IO concepts and characteristics Flashcards
Enchanted view of IOs
celebrates IOs as the manifestation of international cooperation and promotes compliance with their rules as an inherently desirable policy choice
/
assumes that IOs are inherently good or better than a system without them
Institution
a body of norms, rules and practices that shape behavior and expectations, without necessarily having the physical character of an IO
IO characteristics
- Bureaucracy/headquarters
- Formal rules and procedures
- Regular state meetings
- At least 3 member states
- Formal treaty base
Where do IOs exist?
The conceptual and legal speace between state sovereignty and legal obligations
Categories of IOs
- Membership: universal v. limited
- Competence: comprehensive/general v. limited/issue-specific
- Function: rule-making v. operational
- Decision-making authority: interngovermental/pooled sovereignty v. supranational/delegated sovereignty
pooled sovereignty
decisions taken by all member states based on horizontal authority
/
interngovernmental
delegated sovereignty
decision taken by organizational body designated by member states based on vertical authority
/
supranational
What is the IO paradox
IOs are created out of sovereignty/commitments of states, yet the goal of IOs is to limit choices of sovereign states
ASEAN
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
OAS
Organisation of American States
NGO’s
established by non-state actors
‘‘common purpose’’ (common good purpose/goal)
local, national or transnational
International regime
implicit or explicit principles, norms, rules and decision-making procedures around which actors’ expectations converge in a given area of international relations
- Krasner 1983
Principles
beliefs of fact, causation and rectitute
Norms
standards of behaviour defined in terms of rights and obligations
rules
specific prescriptions of proscriptions for actions
decision-making procedures
how are things decided when coming together within a regime
Scale of IOs, regimes and governance
IOs/NGOs
International Regimes
Global Governance
global governance
the sum of the formal and informal ideas, norms, procedures and institutions that help all actors identify, understand and adress trans-boundary problems
views on the role of IOs (Hurd)
IOs as Actors
- international legal personality
IOs as Fora
- arena for debate and negotiation
IOs as tools
- states can pursue their interest depending on how much power they have
Three forces of IOs in world politics
OBLIGATIONS
- direct obligations in the treaty
- indirect obligations which arise in the course of the operation of the IO
COMPLIANCE
- rational/explicit choice e.g. when joining
- implicit/subtle (IOs shape the behaviour of states: they shape the international environment)
ENFORCEMENT
- mostly indirect (loss of reputation)
State Sovereignty
legal and normative framework that constitutes states as the final authority over their territory and the people within it
Sovereignty v. interdependence
it’s hard to determine the role of sovereignty in an interdependent world: where is the line between sovereign rights and the rights of a state to be independent from outside influence (policy in one country influences other countries)
challenge IOs
IOs are stuck in the position of trying to influence actors that have the legal right and often the political power to resist that influence
theory
a set of ideas that simplifies the complexity of the world and identifies the key forces and actors within it
(Neo)realism
6
- Morgenthau
- anarchical international system
- states as main actors
- states are insecure -> power-seeking
- international politics = pursue of (military) power
- IOs as instruments of states to pursue national interest
(neoliberal) institutionalism
5
- Rob Cohen
- States as most important actors
- states as interdependent unitary actors
- IOs enable cooperation by reducing transaction costs
- international system is anarchical, but there is some community/cooperation
principle agent theory
subcategory of institutionalism
states are principles that delegate some part of their sovereignty to IOs as agents
liberalism
3
- states most important actors
- states plural actors (they differ from eachother)
- IOs agreements of states with expectations of beneficial payoff
interest-group liberalism
3
- Andrew Moravscik
- national interest is defined by multiple actors within states
- subcategory liberalism
regime theory
2
- subcategory liberalism
- rules form the basis of international regimes, rules aren’t only made by governments
contractualism
4
- IOs are contracts among governments, they are bargains of self-interested states
- IOs are by-products of interstate promises
- It is unfortunate when IOs act as independent actors
- subcategory liberalism
peace theory
the more trade, the less war
democratic states don’t go to war with each other
- subcategory liberalism
social contstructivism
3
- actors are driven by ideas (shaped by past interactions)
- co-constitution (ideas of people and states form international politcs + are shaped by international politics)
- Alexander Wendt: anarchy is what we make of it
critical theories
6
- want to understand and change/overcome the current international system
- Marxism
- feminism
- decolonialism
- postcolonialism
- neo-gramscianism
- world systems theory
marxism
- politics and economics are one singular system
- IOs = expression of political and economic interests of powerful actors
neo-gramscianism
- IOs and international politics have become sovereign over states
- states formation and interstate politics are moments of transnational dynamics of capital accumlation and class formulation
world systems theory
world is devided into periphery, semi periphery and capitalist core
