GE 3: THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD
LESSON 4: THE UNITED NATIONS AND
CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
Ideas of Bentham and Kant
Bentham’s principle of & Kant’s Perpetual
Peace (1975).
-These ideology tries to see the relation of
human rights, international relation and
democracy ( voice of the people) in perceiving
an achievable concept of an united world and
society.
- There is no organization that various states
are accountable to.
- No organization can militarily compel a state
to obey predetermined global rules
- However, there is some regularity in the
general behavior of states.
Global governance - refers to the various
intersecting processes that create this order.
What if a particular country tries to commit
aggression on the other?
- The fact that states in an international order
continue to adhere to certain global norms
means that there is a semblance of world order
despite the lack of a single world government.
There are many sources of global
governance.
- International non-government organizations
(NGOs),can lobby individual states to behave
in a certain way.
Internationalization vs. International Law
- Internationalization refers to the increasing
importance of international trade, international
relations, treaties, alliances, etc. Inter-national,
of course,means between or among nations.
- While International Law is a set of rules,
norms, and standards generally accepted in
relations between nations. It covers abroad
range of domains, including war, diplomacy,
trade, and human rights.
What is an International Organization?
- refers to international intergovernmental
organizations or groups that are primarily made
up of member-states
• Major fallacy or International Organizations
are just merely amalgamations of various
states interests.
• In 1960 s and 1970 s, scholars believed that
IOS were just venues where the contradicting,
but sometimes intersecting, agendas of
countries were discussed—no more than talk
shops.
IOS can become influential as independent
organizations. Michael N. Barnett and Martha
Finnemore listed the powers of IO,namely:
1. Power of Classification - Ios can invent
and apply categories, they create powerful
global standards.
2. Power to Fix Meaning- States
organizations, and individuals view Ios as
legitimate sources of information.
3. Power to Diffuse Norms – norms are
acceptable code of conduct that may not be
strict law, but nevertheless produce regularity
in behavior. IOs also spread their ideas across
the world, therefore establishing global
standards.
- Because of great power IOs can produce
great good or great harm.
- It can promote relevant norms like
environmental protection and human rights that
may suggest countries to be followed.
Joseph Stiglitz
• ONE-SIZE FIT’s ALL Critique to the IMF
• Nobel prize winner “economics”
UNITED NATION
- UNITED NATION’s Brief History
- 1 January 1942 || The name "United Nations"
is coined
- The name "United Nations", coined by United
States President Franklin D. Roosevelt was
first used in Declaration by United Nations of 1
January 1942, during the Second World War,
when representatives of 26 nations pledged
their Govern their Governments to continue
fighting together against the Axis Power.
- October 1945 || The United Nations officially
comes into existence
- In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met
in San Francisco at the United Nations
Conference on International Organization to
draw up the United Nations Charter. Those
delegates deliberated on the basis of proposals
worked out by the representatives of China, the
Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the
United States at Dumbarton Oaks, United
States in August- October 194
So what is this UN?
- created after World War II, The United
Nations is an intergovernmental organization
tasked with maintaining international peace
and security, developing friendly relations
among nations, achieving international co-
operation, and being a center for harmonizing
the actions of nations.
The Five Organs of United Nations
1. General Assembly
2. Security Council
3. Economics and Social Council
4. International Court of Justice.
5. The Secretariat
Challenges in UN
- UN is not a world government, and its
functions primarily because of voluntary
cooperation from states
- If states refuse to cooperate, the influence of
UN can be severely circumscribed
- Biggest challenge of UN is related to issues
of security
- Because of P5’s veto power, it is tough for the
council to release a formal resolution.
- Late 1990 s, United States sought to
intervene in Kosovo War
- Slobadan Milosevic Serbian leader was
committing acts of ethnic cleansing against
ethnic Muslim Albanians in the province of
Kosovo.
- Hundreds and thousands of Albanians were
victims of massacres, mass deportations and
displacement.
- Syria undergoing civil war. 220,000 people
dead and 11 million displaced.
- Syrian President Basharal-Assad is an ally of
Russian dictator Valdimir Putin
- United Nations sought to invade Iraq in 2001,
it claimed that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein had
weapons of mass destruction(WMD)
- Russia, China and France were unconvinced
- Forcing United States to lead a small
"coalition of the willing“with its allies.
WORLD OF REGIONS
GLOBAL CHALLENGES
- Global Financial Crisis (2007 - 2008)
- Global Trade
- Global Peace
- Terrorism
- Other Global Issues such as Human
Trafficking, drug trade, HIV/ AIDS
- Oil Price
- Unemployment
- Human Rights Issues
- These global challenges have paved way for
nation-states to form regional organizations
and networks.
- This is nation-sates way of coping the
challenges of Globalization
- Philippines belongs to Southeast Asia
- southeast Asian nations form a regional
organization called ASEAN.
REGIONALISM
- of ten seen as a political and economic
phenomenon
- a process, an “emergent, socially constituted
phenomenon”
- it means regions are not natural or given they
are constructed and defined by the policy
makers,economic actors, and even social
movements.
REGIONS
- for Edward D. Mansfield and Helen V.
Milner, definitions of regions vary, but there
certain features that everyone can agree on.
1. Regions are group of countries located in
the same geographically specified area or an
amalgamation of two regions- a combination of
more than two regions- organized to regulate
and oversee flows and policy choices.
2. the words regionalization and regionalism
should not be interchanged
Regionalization - Regional Concentration Of
Economic Flows
Regionalism - a political process
characterized by economic policy cooperation
and coordination among countries
Globalization (Manfred Steger)- the
expansion and intensification of social relations
and consciousness across world-time and
across world-space.
HOW DO COUNTRIES RESPOND TO
GLOBALIZATION?
CHINA - offers cheap labor
SINGAPORE- first-class transit port
REASONS FOR REGIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
1. MILITARY DEFENSE
NATO - NORTH ATLANTICTREATY
ORGANIZATION
- formed during the cold war- several western
European countries and the u.s. Agreed to
protect Europe against the threat of the soviet
union.
The Cold War (1947–1991)
SOVIET UNION
- formed regional alliance called WARSAW
PACT- consisting of the Eastern European
countries under soviet domination.
2. To pool their resources, get better returns for
their exports, as well as expand for their
leverage against trading partners.
E.g OPEC - Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries est.1960
Iran. Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela
- they regulate the production and sale of oil.
3. To protect their independence from
pressures of superpower politics
NAM - Non-Aligned Movement 1961
Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Yugoslavia
- they pursue world peace and international
cooperation, human rights, national
sovereignty, racial and national equality, non-
intervention and peaceful conflict resolution.
4. Economic Crisis compels countries to come
together
e.g. The Thai Economy’s Collapse in 1996
ASEAN Countries along with China, Japan,
South Korea agreed to establish emergency
fund to solve the crisis.
NON-STATE REGIONALISM
- Tiny associations that include no more than a
few actors and focus on a single issue, or huge
continental nations that address a multitude of
common problems from territorial defense to
food security.
NEW REGIONALISM - is identified with
reformists who share the same values, norms,
institutions, and system that exist outside of the
traditional, established mainstream institutions
and systems.
E.g. NGOs - Non-Governmental
Organizations
CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES TO
REGIONALISM
1. Resurgence of Militant Nationalism and
Populism
-E.g Vladimir Putin’s Anti-NATO-Rhetoric
-NATO still exists
-Soviet Union Imploded in 1991
-Donald Trump’s disagreement of NATO’s use
of American Military without giving anything in
return
- Duterte’s Position against human rights
groups
2. Regional Financial Crisis
-Greece planned leaving European Union
-United Kingdom’s exit
3. Challenges to Sovereignty
-ASEAN members disagree over the extent to
which member countries should sacrifice their
sovereignty for the sake of regional stability
-ASEAN countries disagree on how to relate
China
-The Philippines cannot get other countries
support on West Philippines sea disputes
4. Different Visions
- Western Countries see Regional org. Not only
its Economic formations but as instrument of
Democratization.
- On the other hand, non-western govt. Like
Singapore, China and Russia see democracy
as an obstacle to the implementation and
deepening of economic globalization because
constant public inquiry and lengthy debate slow
down implementation.
REGIONALISM TODAY
- Official Regional Association proliferate
around the world
- In 2007, many countries joined the Asia
Pacific Economic Council (APEC)
- North Korea is part of regional forum,
discusses security issues in the region
- Countries will find it difficult to reject all form
of global economic integration.
- Regional Assoc. Emerge as new global
concerns arise.
- there is strength in numbers
- we are stronger together as a group than we
are apart as individuals