Global governance Political Flashcards
ECOSOC Strength Example - Water
200 million people have gained access to a safe water supply
UNSC Strengh Example - Peacekeeping
Authorised more than 70 peacekeeping missions since its foundations
E.G Economic sanctions in iran and Military action in Libya
UNSC Strength Example - Poverty Reduction
Extreme poverty has been reduced by half worldwide since MDGs were created in 2000
UNSC Strength Example - UN Resolution 678 Kuwait
Following Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, it authorised member states to deploy all necessary means to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation.
Lead to Gulf War
UNSC Strength Example - South Sudan
17,000 UN personnel are responsible for consolidating peace and security
UNSC Strength Example - Ivory Coast
2004 - Sent 3000 troops
2012 - Sent 12000 troops
UNSC Weakness Example - Resolutions ineffective
Resolution 751 (1992)
Established peacekeeping mission in Somalia
However, it failed due to: size of country, compelx internal rivalries and insufficient military deployments.
Forces were withdrawn in 1995
UNSC Weakness Example - Veto
2020 China and Russia vetoed resolution aimed at providing humanitarian aid to war torn Syria
UNSC Weakness Example - Ignored
Blair and Bush ignored urlings over their continued invasions of Iraq
UNSC Veto details
Russia and China use the Veto most frequently
UK and France have not used the veto since the 1980s
Recently the USA has vetoed resolutions concerning the Israel-Palestine Conflict
UNSC Weakness Example - Rwanda
Refused to send troops during Rwandan Genocide
-Due to deaths of some servicemen during conflict in Somalia in 1993
NATO Strength Example - Adaptation
Dealt with numerous threats since Cold War
E.g Afghanistan after 9/11
NATO Strength Example - Yugoslavia
1995 - Air campaign helped to end Bosnian War
1999 - Bombing campaigns may have stopped Kosovo Genocide
NATO Strength Example - Operation Ocean Shield (OOS)
Between 2009-2016 OOS worked on combatting piracy in the Indian Ocean
NATO Strength Example - Srebrenica
90s - Took military action against Bosnian Serbs follwing the Srebrenica Massacre
NATO Strength & Weakness Example - Fee
2% of GDP paid in order to join
However: Only 20% of members pay the 2%
NATO Weakness Example - Afghanistan
Complete Failure of an operation, now in control of Taliban
NATO Weakness Example - Gaddafi
2011 NATO Overthrew Gaddafi in Libya, then failed to provide the necessary military commitment to rebuild Libya, allowing it to become a Haven for Crime
UN Weakness Example - Syria & Ukraine
Powerless in intervening, inhibited by Veto
UNGA Weakness Example - Free Democracy figure
> 50% aren’t free democracies
UNGA Weakness Example - Resolutions
Non binding - symbolic value
UNGA Weakness Example - Consensus
Equality of nation states entails consensus is hard to achieve
ECOSOC Strength Example - SDG2 Reduce Hunger
Number of undernourished people has been halfed in 2 decades
ECOSOC Strength Example - Poverty
From 1990, levels of poverty were halved by 2010 - 5 years before the deadline of 2015
ECOSOC Strength Example - Committment to MDGs & SDGs
Commited to the 8 MDGs from 2000-15
Currently focusing on 17 SDGs from 2015-30.
ECOSOC Strength Example - SDG4 Education
Worldwide number of children out of school reduced by half since 2000
ECOSOC Strength Example - SDG1 Poverty
380 million backing
Number of people living in extreme poverty has been reduced from 1.8 billion to 800 million
ECOSOC Weakness Example - SDG1 Poverty
80% of the world’s poor still live in Sub-Saharan African and South Asia
ECOSOC Weakness Example - SDG7 Affordable and Clean Energy
By 2030 - 660 million people will still lack access to electricity and close to 2 billion people will still rely on polluting fuels and technologies for cooking
ECOSOC Weakness Example - Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has a highly controversial record on human rights
However, it sits on the Human Rights Council because no other country competed for its seat
ECOSOC Weakness Example - No plan
Helen Clark - headed UNDP from 2009-2017 said it had very little sense of strategic planning
ECOSOC Weakness Example - WHO
Attemped to reach pandemic treaty. Each country give 20% of vaccines to WHO
Have all countries agree to same terms.
not viable gobally - different cultures
E.g China boarding up houses during covid isn’t viable in other places
ECOSOC Weakness Example - SDG2 Reduce Hunger
795 million people remain chronically undernourished
ECOSOC Weakness Example - Remit
Remit is vague and overlaps heavily with UNGA
ICJ Strength Example - Temple
Cambodia and Thailand had disagreement over who got a temple, settled without either member losing face - Cambodia got the temple
ICJ Strength Example - Albania & Corfu
Albania found guilty of planting explosives which caused damages in Corfu.
Had to pay £844,000 as a repurcussion
ICJ Weakness Example - Clause for Jurisdiction signing
74/193 Signed it
Accepts in advance they’ll be subject to ICJ jurisdiction
ICJ Weakness Example - Russia
Ruled the Russian invasion of Ukraine was illegal and demanded that military operations be suspended, however Russia simply ignored this
ICJ Weakness Example - Chagos Islands
2019 ICJ declared UK ownership of Chagos Island to be llegal, and that they should be return to Maritius.
UNGA voted 116/6 that they should be returned
UK has refused to comply, stating that they will only be returned when they are no longer required for defence purposes
ICJ Weakness Example - Israel & Gaza
March 2024: Unanimously ordered that Israel must enable the unhindered flow of aid into Gaza in order to avert famine.
Would be Legally binding, though there is a lack of means of enforcement
Israel responded by saying that allegations that it is blocking aid are “wholly unfounded”
G7 Strength Example - Corporation tax
Committed to a 15% corporation tax
-Developing countries lose $160bn per year to MNCs dodging taxes
G7 Strength Example - Covid-19
Unanimously agreed to donate vaccines to poorer countries
G7 Weakness Example - Decline in Influence
Being overtaken by other countries.
E.g China is the world’s second largest economy
By 2100 the population of the G7 is predicted to be a mere 7.7% of the global total
G7 Weakness Example - Trump
2019, Trump didn’t turn up to meeting on climate issues
G7 Weakness Example - Compliance Rate
67%
G7 Weakness Example - % of world economy
1990 - 70%
2024 - 43%
2100 - 6.6%
G20 Strength Example - Climate Change
2023 - States agree to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030
G20 Weakness Example - Ukraine
G20 Changed its stance on Ukraine slightly, issuing no direct criticism of Russia whereas in 2022 it directly condemned them
G20 Weakness Example - Bali Summit 2022
Communique only stated that “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine”
G20 Strength Example - Biden + Xi
In 2022, Biden met with Xi and promised there would be no new Cold War between the two
ICJ Strength Example - Judgements and Advisory Opinions
As of June 2024 - 197 Judgements / 28 advisory opinions
