CM Monde Contemporain Lecture Notes PDF

**CM MONDE CONTEMPORAIN** Lecture 2: other organizations [The world bank is the world's most powerful institution] - Created after WW2, in 1944 - Created by the allied nations (USA and UK) - Original name: IBRD - WORLD BANK created construction projects, like building dams and gene...

**CM MONDE CONTEMPORAIN** Lecture 2: other organizations [The world bank is the world's most powerful institution] - Created after WW2, in 1944 - Created by the allied nations (USA and UK) - Original name: IBRD - WORLD BANK created construction projects, like building dams and generating electricity to rebuild Europe - Main target goal today is funding food production, health and nutrition (improved quality of life) - Reduce extreme poverty, raise the income of the poorest 40% by low interest loans - Besides engineers and finance experts, the professionals that were part of the world bank in the 80s is a society focused experts and anthropologists and social scientists - World bank partners with the UN and the World Trade Organization (WTO) **NEGATIVE:** - Nearly 3,5m people were displaced to make room for the world bank funded projects - Kenya used \$70m of the Worlds Bank loan to evict thousands of indigenous people who had been living inn the project area - Creates corrupt leaders misappropriating loans - Considerable power is given to a small number of western countries **NATO** - 32 members - 1949 created - French, English official languages - HQ is in Brussels, Belgium - Collective security system system: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties - OG goal: military alliance, international solidarity against possible attacks by the Soviet Union USSR - Current goal to secure world peace by using deterrence (= threatening to use force to avoid conflict) *[PROBLEMS]* - Western countries are overrepresented while other countries feel underrepresented - Imbalance of powers - What can be done about that *[What can be done about that?]* - Create alternative intergovernmental organizations - Use other currencies other than the US \$ **BRICS** - The objective of BRICS is to create an alternative to the global order dominated by the West since WW2 - OG 5 COUNTRIES: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Now 10 members: BRICS+ Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the UAE - Geopolitical rival to the democratic nations of the G7 bloc (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the UK, USA) - BRICS currently represent 45% of the world's population, 30% of the world's land surface and 33% ¼ of the worlds GPD (pib) - BRICS GOALS = - To create a more inclusive multi sides - To use more local currencies than the Us dollar for global trades - To develop a BRICS bank to replace the IMF and the World Bank **OPEC**: org of the petroleum exporting countries - There are 13 members in OPEC - 23 countries in OPEC+ - OPEC countries are world's majors oil exporters - The 2 largest producers are *Saudia Arabia & Russia* - They regulate oil prices with Supply & Demand, keeping prices high by lowering supplies and keeping prices low by putting more oil into the market. - During covid the oil prices dropped / plummeted because of a lack of buyers (lockdown) and producers didn't have enough space to store all the oil they produced - After Russia's invasion on Ukraine, the oil prices had significant rises in the price because Russia was a main exporter and they would've received sanctions 1. Why don't opec+ countries increase oil production to reduce prices? - They don't want tube dictated to by the west - Other OPE nations have technical difficulties producing more 2. What is russia's wish? - To keep oil prices low 3\. Do OPE countries follow Russia's desire? - Opec+ wants to keep good relations with Russia (/one of the two biggest in the alliance)