Unit 3: Global Governance Flashcards

Question

Intergovernmentalism:

Answer 1

Between governments

Answer 2

Above government level

Answer 3

States are able to cooperate to achieve common interests but retain sovereignty and democratic accountability. NAFTA is an example, though there is free trade, member states retain their political systems

Answer 4

If states refuse to share sovereignty decision making becomes difficult and the organisation may be ineffective. The IGOs became battlegrounds for national interests and 'lowest common denominator' outcomes or deadlock are likely. For example, the Copenhagen Accord left out any binding emissions targets

Answer 5

Decision making is easier if member states can't obstruct Possible to pursue goals which reflect the common good rather than national interests Rules can in theory be enforced on member states, achieving fairer and more effective outcomes

Answer 6

Decision making becomes remote from citizens and is undemocratic and may not reflect local circumstances States are likely to break the rules and in practice there is little that any current supranational bodies can do to stop them, especially if they are powerful

Answer 7

Classic UN peacekeeping role was to separate the two sides in a conflict between states and monitor a ceasefire However, since the 1990s, the UN has increasingly gone beyond traditional peacekeeping to intervene in a number of vicious conflicts within states that broke out after the Cold War UN has begun to shift its emphasis from traditional peacekeeping to peace-building after conflicts

Answer 8

Peacekeeping usually involves activities such as monitoring ceasefires and elections

Answer 9

Preconditions: - Security Council must sanction all operations and the host country must also accept UN involvement Factors affecting the success of peacekeeping operations: - UN has no resources of its own and can only be as effective as its members allow it to be Workable mandate is essential: - Must be achievable and not mix peacekeeping and peace enforcing - Resources must be adequate for the task Effective command and control: - UN lacked trained staff, HQ facilities, intelligence gathering facilities needed to conduct large scale military operations Warring parties must be ready to stop fighting: - Only where both sides are ready to end the fighting can the UN separate them and monitor the ceasefire Potential role of the UN: - UN could be more 'effective' in many crises if a standby force was created, so the UN could intervene before things get out of hand

Answer 10

Its claim to represent the whole global community gives the UN a legitimacy in bringing peace and security which regional bodies like NATO lack When its leading members are united and have the will to act, the UN has been successful in enforcing peace against aggressors

Answer 11

Divisions among UNSC members and a lack of will by leading powers to support UN operations have also resulted in many failures UN interventions have frequently been underpowered and suffer from unrealistic mandates Deadlock in the UNSC has prevented any UN role in many major crises, as in the case of Kosovo Members states are often not prepared to give up their sovereignty and respond effectively to the UN's campaigns UN organisations have been over-bureaucratic and wasteful Underfunded

Answer 12

Most important example is the reform of the Security Council - risk that an over large Council will become unworkable, especially if more members have vetoes Reform is to make the UN more effective in tackling peace and security issues - yet lack of a consensus among UN members over whether it is legitimate to disregard national sovereignty and intervene Effectiveness of peacekeeping forces also need to be improved - here the obstacle is the reluctance of developed countries to risk their troops on missions to countries where their national interest are not at stake Reform needed in the UN organisation itself UN's ability to stand up for Human Rights also needed to be reformed

Answer 13

Both organisations have been committed since the 1980s to the neoliberal 'Washington Consensus' approach - rigidly applied formula that ignores local conditions and often seriously damages Southern economies Most sustained criticism of both institutions relates to their role in the South Dominated by Northern countries Claimed both organisations are following misguided policies that are damaging and benefit the North at the cost of poverty in the South

Answer 14

WTO is dominated by rich Northern countries There are subtle biases within the decision making structures that systematically favour developed over developing countries WTO pursues an agenda that advances Northern interests, and especially those of TNCs who influence the rich countries' negotiating positions, at the expense of the South WTO rules allowed the USA, EU and Japan to keep up tariff barriers against Southern exports and subsided US and EU food exports which are ruining Southern farmers North also seeks to use the WTO to further open up Southern markets WTO rulings take insufficient notice of humanitarian and environmental considerations

Answer 15

World's most powerful military alliance, it deploys forces to meet new military tasks and challenges that its members wish to respond to NRF should enable NATO to combat threats to Western interests US participation makes credible NATO's security guarantee that its members will be defended collectively if they are threatened NATO also aims to stabilise East Europe by reassuring former Soviet Bloc countries about their security

Answer 16

Tensions between the US and the European members of NATO NATOs expansion - in danger of turning into more of a political than a military alliance Relations with Russia - NATO has to adapt to the fact that Russia is now much more powerful than in the 1990s

Answer 17

Requires the US to continue to follow multilateralist policies European states, must be willing to act against common dangers It is also essential that European members of NATO improve their capabilities Another issue is the danger that further enlargement might make NATO too unwieldy and add huge territories that it would be hard pressed to defend, as well as antagonising Russia

Answer 18

'Global Governance' is not the same as a formal 'world government', whereby states would have surrendered their sovereignty to a single global political authority. The world is a long way from this, though some of the institutions that have already emerged do exercise some of the functions that might be expected of a 'world government' e.g. the UNSC's resolutions are meant to be binding

Answer 19

Cold War prevented the UN from acting as originally intended: - The Security Council was polarised and cooperation between the leading powers to prevent breaches of peace was impossible - Both sides used the veto to protect their client states from criticism or sanctions - Collective Security was impossible during the Cold War instead 'peacekeeping' was developed

Answer 20

Growth of member states (51 in 1945, 193 in 2012) 'Third World' states were successful in getting the UN to respond to their priorities - decolonisation + economic + social development Expansion of the UN set North-South tensions alongside the East-West ones of the Cold War, showing one of the weaknesses of IGO's - they tend to become battlegrounds for national interests rather than finding common agendas Southern states, organising in blocs like the G7, were able to force issues important to them - decolonisation, trade, development - up the UN's agenda, especially in bodies like the UN Conference on Trade + Development (UNCTAD)

Answer 21

UN, as ever, is at the mercy of its member states, and particularly the attitude of the superpower - Bush disregarded it over Iraq in 2003 Despite 'responsibility to protect', it had done little so far to prevent massive human rights abuses in a range of conflicts, such as Darfur ICC has struggled against US opposition EU itself remains well short of a true federation Dominated by the rich developed countries, especially the US International cooperation against global problems has a very mixed record

Answer 22

Global political commitment which was endorsed by all member states of the UN at the 2005 World Summit to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing + crimes against humanity

Answer 23

Based on the underlying premise that sovereignty entails a responsibility to protect all populations from mass atrocity crimes + human rights violations Principle is based on a respect for the norms + principles of the international law, especially the underlying principles of law relating to sovereignty, peace + security, human rights and armed conflict

Answer 24

Used to provide a framework for employing measures, for example, economic sanctions, to prevent atrocity crimes + to ultimately protect civilians from their occurrence

Answer 25

United Nations Security Council - considered a measure of last resort

Answer 26

Lack of representation - Japan + Germany, huge economic strength, and emerging powers such as India, Brazil, Nigeria, Egypt + SA all have reasons to be members Existing membership = a regional imbalance, with no representation for Africa or Latin America among its permanent members

Answer 27

Observers = unarmed military officers sent to a conflict area in small numbers simply to watch what happens and report back to the UN Peacekeepers = lightly armed soldiers

Answer 28

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation - World's most powerful regional defence alliance

Answer 29

Formed in 1949 to counter the threat of post-war communist expansion Traditionally stated its general aim as being to "safeguard freedom, common heritage + civilisation" of its members by promoting "stability"

Answer 30

NATO redefined its role by using its defensive role to justify a more proactive approach to "out of area" activities

Answer 31

Disputes between countries - e.g. the invasion of Iraq Reluctance of many NATO governments to supply reinforcements e.g. Afghanistan - reinforces questions about alliances ability to sustain large scale operations

Answer 32

Russia is a threat - as shown through actions in Crimea 2014 Still communism - need to convey Democratic views Greater ability to adapt to different situations in the modern world - use more effective peacekeeping Encourages military as an option - helps to ensure equipped to defend + threaten - effective defence NATO consists of 10 European countries out of 12 founding NATO members - as EU doesn't have military force illustrates need for the use of NATO for protection, NATO not simply used as a tool by the US

Answer 33

As 5 permanent members have veto can create deadlock Not all representatives get an equal say - don't consult countries that are most affected by events All nations should contribute equally however there is a lack of representatives from emerging powers + certain areas of the world Failed to agree on how to resolve the issue of Syria No progress on the humanitarian front Problem of realpolitik - states will always look out for their own interest Nations don't contribute equally both financially + through contribution of peacekeepers

Answer 34

Key institutions of the World's Financial System were established at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference in US

Answer 35

Sought to ensure that the world avoided the economic problems which had contributed to the tensions which caused WW2 Conference aimed to promote the revival of international trade + to rebuild European prosperity

Answer 36

Though policies were successful in reviving the European + Japanese economies, they were unsustainable for the US by the 1970s In 1971, US abandoned the convertibility of the $ into Gold and the Bretton Woods system of stable exchange rates collapsed