Week 3:

- What are international organisations?

- Neutrality: impartiality, non-alignment, legitimacy?
- Realism as a school that can be applied to international relations
- i) Power dynamics (dominatio)
- ii) Institutional design is reflecting the interest of Great Powers (example:
UNSC)
- If you exclude big power countries from the EU, then the EU decision-making
system would fail
- iii) Resource allocations
- Great powers will have more influence in international organisation because
they provide more money so they can control how the budget is distributed
more
- iv) Policy outcomes (both great powers and middle-ranged powers benefit)
- v) Security allies (if you only look through the lens of the security small states
benefit more but if you look through the lens of geopolitics then the bigger
state benefit more)
- In centralisation, there is a hierarchical line that is affecting every aspect
within the international organisations
- Legitimacy is the perceived or actual power
- Legitimacy depends on the inclusiveness of states
- Commitment to principles
- Efficiency and effectiveness (once this drops, the legitimacy of the
organisation also drops)
- Public opinion and support (will be a pushing factor for decision-makers in
specific countries to go out and cooperate with certain international
organisations
- NATO comes to question in BiH because of a lack of public support
- History of international organisations goes back to the ancient time (not in a
formalised setting as we know it today)
- Ancient Silk Road was connecting Asia, Europe and Africa and is considered
to be one of the very first institutions that was bringing the countries to
cooperate more closely
 - Mediaeval diplomatic institutions - the Italian state system
- Peace of Westphalia established the principle of sovereignty
- 19th century - International Telegraph Union
- Congress of Vienna took place at the downfall of the Napoleonic Wars and it
established a Concert of Europe as an informal setting of the powers to
legislate over the rest of the Europe and implement what they agreed upon
- Hague Peace Conferences (1899-1907) established also the Permanent
Court of Arbitration
- League of Nations established the Permanent International Court of Justice
- United Nations
- 9/11 changed the US’ entire perspective on its geopolitical relationship with
the Middle Eastern countries
- UNSC passed a resolution to fight terrorism
- 9/11 was the first time Article 5 of NATO was invoked
- INTERPOL intensified cooperation among countries to fight against terrorism
- World Trade Organisations tried to provide the support to countries which
faced economic repercussions to the countries who had terrorist attacks
- IMF provided financial funds to the states affected by the 9/11 consequences
- International Atomic Energy Agency intensified cooperation and attempts to
suppress possibilities of terrorist groups to come to the weapons of
mass-destruction
- International organisations: regulations (some organisations are having the
mechanisms that once they decide something it is immediately applicable or
to let the Member State adapt it) and sanctions

Week 4:
- Realism (classical) is an instrument of state power
- Maximising gains through participation in international relations (economic,
political, security)
- Distribution of power: IOs are dominated by powerful states
- Anarchical world means that there is no central government/authority to
govern the relationship between the states
- Neorealism (structural realism) - Kenneth Waltz
- Looks at the structure of constraints imposed by the anarchical world - how
the absence of a central authority affects the behaviour of the states
- IOs are primarily formed to mitigate the security dilemma
- Security dilemma is the scenario when a state is trying to increase its security
because it feels threatened by other states which imposes other states to also
increase their security
- Agrees on the domination of most powerful states in the IOs
- The IOs are also managing the interdependence of States
- Constructivism focuses on the ideas, norms, values, and all other
non-material elements and how these elements affect the behaviour of States
- IOs are not primarily instruments of state power but rather places where
states are making common norms and beliefs that will be applicable
internationally upon all of states (jus cogens)
- Socialisation and norm-diffusion
- Liberalism is optimistic about the cooperation between the states
- It emphasises the potential of IOs in facilitating cooperation, coordinating
policies, and addressing common challenges
- IOs are the places that are providing the platforms for states to negotiate
common issues and resolve their problems
- Fostering mutual gains (everyone is equally benefitting from the existence and
functionality of IOs)
- Zero-sum game is not what the liberals are implying
- 1) Formal organisations: established by the States, treaties, and agreements;
examples UN, IMF, WB, EU, NATO, ASEAN
- 2) IOs as ordering principles: a system or framework that governs the
interaction between states; interactions either formalised or informal but
affecting the way in which the states govern their interactions in international
relations; principles of self-determination, aggression, and violence, etc.
- 3) IOs as regimes: set of norms, principles, regulations that are governing the
relationship between the states within a specific area; examples in areas such
as trade, environment, arms-control, etc.
- Rationalists perceive IOs as rational calculations of states to maximise their
gains of their national interests; related to material gains
- Reflectivists are saying that the actions of state in international relations are
the reflection of the state’s beliefs, and values on certain issues; related to
non-material gains
- States enter IOs because they cannot achieve certain policy goals alone
- Why do states act in IOs? Goals, collaboration, isolation, treaty system
- 1) Problem-solving: States join IOs as a platform on which they can base the
collaboration to tackle challenges that they face together and cannot be
resolved alone
- 2) Conflict resolution: IOs provide a way for states to resolve their disputes
peacefully without resorting to force
- 3) Normative framework: IOs are defining and establishing the functionality of
the common applicable norms believed by states internationalls, and the
states have the possibility to affect the formation of those sets of norms
through the participation in international relations
- 4) Resource allocation: States having difficulties in reaching certain resources
may reach it more easily due to their membership in IOs
- What are the various problems?
- 1) Power dynamics: greater states within organisations are participating more
in the decision-making process (international relations system is the result of
the winners of great wars, changes inputted by force need to be
deconstructed by force)
- 2) Bureaucratic effectiveness: bureaucratic apparatus complicates matters
further which leads to effectiveness
- 3) Enforcement ineffectiveness: the enforcement of the decisions made by
IOs are not effectively implemented as there are no mechanisms in the
international system to make the decision applicable in the domestic system
of the countries in question
- 4) Political division: it reflects the decision-making process as states have
different interests
- 5) Financial constraints: IOs do not have their own budget but they rely on the
budget that is allocated by Member States and other donors
- States could not operate without IOs
- International law makes the IOs, then the IOs produce new laws to be
implemented cross-nationally
- Sovereignty:
- 1) Voluntary participation
- 2) Reservation/opt outs
- 3) Sovereignty mechanism/non-interference: IOs are not involved in the
domestic affairs of Member States
- 4) Delegation/decision-making process: once a state participates in the work
of IOs, it delegates its participation through the decision-making processes (it
is able to oppose certain decision)
- 5) Limited delegation of authority (usually related to supranational
organisations)
- 6) Treaty-based obligations: once a state decides to become a part of IOs,
through negotiations of the treaties, the state will knows its obligations and is
not losing its sovereignty through membership in IOs
- Managerial approach means looking at the effectiveness, the organisational
structure, the hierarchical structure, the process of depoliticisation (looking at
IOs through a corporate management lens and it focuses on structure)
- Classical agora finds its inspiration in classical Greek diplomacy where agora
was a place for sweet engagements; it is a forum for the states to participate
in the decision-making process through IOs
- IOs can be classified into many different categories
- 1) Intergovernmental organisations (IGOs): organisations that are formed and
established by the states
- 2) Non-governmental organisations (NGOs): organisations established by
private individuals but working on an international level; mission and focus is
different for each; scope and operation is the extent at which these
organisations operate; legal structure depicts the nature of the organisation;
fundings define the differences even more (is it funded by the participation of
MS, by donors, or by ownership of some facilities, etc.); affiliation
- NGOs have limited, indirect influence
- 3) Regional organisations: organisations that are operating within a specific
geographical relation
- 4) Supranational organisations: organisations that are able to consume the
sovereignty of their members by their agreement
Week 5:
- Peace of Westphalia has established the modern state, the state system
which equals to international politics
- Peace of Westphalia was a European state system
- Outward-looking (perceived more through the sense of the international states
but also through the ability of states to act independently without force from
other actors) and inward-looking (attributes and qualities of the states such as
the territory, the population, and the government, as well as the ability of the
state to maintain its domestic order)
- MonteVideo Convention (1935) explains what a State is, it depicts four
qualities
- 1) territory
- 2) population
- 3) the authority to govern the population within the territory
- 4) the ability to enter into the international relations
- The fourth quality is not needed in order for a state to protect its territory
- A State is an entity that has the ability to use absolute force and this use of
force is legitimate
- The State has the utmost authority in a certain territory and no one has the
ability to interfere
- Internal (supreme power of a state within a certain territory) and external
sovereignty (absence of a higher authority to enforce something upon a state)
- The external principle (principle of non-interference) is important because it is
one of the main principles of international law - there is no global authority that
would force states to act in a way that the state otherwise would not have
acted in
- A State is a political community that is establishing sovereign jurisdiction
within a specific territory
- State-building is the process of building functional institutions that are able to
produce and implement policies
- If the state-building aspect is facing challenges, then the international
humanitarian organisations cannot function in its full ability
- Failed states are those states which do not have full control over their territory
 - Globalisation affected the states in the following ways:
- 1) reduced the importance of the state
- 2) regionalisation (the process of uniting certain countries in a certain region
- Territorialisation and deterritorialization
- The state has control over the economy within a certain territory
- Micro framework and macro framework (states do not have influence over
this)
- Political globalisation occurs when the states are joining or acting through
international organisations
- Pooling sovereignty
- Typology of states:
- 1) Collectivised state: attempting to ban the private sector of a country, a type
of state in which the state, in addition to the full political control over people
and territory, is also taking control over economic units within the state
- 2) Welfare state: a state which provides a range of social security and
economic activities to its citizens
- 3) Competitive states: they invest a lot in knowledge and in competitiveness in
order to compete with other countries
- Pre-modern state is a state which uses force to solve the disputes that are
emerging (a period of warlordism)
- Post-modern state is a state which avoids the usage of force to resolve
disputes but rather uses institutions to solve such disputes
- Difference between government and governance
- Multi-level governance: sucked up (emerging due to political globalisation,
regionalisation, establishment of certain organisations, etc.), and drawn down
(the new layers which have shifted from national layers get drawn down)
- Foreign policy is a set of objective and aims that the country seeks to achieve
- High politics and low politics
- Individualistic, domestic and systematic

Week 7:
- Global governance establishes a kind of order that is enforceable through the
countries, internationally
- Despite how much a country is giving their consent to something, certain rules
are going to be applicable (jus cogens)
- Global governance emerged as a trend after WWII
- The period after the Cold War was a period that pushed global governance
even further
- Global governance can be brought to IGOs, supranationals, and IOOPs
- IGOs are subjects of international law founded by countries that are able to
sign agreements, enter into relations and manage global challenges and
issues that the countries are facing
- States are primary actors
- When the sovereignty is taken by other institutions, it is referred to as
supranationalism (UNSC, International Court of Justice)
- ICJ is the main judicial order of the UN responsible to solve the issues among
the member states of the UN
- Except for UNSC, for EC, ICC and ICJ the States need to give their consent
- What is international anarchy, global hegemony and global government?
- International anarchy is an approach through which the international system is
perceived for centuries
- Realist school can be linked to this
- It is related to the absence of a global government and in this system, the
states are looking for their self-help, their self-interests and their own survival
- No supranational authority that is overseeing or coordinating interests
- Period of balance of power
- States are maximising their security to obtain their survival in an international
system
- Started declining after WWII and especially after the Cold War
- Global hegemony considers that the international system is imposed from the
top to down
- One can observe the asymmetrical power between the states and the
international system
- Hyperhegemony
- The pivotal point of the international system reflects the power of the main
hegemon
- Global government speaks on the commonality between the states
- It is a kind of unity of states with a common goal and authority
- Hugo Gratius argued for a set of certain laws that should be applicable to all
states
- Emmanuel Kant also agreed for a federation of free states with a common
hospitality
- This is the least realistic approach
- Global government has certain characteristics: polycentrism (the global
governance is existing at multiple levels), intergovernmentalism (the states
are retaining and keeping most of their sovereignty via their acting in global
governance), mixed actors (diversification of the actors in the international
system, both non-state and state actors), multi-level process (the decisions
are made between different institutions and different actors, across different
levels), de-formalisation (the global governance acts through a set of different
norms and does not need to be formalised)
- The most regulated governance after WWII was economic governance
- BWS emerged from a set of different agreements signed after 1944
- The states aimed to avoid the Great Depression and to oppose the
protectionism that occurred during that period
- Protectionism is the use of different tariffs and other measures to protect
national economies
- IMF, WB, and WTO - attempt at multilateralism but US influence cannot be
ignored
- After WWII, US wanted to ensure the stability of the global market and it
aimed to reduce the different influences of the Soviet Union towards their
global partnerships
- BSW established the monetary order and that is overseen by IMF
- The most important part was the establishment of a stable currency
(exchange rate)
- Stagflation describes the economic stagnation, the increase of unemployment
due to inflation
- The floating currency is a currency that fluctuates
- WB provided the loans for the reconstruction and development of countries
- General agreements on tariffs and trades as a mechanism to establish
international trade (it was not able to reduce the non-tariff measures such as
public procurement or solve disputes among member states)
- Principles of non-discrimination and reciprocity
- IMF was known for its conditionality (asking for the structural adjustment of
the markets, based on fundamentalism)
- The structural adjustments brought disadvantages except in South Korea
- The voting system in IMF is based on the size of the economies
- Privatisation is not always beneficial
- WTO brough three different institutions under the same umbrella: GATT,
GATS, and TRIPS
- WTO established a strong dispute-settlement body and it could only be
rejected by the consensus of all states
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