IRE211 International Organizations Class 2 PDF

IRE211 CLASS 2 INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS DR. OSMAN KURTER  HOW DID IT ALL START?-HISTORICAL EVOLUTION The Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the 30 Years' War in Europe in 1648 also ended one of the bloodiest wars in the world and dominated the world system with an un...

IRE211 CLASS 2 INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS DR. OSMAN KURTER  HOW DID IT ALL START?-HISTORICAL EVOLUTION The Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the 30 Years' War in Europe in 1648 also ended one of the bloodiest wars in the world and dominated the world system with an understanding of sovereignty that radically changed the international system. This peace treaty, which symbolizes the victory of the territorial "nation-state" against universal empires, has made the sovereignty and equality of states a principled basic rule in international rules. As a natural reflection of this understanding, the world system started a political journey toward a structure established of sovereign and equal states. In this journey, as multinational empires collapsed one by one, many nation-states emerged instead. The nationalist movement started with the French Revolution and gave a new spirit to the new order, which was reformed around the sovereign equality principle, and the world system began to be called the "system of nations" or "international system".  HOW DID IT ALL START?-HISTORICAL EVOLUTION As a result of these developments, a new international system emerged, which was considered to consist of sovereign and equal states/units. This system has started to show an anarchic feature where there is no central authority, states generally act with security concerns, and security problems are the main subject of international relations. In this sense, the concept of anarchy does not refer to turmoil in the International Relations literature, but to a certain kind of order in which there is no central authority. In an international system where security is the main issue, developments in the field of cooperation and integration have been quite limited.  HOW DID IT ALL START?-HISTORICAL EVOLUTION In this new international system, which is based on sovereign and supposedly equal states, states have found the opportunity to cooperate only by establishing international organizations. In other words, the Treaty of Westphalia and the understanding of sovereignty and equality brought by it have been decisive in the emergence of international organizations. For this reason, the new international system consisting of territorial, sovereign, and equal nation-states is called the Westphalian system. It is a generally accepted idea that the Westphalian order still continues in the international relations literature. In a way, this is based on the understanding that the international system continues to be a system of supposedly sovereign and equal nation-states.  HOW DID IT ALL START?-HISTORICAL EVOLUTION International organizations have become indispensable for the peaceful functioning of the Westphalian system. Sovereignty and equality have intensified the competition of states within the international system, and international organizations have had a vital function as organizational frameworks that enable cooperation in this competition. Today, with the importance of international organizations and even as a result of international organizations gaining autonomy from the system of states that created them, discussions have arisen about whether the Westphalian order continues or not. This situation makes the issue of international organizations a very important issue.  HOW DID IT ALL START?-HISTORICAL EVOLUTION When the nationalist movement began to spread to Eastern Europe with the French Revolution and especially with the Napoleonic Wars, the territorial state gained a national character and the territorial nation-state model emerged as a dominant political model and political society in Europe. The territorial nation-state, nation, and homeland are essentially limited in terms of land and people. These two elements are also important in terms of the political identity of the territorial state. Certain land and a certain group of people is only the constitutive element of this new political model. As in multinational empires, the land that was the property of the emperor and the people as his subjects are no longer in question.  HOW DID IT ALL START?-HISTORICAL EVOLUTION On the other hand, it was necessary to wait until the beginning of the 19th century for international organizations to become widespread. The main reason for this is the prevalence of national and nation-states and the increase in relations between these states in a peaceful period. In this respect, the 19th century was a great beginning period in which international organizations became widespread in Europe. In the 19th century, the increasing cooperation environment within the "European Harmony" order that emerged with the 1815 Vienna Congress after the Napoleonic Wars created a suitable climate for the establishment of international organizations.  HOW DID IT ALL START?-HISTORICAL EVOLUTION Established in 1815 for Navigation on the Rhine, the "Central Commission" was both the first international organization to be established in this sense and was the pioneer of contemporary international organizations. This organization has survived to this day. Similar organizations were established for the Elbe River in 1821 and for the Danube River in 1856. In 1818, the German States established a customs union between them, called the Zollverein. The customs union in question emerged as a technical cooperation agreement and laid the foundation of the German Political Union. The second half of the 19th century was a period when many technical organizations were established in communication, transportation, and trade. These organizations mainly emerged in the form of arrangements between states in order to meet the needs arising from the development of trade.  How did it all start?-Historical Evolution Because the early international system had been mainly dominated by European nation-states, the first IOs emerged in the 19th century in Europe. The Congress of Vienna (1815) created a more convenient atmosphere for the development of IOs. The role and place of the state in the system also changed as a result of the development of communication systems. Therefore, it became necessary to define the changing nature of the international system and the role of power and states in international affairs. With the involvement of different types of actors, the international system has become more complicated and interdependent. Thus, the global governance perspective is essential for better understanding the role of IOs.  How did it all start?-Historical Evolution On the other hand, the outbreak of the First World War could not be prevented. The rivalry of nation-states, the strategy of the pursuit of power, and the political tensions that emerged in a military escalation dragged Europe into a great war in 1914. Therefore, the inadequacy of international organizations in maintaining peace has emerged. In this respect, the League of Nations, which was established in 1920 after the 1919 Paris Peace Conference that ended the war after the First World War, is a very important initiative. Behind this initiative were the liberal views of then-US President Woodrow Wilson and an approach to international politics that would later be called idealism. Wilson argued that under the domination of international law and international institutions, peace can be permanent if universal principles begin to shape the international system.  How did it all start?-Historical Evolution Wilson's views and the League of Nations initiative express the intention to leave the traditional realist understanding of security in international relations in principle and to have a liberal and integrative understanding through international organizations. The United States was not a member of the League of Nations, which was established around Wilson's ideas and efforts, due to reasons arising from its domestic politics, and this situation put the organization in a problematic situation from the beginning. Although this universal international organization was not successful and could not produce solutions to the main problems of the interwar period through law and diplomacy, it created a model of a large political international organization. This model, which goes beyond and even brings together limited and technical international organizations, will be implemented by the United Nations after the Second World War, and in this way, a new era will begin in the field of international organizations.  How did it all start?-Historical Evolution The most basic phenomenon observed in international relations is that the changing conditions and the new needs created by this deeply affect the relations between states. The new conditions that have emerged and the new needs that develop due to these new conditions force states to cooperate increasingly and make the physical and invisible borders between states increasingly uncertain. This phenomenon has been the main determinant in the emergence and development of international organizations.  How did it all start?-Historical Evolution The increase and diversification of IOs in international politics are closely related to globalization which emerged as a result of the rapid changes of the 20th century. Diez and his colleagues describe globalization as a “catch-all” concept that refers to “the widespread perception of the world as merging into a shared global economic and social space, a process caused by information Technologies and an increased degree of interdependency.” Globalization and interdependence are the key factors that have paved the way for global governance.  HOW DID IT ALL START?-HISTORICAL EVOLUTION Moreover, globalization has enabled nonstate actors to involve in the international system and created opportunities for them to play a greater role in decision-making processes. This has encouraged the entrance of new actors into the international system. For example, the establishment of the United Nations (UN) has provided an international platform for states. The development of information technologies has led to the creation of new issue-based IOs. Growing trade relations among states have increased the activities of multinational corporations (MNCs). This process has also encouraged societies to establish non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to push their governments. Eventually, international NGOs emerged to deal with transnational issues and challenges.  HOW DID IT ALL START?-HISTORICAL EVOLUTION Whether it comes from the dominant actors or arises due to the nature of the system, this desire for change ultimately changes international politics and causes the international system to turn into an integrated system that operates within a network of international institutions and rules. This emerging new organizational network and its co-evolving global and universal rules with international legitimacy naturally begin to have an impact on the functioning mechanisms of international politics. To understand and explain international organizations today, it is necessary to understand this phenomenon of change and the emerging global network of integrated institutions and rules. An international policy analysis without considering or ignoring this organizational network and the dynamics of change behind it will be incomplete and misleading.  Thank you for attending. Have a wonderful day and a week! See you next week 