lesson 6

Political Aspect of Globalisation

• Focuses on what happens when countries have disputes.

League of Nations

• An entity to maintain peace and security.

United Nations (UN)

• It is an international organization with most of the world's countries as members.
• Maintains peace, security, and prosperity for all.
• Created in 1945 and has 193 members.
• Successor to the League of Nations.
• The mission is to maintain international peace and security.
• Promotes friendly relations between countries.
• Affirms human rights and promotes social progress.

General Assembly

• A body of the UN where all member states can vote on key issues.
• UN resolutions are formal proposals of action.
• Addresses a range of global issues, including war, peace, climate change, refugees, and human trafficking.
• UN resolutions are passed by being voted on by member states, but are not always compulsory.

Security Council

• The UN body that has primary responsibility for maintaining world peace and security.
• The Security Council is made up of 15 members.
• Five permanent members include China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
• Ten non-permanent members serve terms on the Council.
• Unlike General Assembly resolutions, all members must comply with Security Council resolutions.
• It responds to potential conflicts or threats to peace by settling disputes diplomatically and recommending solutions.
• Sanctions can be imposed or force authorized to restore peace, if necessary.

The United Nations

• Focuses on solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian nature.
• Solves these problems through its various bodies.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) is one such agency.
• The WHO promotes health, keeps the world safe, and serves vulnerable populations.
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
• UNESCO contributes to peace and security by promoting international cooperation in education, sciences, culture, communication, and information.
• The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), originally known as United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund.
• It contributes to relieving suffering during emergencies and helps any children threatened due to violence, abuse, or exploitation; UNICEF upholds the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Bodies of the United Nations

• The economic side is managed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
• It is also managed by the World Bank (WB) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
• The IMF's purpose is to oversee the world monetary system.
• It attempts to maintain exchange stability and to help countries that get into balance of payment difficulties by providing loans and advice.
• The World Bank's function is to support developing countries through long-term development projects.
• The WTO regulates trade between countries, it is an intergovernmental body.
• The WTO helps its members use trade to raise living standards, create jobs, and improve people's lives.
• The WTO operates the global system of trade rules, helps developing economies build their trade capacity, and seeks to create a more inclusive trading system.

Transnational Corporations (TNC)

• A feature of economic globalization is the emergence of powerful transnational corporations.
• The top 200 account for about half the world's industrial output.
• TNCs have subsidiaries in many countries.
• Nearly all have their headquarters in the northern hemisphere.
• They influence governments and control world trade through lobby groups and other methods.
• TNCs sometimes do this at the expense of the countries in which they operate.
• The Internet has helped finance to be moved easily, so TNCs can declare their profits in countries that have the lowest tax rates.
• Moves through the UN to block such practices are often opposed by the benefitting countries.
• Coca-Cola, Apple, McDonald's, and Nike are examples of TNCs.
• TNCs aim to exploit cheap, flexible, non-unionised labor forces in developing countries by relocating factories.
• Business environments cause TNCs is to move to another country.
• The creation of the 'gig economy' in developed countries has resulted, where people are on zero-hour contracts.
• Workers on these contracts are only paid when there is enough demand to put them to work.
• They often have no benefits like health insurance or pension payments.
• They have no job security and were the first to suffer in the COVID-19 lockdown.
• Sub-units of the UN address specific parts of its mission and focuses on the economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian character.
• Whilst these bodies should help all countries benefit from a globalized world, in reality they are limited by their membership. The UN Security Council consists of 15 members, but only 5 of those are permanent members: China, France, U.S., UK, and Russia.
• They were all allies in WWII and founding members of the UN
• They have individual power to veto any decision they do not like.

NGOs

• NGOs are Non-Governmental Organizations.
• NGOs such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF (Doctors without Borders) provide assistance to targeted areas of interest.
• Most NGOs operate through donations and grants and are staffed with volunteers.