International Organisations - UN and AU (13 September 2024) PDF

International Organisations 13 September 2024 Study Outcomes Differing perspectives on the formation and role of Explain: international organisations in international relations.  Abbreviations  UN: United Nations  AU: African Union  IO: International...

International Organisations 13 September 2024 Study Outcomes Differing perspectives on the formation and role of Explain: international organisations in international relations.  Abbreviations  UN: United Nations  AU: African Union  IO: International Organisation  NGO: Non-governmental Organisation  TNC: Transnational Corporations   aka IGO (international governmental organisation)  An institution with formal procedures and membership Concepts:  Membership ❖ Typically comprising of 3 or more International Organisation states What makes something international? Can 3 or more states within a region be called an IO?   Formal Procedures ❖ Characterised by rules and a formal structure Rules regulate relations between member states i.e. no democracies will go to war with each other Formal structure implements & enforces the Concepts: rules i.e. bodies and/or systems (ICJ?) International Organisation (2)  IOs can be viewed as: ❖ Instruments: mechanisms used by states to pursue their national interest ❖ Arenas: platform that facilitates debate, information exchange, permanent institutions for conference diplomacy ❖ Actors: global actors that enable states to take action through pooled sovereignty   Idea / theory and / or practice of common defense ❖ Idea = aggression can be resisted through united action ❖ Theory & Practice = pledge to defend each other Concepts:  States coming together: a) to defend each other against an aggressor Collective Security i.e. 9/11 and NATO (collective defence) OR b) punish a transgressor of international order   Depends on three conditions: ❖ States must be roughly equal ❖ All states must be willing to bear the costs & responsibility of defending one another ❖ There must be an international body with the moral authority and political Concepts: capacity to take effective action ‘One for all and all for one’ Collective Security (2)  Rise of International Organisation/s: Congress of Vienna (1814 – 1815) o Earliest IO o Established Concert of Europe o Discussions by major powers how to move Europe past wars o Attempt to create peace and stability in Europe - Meeting in Vienna to discuss new layout of Europe Rebalanced and resized major powers Divided French protectorates & annexations Restored Bourbon kings of Spain o Served as model for later organisations  Rise of International Organisation/s (2)  Number and membership of IOs increased in 19th and 20th centuries ❖ Primarily spurred by global crises i.e. World War I, Wall Street Crash, World War II ❖ Reflects awareness of growing interdependencies between states: power politics, economic crises, developmental disparities etc. Rise in international cooperation as mutually sustaining goals  Rise of International Organisation/s (3)  Dissolution of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War ❖ Showed general global decline - In terms of politics, dynamics, relations, alliances ❖ IOs, agencies and institutions continued to grow  Categorising International Organisations ❖ Membership – restricted vs universal membership i.e. EU / ECOWAS vs IMF / World Bank ❖ Competence – issue specific vs comprehensive i.e. FAO / ILO vs UN / AU ❖ Function – programme organisations vs operational organisations i.e. UNDP / IMF vs UNHCR / WHO ❖ Decision-making Authority - intergovernmentalism (p577) vs supranationalism (p575) i.e. OPEC/OECD vs EU  Global Governance & IOs (1)  IOs are hotly contested: ❖ Vehicles for power politics VS ❖ Seed for supranational / world government  Global Governance & IOs (2)  Rise of IOs seen as evidence of emergence of global governance system ❖ Global governance: Wider more extensive than IOs Range of informal and formal processes Involves wide array of actors i.e. governments, NGOs, citizen movements, TNCs, global markets ❖ IOs are key element global governance arrangements IOs facilitate process of cooperative problem solving IOs are formal or institutional face of global governance Theoretical underpinning for the creation of International Organisations  Debate on focuses motivations and processes through which integration and institution has occurred at an international level (3 theories): ❖ Federalism vs Functionalism vs Neofunctionalism (SELF STUDY)  Skeptical about IOs IOs seen as largely ineffective Realist View (1) Realists question the authority of IOs Weakness of IOs (according to Realists): International politics is all about the quest for power and states pursue absolute gains Little scope for levels of cooperation and trust that would allow for IOs to be meaningful and impactful  IOs threaten state sovereignty Will erode state authority Realist View (2) Neorealists find some usefulness in IOs: IOs and hegemony: powerful states tolerate IOs, while other states gain relative gains, hegemonic states continue to gain absolute gains through membership with IOs Effectiveness of IOs closely linked to rise of global hegemons BUT disproportionate burden that global hegemons shoulder can lead to long term decline  Committed supporters of IOs Liberal View (1) This commitment is reflective of their ideas of liberal institutionalism States cooperate because it is in their self interest to do so Acknowledgement that IOs are of growing importance and states can achieve more by working together In areas of mutual interest, absolute gains wins  Neoliberal institutionalists Acknowledge complex interdependence among states BUT this does not automatically result in Liberal View (2) creation of IOs Cooperation may be hard to achieve EVEN when there ate shared interests & goals ❖States may either: Feel incentive to defect from an agreement VS fear that other might defect IOs are important to preventing likelihood of defection ❖They are built on trust between and among states ❖Getting states accustomed to rule based behaviour Liberals question the realist belief that success of IOs requires the participation of a hegemonic state Constructivist View (1) Challenge realists and liberalists BUT share the assumption that states are rational actors ❖States guided by objective principles  The state system is an arena of intersubjective interaction Cooperation in the international Constructivist system is dependent: View (2) Identify and Interests ❖ Identities and interests change depending on membership and interactions within IOs IOs are essentially ideational constructs IOs shaped by states and their norms, values, principles States are shaped by the norms, values, principles of IOs  Critique IOs: Marxist View IOs exist to consolidate wider inequalities and imbalances of the global system Frankfurt critical theorists: IMF & World Bank have an internalized neoliberal agenda ❖Act in interest of global capitalism Feminist View Highlight the gendered construction of IOs (1) IOs demonstrate the traditional domination of elite men and internalized masculine idea and policy approaches  IOs centred around traditional masculine notions of security and Feminist View can perpetuate armed conflict (2) NATO and it potential to threaten human security concerns i.e. food, water, housing UN (Women, Peace and Security Agenda) granted feminists access to influencing global politic ❖Allowed for a refocusing in preventing armed conflict ❖Granted a better understanding of gender based and sexual violence  Similar to the Marxist view Postcolonial Focus on how IOs reproduce global View (1) inequalities Critique on Bretton Woods institutions and how they perpetuate neocolonialism ❖Global North (former colonial powers) exerting coercive economic power over Global South (colonized states)  Showcases how Bretton Woods institutions power lies in their debt bondage Postcolonial Debt bondage i.e. Structural Adjustment View (2) Programmes or loan conditionalities, military interventions, regime change projects Justified around ideas of humanitarian intervention, state building, peacebuilding, peacekeeping Economic and military intervention by Global North in Global South is seen as a rearticulation of colonial power in a more palatable form in a postcolonial age