Global Governance Flashcards
What is Global Governance?
Global governance functions through a set of institutions, rules, and processes that aim to manage cross-border issues.
All rules and organisations aimed at making sure everybody wors in a fair way.
How is the world governed by norms, laws and institutions?
> International laws are rules that are established by countries through international agreements. Individual laws cover human rights, labour standards and trade regulations.
> Norms are accepted standards of behaviour- they are usually negative consequences for countries, companies or individuals that don’t follow them.
> Institutions are political and legal organisations. They exist to pass and enforce laws, and decide whether a law has been broken. On a global scale, they include United Nations, World Trade Organisations and international criminal courts.
How does global governance aim to promote growth and stability?
The laws and norms that international institutions enforce mean that countries must abide by common rules. This gives greater stability because countries know how other countries are likely to act in a situation, making conflict less likely.
The World trade organisation aims to increase global trade through common rules- more trade leads to economic growth and rules make trade more predictable, increasing stability.
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Countries sign up to international laws and institutions voluntarily- if a country does not sign up then they are not to follow the laws.
It can be difficult to make countries comply with the rules. China ignored a court ruling that its claims over the South China Sea went against international law. Other countries have not brought economic sanctions against China, they are important within the global economy.
What are trade rules?
Countries cannot take advantage of each other, so all countries can develop.
How can global institutions create inequalities and injustices?
1) There are conditions for when receiving a loan from the IMF or World Bank e.g. in order to receive loans, less developed countries have to implement free trade policies and cut government spending on education and healthcare. This has made inequality and poverty worse in less developed countries.
The United Nations is a global institution
> The UN was set up in 1945 to establish a peaceful and fair world.
> The UN currently has 193 member countries - the UN has a lot of authority because practically every country in the world is a member.
> The UNs aims are:
- to maintain global peace and security
- to use cooperation to solve international problems
- to develop friendly relations between nations
- to bring countries together to settle disputes.
How does the UN work to promote growth and stability?
Growth- The UN Millennium Development Goals have helped reduce the number of people living in poverty, increased the number of children in private schools and decreased child mortality rates.
Stability- UN peacekeeping missions can help to end wars, e.g. peaceful elections were held in cote d’ivoire in 2015 after years of civil war.
How does the UN encourage inequalities and injustices?
Inequalities- developed countries hold the most power over decisions taken at the UN. Many of the global issues tackled by the UN affect African countries the most e.g. refugee crisis.
Injustices- at times the UN has been ineffective. e.g. in 1995, UN peacekeepers failed to protect 8000 people in Srebenica in south-east Europe when Bosnian Serbs massacred them.
How do institutions work together to make global governance a success?
1) Institutions operate at a range of scales- they all need to interact to ensure that governance is effective.
2) Decisions made by global institutions affect institutions at the international, national, regional and local scales.
3) Decisions at the local or regional level can affect institutions at the global level.
4) Non- governmental organisations also operate on a range of scales to monitor and support institutions. For example, some NGOs lobby for national governments to create laws e.g. Green peace campaign for more environmental protection, whilst others act at a local scale, e.g. helping communities gain access to safe water.
