).
- Development of global markets for capital, goods and services, not yet for people.
Geographical Distance still matters a great deal.
- Migration.
- International terrorism.
- Transnational social movements.
Globalization caused and increase in:
- The importance of international NGO’s.
- Interconnectedness and complexity lead to transnational wicked problems (“problems
without passports”).
- Increasing need for international cooperation and international organizations.
However, it meant a weakening of “congruence principle”: Territory, people and effective
government go hand in hand; and the leeway of policy making within nation states is decreasing
(especially for social, fiscal and economic policies).
There is a new political divide, which leads to the central question of:
How can we create a stable and sustainable political and economic international
order that is able to maintain peace, facilitates keeping the world a liveable habitat
and is as fair as possible to all participants in the absence of a world government?
2. GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
Global governance is the complex coordination without government on a global scale (see
definition p. 2 Karns et al. 2015).
- Sovereignty of states: Exclusive control of territory.
- Authority (institutional, delegated, expert, principled, capacity based).
- Power.
- Legitimacy (input, throughput, output).
, - Accountability.
- Effectiveness.
The main characteristics of global governance are:
- States are still the most important actors, and the primary frame of legitimate political
decision making.
- UN system is centerpiece in global arena.
- International courts.
- Increasing multilateralism.
Actors in Global Governance:
- States and their subnational and local jurisdictions.
- IGOs and their bureaucracies.
- NGOs
- Experts and epistemic communities.
- Networks and partnerships.
- Multinational corporations.
- Private foundations.
Varieties of global governance:
- International structures and mechanisms (formal and
informal).
IGOs: Global, regional, other.
NGOs
- International rules and laws Multilateral agreements, customary practices, judicial
decisions, regulatory standards.
- International norms or “soft laws” Framework agreements, select UN resolutions.
- International regimes.
- Ad hoc groups, arrangements and global conferences.
- Private and hybrid public-private governance.
IGO Functions:
- Informational: Gathering, analysing, and disseminating data.
- Forum: Providing place for exchange of views and decision-making.
- Normative: Defining standards of behaviour.
- Rule creation: Drafting legally binding treaties.
- Rule supervision: Monitoring compliance with rules, adjudicating disputes, taking
enforcement measures.
- Operational: Allocating resources, providing technical assistance and relief, deploying
forces.
- Idea generation.
, Does Trump signal the end of the Western liberal order and the re-organization of global politics
and policies?
3. WHAT IS THE “MODERN NATION STATE”?
Hobbes, Leviathan.
Syria’s complex relation
diagram.
A modern nation state is a form of political association that began to emerge slowly and
incoherently from the 12th to the 18th century in western Europe which had the following
characteristics:
2018-2019
A summary of the book mixing class notes, teacher’s power point
and book explanations.
1. Introduction and Wicked Problems
2. UN/Humanitarian Sector
3. Financial and Economic Organizations
4. Regional Organizations
5. NATO
6. International Non- Governmental Organizations
7. Climate change
8. Migration and Refugees
9. Conflict Resolution and Peacekeeping
, 1.- INTRODUCTION AND WICKED PROBLEMS
1. GLOBALIZATION
There has been a historical process of (cognitive) unification of mankind, whose main drivers are
technology, economic objectives, the unification of global languages (because of the colonies
that transferred them), and religion.
According to surveys, people tend to over-estimate the amount of current globalization.
Globalization:
- Liberalization of financial markets and of trade.
- Intensified exchanges (transport and communication).
- Technological revolutions in communication and transportation, initiated to a great deal
by the nation states themselves (end of the cold war).
- Development of global markets for capital, goods and services, not yet for people.
Geographical Distance still matters a great deal.
- Migration.
- International terrorism.
- Transnational social movements.
Globalization caused and increase in:
- The importance of international NGO’s.
- Interconnectedness and complexity lead to transnational wicked problems (“problems
without passports”).
- Increasing need for international cooperation and international organizations.
However, it meant a weakening of “congruence principle”: Territory, people and effective
government go hand in hand; and the leeway of policy making within nation states is decreasing
(especially for social, fiscal and economic policies).
There is a new political divide, which leads to the central question of:
How can we create a stable and sustainable political and economic international
order that is able to maintain peace, facilitates keeping the world a liveable habitat
and is as fair as possible to all participants in the absence of a world government?
2. GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
Global governance is the complex coordination without government on a global scale (see
definition p. 2 Karns et al. 2015).
- Sovereignty of states: Exclusive control of territory.
- Authority (institutional, delegated, expert, principled, capacity based).
- Power.
- Legitimacy (input, throughput, output).
, - Accountability.
- Effectiveness.
The main characteristics of global governance are:
- States are still the most important actors, and the primary frame of legitimate political
decision making.
- UN system is centerpiece in global arena.
- International courts.
- Increasing multilateralism.
Actors in Global Governance:
- States and their subnational and local jurisdictions.
- IGOs and their bureaucracies.
- NGOs
- Experts and epistemic communities.
- Networks and partnerships.
- Multinational corporations.
- Private foundations.
Varieties of global governance:
- International structures and mechanisms (formal and
informal).
IGOs: Global, regional, other.
NGOs
- International rules and laws Multilateral agreements, customary practices, judicial
decisions, regulatory standards.
- International norms or “soft laws” Framework agreements, select UN resolutions.
- International regimes.
- Ad hoc groups, arrangements and global conferences.
- Private and hybrid public-private governance.
IGO Functions:
- Informational: Gathering, analysing, and disseminating data.
- Forum: Providing place for exchange of views and decision-making.
- Normative: Defining standards of behaviour.
- Rule creation: Drafting legally binding treaties.
- Rule supervision: Monitoring compliance with rules, adjudicating disputes, taking
enforcement measures.
- Operational: Allocating resources, providing technical assistance and relief, deploying
forces.
- Idea generation.
, Does Trump signal the end of the Western liberal order and the re-organization of global politics
and policies?
3. WHAT IS THE “MODERN NATION STATE”?
Hobbes, Leviathan.
Syria’s complex relation
diagram.
A modern nation state is a form of political association that began to emerge slowly and
incoherently from the 12th to the 18th century in western Europe which had the following
characteristics:
