1 - Introduction

Question 1

What is the main reason explaining the creation of IOs? (2)

Answer 1

1/ response to the needs arising from international intercourse

2/ response to practical problems requiring int. cooperation

Question 2

What are 3 counter-arguments to the affirmation that IOs are important and proliferate?

Answer 2

1/ era of liberalization and privatisation

2/ era of more flexible and informal frameworks

3/ era of new sovereignty, new nationalism

Question 3

What is the G20? (2)

Answer 3

1/ an informal group of 20 most important economies of the world (19 States + EU)

2/ also called “premier forum for int. economic cooperation” at 2009 Pittsburgh G20 Summit

Question 4

How did G20 come into being? (2)

Answer 4

1/ created in 1999 by a G7 meeting

2/ became central coordination forum only after 2008 financial crisis

Question 5

Criticism of G20? (2)

Answer 5

1/ criticism G20 is inefficient, unrepresentative, undemocratic

2/ cooperation has not been sufficiently condensed or crystallised to transform it in an IO

Question 6

Is G20 an IO? (2)

Answer 6

1/ not based on a treaty

2/ no real institutionalization of G20

=> so no, not an IO

Question 7

What does practice tell us regarding the creation of IOs? Examples? (2)

Answer 7

1/ new IOs continue to be created

2/ examples are: WTO, OPCW, ICC, IRENA, ITER, ICMP, Asian Infrastructure Bank, Int. Solar Alliance, Square Kilometre Array Observatory, astern Mediterranean Gas Forum

Question 8

Why are IOs created, why do they continue to be created? (3)

Answer 8

1/ response to practical issues and needs that cannot be solved at the national level

2/ cooperation is in the common interest

3/ IOs often offer a stable and permanent framework for such cooperation

Question 9

Why are institutions important according to H.F. Hamiel?

Answer 9

Hamiel considers institutions grow wiser as they accumulate collective experience

Question 10

What is a major task of twentieth-century statesmanship according to I. Claude? (2)

Answer 10

Strike a balance between:

1/ obsessive concern with institutional problems

2/ exclusive concentration upon substantive issues of current world politics

Question 11

Definition of IO? (3)

Answer 11

1/ founded on an int. agreement

2/ having at least one organ with a will of its own (volonté distincte ; independence from States creating the IO)

3/ established under IL

Question 12

How does the ILC define IOs? (4)

Answer 12

1/ intergovernmental organizations

2/ organization established by treaty or other instrument governed by IL

3/ own int. legal personality

4/ can include as members States and other entities

Question 13

What is a relevant historical breakdown with respect to the history of the law of IOs? (4)

Answer 13

1/ early years (19th century to WW1)

2/ between WW1 and WW2

3/ broadening and deepening (WW2 to 1990)

4/ euphoria and criticism (1990 to today)

Question 14

Characteristics of IOs in the 19th century to WW1 period? (5)

Answer 14

1/ first IO: Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine (1815)

2/ IOs in specific areas

3/ each IO has its own institutional and substantive law (so no general law of IOs/IIL)

4/ absolute State sovereignty

5/ a few visionary writers such as Lorimer and Reinsch

Question 15

Characteristics of IOs in interwar period? (2)

Answer 15

1/ IOs created in broader fields (e.g. LoN, ILO)

2/ rising awareness each IO has its own characteristics but that law of IOs has much in common with one another

Question 16

Characteristics of IOs in WW2-1990 period? (4)

Answer 16

1/ many new IOs (universal, regional, technical)

2/ innovations regarding scope of powers and strengthening of autonomy and legal status

3/ IIL as a new branch of law

4/ pioneers such as Tammes, Jenks, Bowett, Seidl-Hohenveldern, Schermers, Virally

Question 17

Characteristics of IOs in the post Cold War era? (3)

Answer 17

1/ increased activities in many areas

2/ responsibility & accountability of IOs (Institut de Droit International, ILA, ILC)

3/ acts of IOs brought before national and int. courts with rising frequency

Question 18

What are 2 ways of studying the law of IOs?

Answer 18

1/ study law of each individual IO

2/ also possible to take a broad and comparative approach (IIL)

Question 19

Why is it possible to affirm there is unity within diversity regarding IOs? (3)

Answer 19

1/ IOs are part of one common context characterized by State sovereignty, interdependence, need to cooperate (see Lorimer paradox)

2/ IOs have similar day-to-day problems and legal aspects

3/ there are common rules for IOs (1986 VCLT, rules on resp. of IOs, CIL, principles of law)

Question 20

What must be kept in mind when creating a new IO and drafting its constitutive instrument? (2)

Answer 20

1/ there is no single blueprint -> do not simply copy what already exists for other IOs

2/ but it is also not necessary to completely reinvent the wheel -> precedents can be useful and provide insights

=> it is therefore important to study the law AND practice of IOs

Question 21

What is the premise of the Lorimer paradox (1884)?

Answer 21

“IOs belong to all member States and to none”

Question 22

What concluding paradox may be drawn from the law of IOs? (2)

Answer 22

1/ each IO is unique

2/ but there is unity within diversity

Question 23

What is a fundamental tension within LPIO? (2)

Answer 23

1/ Theory: States are sovereign

2/ Practice: States are interdependent

Question 24

What are 2 types of IOs? (2)

Answer 24

1/ General (general field of operation like UN)

2/ Functional (created for specific function like UPU)

Question 25

Why would member States want an IO to have a will of its own? (2)

Answer 25

1/ avoid domination of decision-making by powerful States

2/ may grant IO special competence/legitimacy (e.g. UNSC)

Question 26

What is the institutional and substantive law of of IOs? (2)

Answer 26

1/ Institutional: rules governing setup of IO (structure, I&P, decision-making, financing etc)

2/ Substantive: rules regulating conduct of MS and citizens

Question 27

What are 3 criteria for classifying IOs?

Answer 27

1/ Universal >< Closed (membership)

2/ Supranational >< Intergovernmental (independent power)

3/ General >< Specialised (scope of cooperation)