Global governance: political and economic Flashcards
Global Governance
The emergence of forms of international cooperation between states designed to ensure that there are decisions, rules, institutions and mechanisms to facilitate the smooth working of the international community in the absence of a global authority to impose order
4
Liberal view of global governance
- Challenges facing nation states are too large to deal with alone, therefore collective action is necessary and achievable
- Conflict is much less less prevalent between states as IGOs are able to resolve conflict
- Globalisation has meant that states are more aligned and interdependent, therefore more likely to cooperate
- There is now an unprecedented number of IGOs where states can meet and come to agreement
3
Realist view of global governance
- Conflict is still a dominant force in global politics, therefore GG does not work
- Agreements between nation states are difficult to achieve as states will protect their own interests
- International law are unenforceable
Intergovernmentalism (type of GG)
They are controlled by gov rather than institutions. It’s about groups making agreements between themselves. EG Peacekeeping or trade agreements
Supranationalism (type of GG)
Where a certain amount of sov/democratic accountability is handed over - it is the organisation as a whole
4
State Sov prevails
- Brexit and withdraal from the EU and independent trade deals with Australia, NZ and Japan
- Stricter immigration policy and border control - ‘points-based’ asylum
- Internal Market Act 2020 - ensuring regulatory consistency across 4 nations post Brexit, asserting control over internal trade and governance
- Independently supporting Ukraine during Russian invasion through military and financial aid - autonomy in shaping foreign policy
4
International coop prevails
- Paris Climate Agreement - countries worldwide have committed to lowering CO2 and addrss climate change collab
- COVID-19 Pandemic respnse - nations coop through mechanisms lke COVAX to ensure equitable vaccine distribution and share resources and data
- WTO - facilitates international trade
- UN Peacekeeping - troops from nations to stabilise conflict zones
3
UN Organ - UNGA
- Occupied a central position as the chief deliberate, policymaking and representative organ of the UN
- Inclusive, equal voice, democratic
- Non-binding - ‘talking shop’, lack of enforcement, ‘one country one vote’ over rep of states
‘Jaw Jaw is better than war war’
3
UN Organ - UNSC
- Maintains interantional peace and security, fosters negotiations, imposes sanctions and authorises the use of force during deployment of peacekeeping missions
- Comprehensive sanctions, global legit, peacekeeping and conflict res
- Veto power of permanent members - Russia used 129 - 56x in the first 11 years, lack of enforcement
UN Organ - Economic and Social Council
- Coordinates the work of 14 UN specialised agencies as well as functional and regional commissions - recieves reports for UN funds and programmes
- Broad mandate and global coverage, forum for consensus building
- Primarily advisory, bureaucracy, lack of resources
3
UN Organ - Secretariat
- Admnisters activites of the UN as mandates by the UNGA
- Centralised coordination, expertise, neutral, support for humanitarian missions, kofi annan impact
- Financial constraints, vulnerable to pol influence, limited autonomy
UN Organ - ICC
- Settles in accordance with international law on legal disputes sumbitted by states - gives advisory opinions on legal q referred by UN organs and specialised agencies
- Promotes rule of law, impartial, binding nature, greater legit, UN Court ruled UK has no sov over Chagos Island
- Still non-compulsory, slow and expensive, lack of enforce, South China Sea
UN Organ - Trusteeship Council
Supervises the administration of trust territories as they transitioned from colonies to sov nations
Hasn’t been active in 20 years
3
UN success in peacekeeping organisations
- UN peacekeeping force in Cyrpus 1964 - prevents violence from Greek cypriots and Turk cypriots
- UN MIssion in Liberia 2003 - end of Civil War - disarmament of ex combat and support transitioning to democratic governance
- UN Miion in Sierra Leone - helped a 10 year civil war, disarmed rebel group
3
UN unsuccessful in peacekeeping organisations
- UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda - ineffective during increased genocide - 800K killed
- UN Protection Force in Bosnia - unable to prevent Srebrenika massacre, limited success in addressing scale of vilence and ethnic cleansing
- UN Mission in Somalia - challenges in absence of central government, total factional violence and lack of coop from warlords. Ended after ‘Black Hawk Down’ - 18 US soldiers killed
UN success conclusion
Many missions have contributed to long term stability, rebuilding peace for countries originally in conflict. However, high profile failures like Rwanda, etc demonstrate the UN’s peacekeeping operations have limitations, particularily in situations requiring decisive military operations or when local actors refuse to cooperate.
3
UN issues - Representation
- Global North v South - seen as biased towards North (developed primarily western countries)
- 5 permament members h ad veto powers
- Global South argued it reflcts an outdated post WW1 power balance and does not reflect the realities of the 21st century
2
UN issues - Waste and Corruption
- Suffers from bureaucratic ineffeciency - large sums of money are spent on administration and logistics, reducing the effectivenes of its missions on the ground
- Oil for Food programme - intended to provide humanitarian aid to Iraq but became embroiled in widespread coruption and illegal dealings with Saddam Hussein’s regime
4
UN issues - Funding
- Largely funded by voluntary contributions for member states
- 2018 - 1B deficit due to delayed or reduced payments
- 2018 - 129 states paid dues - 2/3 of members
- Washingotn owed 381M in back payments and 74M in 2020 - Global South argues the burden of UN funding falls unfairly
2
UN issues - UNSC
- Disproportionate power of the P5 which leads to gridlock in addressing global crises
- Syria 2003 - resulted in a lack of effective intrernational action to end the civil war - US and allies favoured intervention whiklst Russia and China vetoed resolutions
Bush and Trump
UN issues - attitude of the USA
- Bush adminstration - notebaly unilateral, but bypasse UN to invade Iraq without the explicit approval of the UNSC - also pushed reform that algined with their interests
- Trump is largly dismissive:
- Withdrew from several UN bodies including the UN Human Rights Council and Paris Climate Change Agreement
- Cut funding to UN agencies including those addressing Palestinian refugees and climate change
- America First foreign policy led to tensions between member states especially on matters like the Iran nuclear deal, climate change and multilateralism
