CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL

GOVERNANCE
 INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOME
 At the end of the unit, the students must have:
 Identify the roles and functions of the United Nations
 Identify the challenges of global governance in the twenty first centuries
 Explain the relevance of the state amid globalization
 INTRODUCTION OF THE TOPIC
 It tackles about the discussion of various political flaws, but the main focus is on the development
and functioning of global political structures. Starting with more traditional structures such as the
nation-state, the discussion moves on to the development of regional and global political structures,
processes and of course contemporary global governance.
 POLITICAL FLOW
 The global flow of people, especially refugees and
illegal immigrants, poses a direct threat to the nation state and its ability to
control its borders.
 The looming crises associated with dwindling oil and
water supplies threaten to lead to riots and perhaps
insurrections that could lead to the downfall of extant
governments.
 The inability of the nation state to control economic flows
dominated by MNCs, as well as the current economic and financial
crisis that is sweeping the world, is also posing a profound threat to the
nation state (e.g. in Eastern Europe).
 Environmental problems of all sorts, especially those
related to global warming, are very likely to be
destabilizing politically.
 Borderless diseases, especially malaria,
TB, and AIDs in Africa, pose a danger to political
structures.
 War is the most obvious global flow
threatening the nation states involved, especially those
on the losing side.
 Global inequalities, especially the profound and
growing North South split, threaten to pit poor nations
against rich nations.
 Terrorism is clearly regarded as a threat by those
nations against which it is waged (hence the so called
“war on terrorism” in the US).
 GLOBAL PROBLEMS

 Many of which (e.g. trade protection

and liberalization; efforts to increase
political transparency and accountability) are political in
nature.
 Finally, political structures (e.g. nation states, the UN)
initiate a wide range of global flows (e.g. the violence
sponsored by Robert Mugabe ’ s government in
Zimbabwe that led to the mass migration of millions of
people from the country).
 THE NATION STATE
 Nation: Social group linked through common
descent, culture, language, or territorial contiguity.
 National identity: A fluid and dynamic form of
collective identity; members of the community
believe that they are different from other groups.
 Nationalism: is a doctrine and (or) political
movement that seek to make the nation the basis
of a political structure, especially a state.
 State: Organizational structure outside other
socioeconomic hierarchies with relatively
autonomous office holders.
 Nation state: Integrates sub groups that define
themselves as a nation with the organizational
structure of the state.
 THREATS TO THE NATION STATE
 The nation state is especially threatened by the global economy and global economic flows.
Example
 In terms of the global economy, nation states have become little more than bit actors”(Ohmae, 1996: 12). It refers to the
borderless global economy that nation states are unable to control.
B.
 The decline of the nation state is linked to technological and financial changes, as well as to “ the accelerated integration
of national economies into one single global market economy ” (Strange 1996 : 13 14). While nation states once
controlled markets, it is now the markets that often control the nation states.
 2. Other factors threatening the autonomy of the nation state .
A. including flows of information,
B. illegal immigrants,
C. new social movements,
D. terrorists,
E. criminals,
F. drugs,
G. money (including laundered money, and other financial instruments),
H. sex-trafficking and much else.
 Many of these flows have been made possible by the development and continual refinement of technologies of all sorts.
The nation state has become increasingly porous. While this seems to be supported by a great deal of evidence, the fact
is that no nation state has ever been able to control its borders completely (Bauman 1992: 57). Thus, it is not the porosity
of the nation state that is new, but rather what is new is a dramatic increase in that porosity and the kinds of flows that
are capable of passing through national borders.
 International Human Rights
Another threat to the autonomy of the nation state is the growing interest in international human rights (Elliott 2007: 343 63;
Chatterjee 2008; Freedman 2008 ).
 HUMAN RIGHTS
 defined as the “entitlement of individuals to life, security, and well being”
(Turner 1993: 489 512; 2007 : 591), has emerged as a major global political issue.
It is argued that because these rights are universal, the nation
state cannot abrogate them. As a result, global human rights groups have claimed
the right to be able to have a say about what is done to people within
(for example, torture of terror suspects) and between, illegal trafficking in
humans [Farr 2005] sovereign states. Thus, in such a view, human rights are a
global matter and not exclusively a concern of the state (Levy and Sznaider2006 :657
76). Furthermore, the implication is that the international
community can and should intervene when a state violates human
rights or when a violation occurs within a state border and the state does not take
adequate action to deal with the violation.
 UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN
RIGHTS
For example, according to Article 13:
 (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within
the borders of each State.
 (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to
return to his country. It is clear in this Declaration and its Articles is that human rights
take precedence over the nation state and that the UN is seeking to exert control over
the state, at least on these issues.
UNITED NATIONS

The United Nations (UN), in spite of its myriad problems,

is the premier
global organization in the realm of politics.
ROLES AND FUNCTION
OF UNITED NATIONS
 UN stands in opposition, at least in general, to those who argue that
globalization has brought about, or is bringing about, the demise of the
(nation )state.
 The UN is a global setting in which nation states meet and deliberate.
 However, the UN is not merely a setting in which nation states meet; it is
also an independent actor.
The two best known state based organs in the UN:
1. The Security Council ’ s main deliberative body and
2. The General Assembly responsible for the maintenance of
international peace and security
 THE UN 4 BROAD AREAS
 1.Military issues -The UN was envisioned as a major force in managing peace and security, especially in inter state
relations. However, it was marginalized during the Cold War 1 largely because in the Security Council both the US and
the Soviet Union could veto proposed interventions.
 A turning point in the military role of the UN was the 1991 authorization by the Security
 Council of the use of force To deal with Iraq ’ s invasion of Kuwait. Throughout the 1990s the UN engaged in a wide
variety of actions that were not anticipated by its founders and which had been regarded previously as the province of
states. These included:
A. interventions in civil wars in less developed countries;
B. election and human rights monitoring,
C. disarmament,
D. and even the assumption of state functions (in Cambodia and East Timor, for example) ”
 (Weiss and Zach 2007 : 1219). However, the expansionism of the UN in these areas was tempered by failures in the
1990s in Somalia and Yugoslavia. In the military realm it is also important to mention the fact that the UN has been
actively involved in arms control and disarmament.
 2.Economic issues -promote actions that would lead to reductions in global
inequality.

 3.Environmental issues- (e.g. pollution, hazardous wastes) which are dealt with
primarily through the United Nations Environment Programmed.

 4.Human protection- A variety of UN sponsored human rights treaties and

agreements have protected human rights around the world .
THE RELEVANCE OF STATE
AMIDST GLOBALIZATION
 1.With globalization, the nation -state faces
 innumerable challenges,
 leading to a significant loss of control over economic flows
 and transnational organizations.

 2.Although the role of the nation state has declined,

 it is still an important political structure.
 However, in the global age, the “ porosity ”
 of the nation state, the increasing global flows
 through it, should be a focal concern.
 IMAGINED
COMMUNITY VOICES
Benedict Anderson’ s “ imagined community”
•is an important idea in thinking about the nation -state. As a result of
the development of “ print capitalism, ” it came to be conceived of as
being actively constructed, socially and politically, by people who identify
with the community that is represented by the nation state.
 CHANGING GEO
POLITICAL SCENARIO
The world can be seen as evolving through three stages :
 bipolar (during the Cold War),
 unipolar (ascendancy of the US),
 and finally, to a tri polar future with the US,
 EU, and China as the three centers of power.
 Also examined is the emergence of the
 United Nations, as well more specific
 organizations such as UNCTAD, UNESCO,
 and IAEA.
 GLOBAL
 What is a Global Governance?
-is a movement towards political integration of transnational actors aimed
at negotiating responses to problems that affect more than one state or
region. It tends to involve institutionalization. The modern question of world governance
exists in the context of globalization and globalizing regimes of power: politically,
economically and culturally. In response to the acceleration of interdependence on a
worldwide scale, both between human societies and between humankind and the
biosphere, the term "global governance" may also be used to name the process of
designating laws, rules, or regulations intended for a global scale.
 NEW FORMS OF GOVERNANCE

 The first is governance without government (Rosenau and Czempiel1992), governance without government
management. For example, various matters are managed within the nation -state without the involvement of state
government. Thus, locales and regions within the nation -state may manage themselves.

 The second is governance through various public policy networks. At the global level, this involves government by
various international institutions as well as INGOS (International Non -Governmental Organizations; see below) and
private sector organizations of various sorts.

 Finally, governance at the global level can be normatively mediated and moderated. Included here are efforts driven by
values including the Commission on Global Governance as well as the “Global Compact” created by former UN
Secretary General, Kofi Annan.
 CHALLENGES OF GLOBAL GOVERNANCE IN THE
21ST CENTURY

 The increasing “premigration” of the global order. This reflects increasing global diversity as well as the array of
contradictory forces that have been unleashed as a result. Among those contradictory forces are globalization and
localization, centralization and decentralization, and integration and fragmentation(premigration).
 The declining power of nation states. If states themselves are less able to handle various responsibilities, this leaves open
the possibility of the emergence of some form of global governance to fill the void.
 The vast flows of all sorts of things that run into and often right through the borders of nation -states. This could involve
the flow of digital information of all sorts through the Internet. It is difficult, if not impossible, for a nation -state to stop
such flows and in any case it is likely that such action would be politically unpopular and bring much negative reaction
to the nation –state involved in such an effort. For example, China’ s periodic efforts to interfere with the Internet have
brought great condemnation both internally and externally.
 The mass migration of people and their entry, often illegally, into various nation -states. If states are unable
to control this flow, then there is a need for some sort of global governance to help deal with the problem.
The flow of criminal elements, as well as their products (drugs, laundered money, those bought and sold in
sex
trafficking, etc.), is a strong factor in the call for global governance.
 Horrendous events within nation -states that the states themselves either foment and carry out or are
unable to control. For example, in Darfur, Sudan, perhaps hundreds of thousands have been killed and
millions of people displaced and the lives of many more disrupted in a conflict that dates to early 2003.
 Then there are global problems that single nation -states cannot hope to tackle on their own. One, of
course, is the global financial crises and panics (including the current one) that sweep the world
periodically and which nations are often unable to deal with on their own. Indeed, some nations (e.g. the
nations of Southeast Asia) have often been, and are being, victimized by such crises. Unable to help
themselves, such nations are in need of assistance from some type of global governance.
 INTERNATIONAL NON-GOVERNMENTAL
ORGANIZATIONS (INGOS):
 International not -for –profit organizations performing public functions but not established or run by nation
–states.
 The first modern INGOs are traceable to the nineteenth century (the International Red Cross was founded
in Switzerland in 1865), but they have boomed in recent years.
 Turning point in the history of INGOs occurred in 1992 when a treaty to control the emission of
greenhouse gases was signed as a result of the actions of a variety of groups that not only exerted external
pressure, but were actually involved in the decision -making process.
 international treaty spearheaded by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). The treaty was
signed in 1997 by 122 nations which agreed to stop selling and using landmines.
 NEGATIVE SIDES TO THE GROWTH OF INGOS (AND CIVIL
SOCIETY)

 Fundamentally, INGOs are special interest groups and therefore they may not take into consideration wider sets of
concerns and issues.
 In addition, they are not democratic, often keep their agendas secret, and are not accountable to anyone other
than their members.
 They are elitist (many involve better -off and well -educated people from the North) that is, undemocratic
organizations that seek to impose inappropriate universal plans on local organizations and settings.
 Thus, they have the potential to be “loose cannons” on the global stage.
 They are seen as annoying busybodies that are forever putting their noses in the business of others (Thomas 2007: 84-
102).
 They often pander to public opinion and posture for the media both to attract attention to their issues and to
maintain or expand their power and membership.
 As a result, they may distort the magnitude of certain problems (e.g. overestimating the effects, and misjudging the
causes, of an oil spill) in order to advance their cause and interests.
 Their focus on one issue may adversely affect the interest in, and ability to deal with, many
 other important issues.
 The nature of the focus, and indeed the very creation, of an INGO may be a function of its ability to attract
attention and to raise funds. As a result, other worthy, if not more worthy, issues (e.g. soil erosion,
especially in Africa) may fail to attract much, if any, attention, and interest.
 In some cases, well meaning INGOs conflict with one another, such as those wishing to end certain
practices (e.g. logging) versus those that see those practices as solutions (e.g. logging producing wood as a
sustainable resource that is preferable to fossil fuels).
 The North’ s control over INGOs has actually increased, leading to questions about their relevance to the
concerns of the South.
 However, perhaps the strongest criticism of INGOs is that they “seem to have helped accelerate further
state withdrawal from social provision” (Harvey 2006 :52). In that sense they can be seen as neo
-liberalism’ s “Trojan horses, ” furthering its agenda while seeming to operate against some of its worst
abuses.
INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
(IGOS)
 are organizations such as the UN that are international in scope. INGOs stand to gain from such formal
associations in various ways.
 There are symbolic gains such as:
 greater legitimacy associated with being involved with such an internationally visible
organization.
 There are also the more material gains since such an organization might provide badly needed funding to
various INGOs;
 Work may even be sub -contracted to INGOs and they can earn income for performing the required tasks.
 DANGERS TO INGOS
 They can easily become co -opted by the IGO involved.
 Less extremely, INGOs may need to become more rationalized, bureaucratized, and professionalized in
order to deal with the needs and demands of the IGO. This, in turn, can lead to a more subtle change of
orientation, and a decline in radicalism, in an INGO.

 Other possible changes in INGOs include a loss of flexibility (as they must satisfy the demands of the IGO
which, after all, may well be the source of badly needed funds), a
decline in capacity to act quickly, and, perhaps most troubling, a loss of autonomy and
perhaps even identity.
 For their part, IGOs are affected by the involvement of INGOs. They, too, can gain symbolically and
increase their legitimacy through the involvement of high - minded INGOs. Further, they can gain in a
material sense because of the fact that less bureaucratized INGOs can perform tasks that would be much
more costly, and done much more slowly and inefficiently, were they performed by IGOs.

 INGOs may also share a symbiotic relationship with inter -governmental organizations
(IGOs), which, while being beneficial in symbolic and material terms, creates challenges
for the INGOs in terms of loss of radicalism and autonomy.