What is an International

Organization?
Prepared by: Sir Kenneth Benedicto
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 ● When scholars refer to groups like the UN or
institutions like the IMF and the World Bank they
usually call them international organizations
(IOs). Although international NGOs are
sometimes considered as IOs, the term is
commonly used to refer to international
intergovernmental organizations or groups that
are primarily made up of member states.
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 One major fallacy about international organizations is

that they are merely amalgamations of various state

interests. In the 1960s and 1970s, many scholars believed

that IOs were just venues where the contradicting, but

sometimes intersecting agendas of countries were

discussed-no more than talk shops.

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 Professional economists IOs can thus
become influential as independent
organizations. International relations
scholars Michael N. Barnett and Martha
Finnemore listed the following powers of
IOs.
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 First, IOs have the power of classification.
Because IOs can invent and apply categories,
they create powerful global standards.For
example, it is the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) that defines what a refugee is
and since states are required to accept refugees
entering their borders, this power to establish
identity has concrete effects.
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 Second, IOs have the power to fix meanings. a
broader function related to the first. Various terms
like "security" or "development" need to be well-
defined States, organizations, and individuals view
IOs as legitimate sources of information. As such, the
meanings they create have effects on various
policies. For example, recently, the United Nations
has started to define security as not just safety from
military violence, but also safety from
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environmental harm."
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 Finally, IOs have the power to diffuse
norms. Norms are accepted codes of
conduct that may not be strict law, but
nevertheless produce regularity in
behavior. IOs do not only classify and fix
meanings, they also spread their ideas
across the world, thereby establishing
global standards
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 Having examined the powers, limitations, and weaknesses of IOs,
the spotlight will now fall on the most prominent IO in the
contemporary world, the United Nations (UN). After the collapse of
the League of Nations at the end of World War II, countries that
worried about another global war began to push for the formation
of a more lasting international league. The result was the creation
of the UN. Although the organization is far from perfect, it should
be emphasized that it has so far achieved its primary goal of
averting another global war. For this reason alone, the UN should
be considered a success
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 The UN is divided into five active organs.

1. The General Assembly (GA)

2. UN Secretariat
3. International Court of Justice
4. UN Security Council
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5. Economic and Social Council

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 Carlos Peña Romulo, QSC CLH NA (14
January 1898 – 15 December 1985) was a
Filipino diplomat, statesman, soldier, journalist
and author. He was a reporter at 16, a
newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a
publisher at 32. He was a co-founder of the Boy
Scouts of the Philippines, a general in the US
Army and the Philippine Army, university
president, President of the UN General
Assembly, was eventually named one of the
Philippines' National Artists in Literature, and
was the recipient of many other honors and
honorary degrees. He was born in Camiling,
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Tarlac and he studied at the Camiling Central

Elementary School during his basic education.

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THANK YOU!
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