CONTEMPORARY

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
 ROLES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE UNITED
NATIONS

Article 1 of the UN charter states the following purposes:

To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the
prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the
peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law,
adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;
To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-
determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;
To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or
humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms
for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and
To be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.
 FUNCTIONS OF THE UNITED NATIONS
TODAY

As it was in the past, the main function of the UN today is to maintain peace and security for all of its member states. Though
the UN does not maintain its own military, it does have peacekeeping forces that are supplied by its member states. On approval
of the UN Security Council, these peacekeepers are, for example, sent to regions where armed conflict has recently ended to
discourage combatants from resuming fighting. In 1988, the peacekeeping force won a Nobel Peace Prize for its actions.
In addition to maintaining peace, the UN aims to protect human rights and provide humanitarian assistance when needed. In
1948, the General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a standard for its human rights operations.
The UN currently provides technical assistance in elections, helps to improve judicial structures and draft constitutions trains
human rights officials, and provides food, drinking water, shelter, and other humanitarian services to peoples displaced by
famine, war, and natural disaster.
Finally, the UN plays an integral part in social and economic development through its UN Development Program. This is the
largest source of technical grant assistance in the world. In addition, the World Health Organization; UNAIDS; The Global Fund
to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; the UN Population Fund; and the World Bank Group, to name a few, play an essential
role in this aspect of the UN. The parent organization also annually publishes the Human Development Index to rank countries in
terms of poverty, literacy, education, and life expectancy.
 TEN PRINCIPLES OF UN GLOBAL
COMPACT

Corporate sustainability starts with a company’s value system and a principles-based

approach to doing business. This means operating in ways that, at a minimum, meet
fundamental responsibilities in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-
corruption. Responsible businesses enact the same values and principles wherever they have a
presence, and know that good practices in one area do not offset harm in another. By
incorporating the ten principles of the UN global compact into strategies, policies and
procedures, and establishing a culture of integrity, companies are not only upholding their basic
responsibilities to people and planet, but also setting the stage for long-term success.
HUMAN RIGHTS

PRINCIPLE 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; anD

PRINCIPLE 2: Make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.

LABOUR

PRINCIPLE 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective
bargaining;

PRINCIPLE 4: The elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;

PRINCIPLE 5: The effective abolition of child labour; and

PRINCIPLE 6: The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

ENVIRONMENT

PRINCIPLE 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;

PRINCIPLE 8: Undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and

PRINCIPLE 9: Encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.

ANTI-CORRUPTION

PRINCIPLE 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.
 THE
MULTILATERALIS
M
What is multilateralism?
The definition of multilateralism refers to a situation in which several distinct countries form a collaboration
with the main aim of providing solutions for problems facing their respective nations. This method of collaboration
is critical because it fosters better relations between countries and helps strengthen the global economy. The concept
primarily involves the coordination of national policies and practices among the different nations.
The main purpose of multilateralism is for the involved countries to adequately address the challenges facing
their citizens. Multilateralism is based on such founding elements as inclusion, solidarity, and consultation. For
example, the president of one country would consult with other presidents who are part of the partnership before
making any decision that may affect their partnership.
These elements are essential, as they guarantee that all actors have the same rights and obligations. Thus, any
definition of what multilateralism is must incorporate the principles of participation and collaboration among
countries who seek to solve an issue. Overall, the meaning of multilateral refers to something that is agreed upon by
three or more parties.
 WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPLES OF
MULTILATERALISM?

The foundation principles of multilateralism include solidarity, consultation, and inclusion. These
principles are essential as they allow the member states to have equal rights and obligations. As a result,
the states work toward accomplishing the same objectives. For example, through consultation, the
members can agree on a common ground based on their motives. As such, it reduces instances of
conflicts among the member states.

WHAT IS AN EXAMPLE OF
MULTILATERALISM?
NATO is an example of an establishment that indicates multilateralism. Through political and
military means, the organization safeguards its member states. Some of the NATO members include
Albania, Canada, the United States, and the UK, among others.
 CHALLENGES IN THE 21ST CENTURY

The challenges set out below are interrelated. Each one is a challenge but they are
not hierarchical. Together they create an even more unstable and uncertain future than
we have seen for some time. Each works individually and together, with a mix of local
and global influences shaping the particular experiences of citizens in different places.
 CIVIC DISAFFECTION

There is a wave of challenge to the structures of government and the instruments of social order.
Examples include the arab spring in parts of the middle east, the umbrella movement in hongkong and
the rise of populism in the united states and europe, including the UK.

Changes in media technologies have amplified dissatisfaction and enhanced a desire for change
leading to many single-issue campaigns, such as the powerful calls for a climate emergency across the
world. A form of new people power has emerged: the immediacy of social media contrasts sharply with
the slow deliberation of government institutions, adding to a sense of disconnection from established
civic institutions.
 MITIGATING ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECOLOGICAL DAMAGE

There is considerable research on the increase in global warming negatively impacting our society.
Ice losses are:
Rapidly spreading deep into the interior of the antarctic. The warming of the southern ocean is
resulting in glaciers sliding into the sea increasingly rapidly, with ice now being lost five times faster
than in the 1990s. The decisions we make today will affect the nature of the eco-systems of our planet.
Growing pressure to act has resulted in a number of policy commitments across the world to reach net
zero carbon emissions as one major solution to the variety of harms from our societies.
We are losing our most precious resources such as water and we are polluting the air we breathe. We
need to address a wide variety of issues related to climate change, and environmental degradation. The
effects we are seeing are impacting societies differently, with poorer people and poorer nations being
disproportionately affected.
 CONFLICT AND WAR

We see a greater degree of conflict across the world than for some time. Ideas and passion spread
faster than ever and factions and groups work across countries and can be more powerful than some
states. The rise and spread of asymmetric conflicts will continue with many more civilian deaths.
Increasingly, countries are exporting their wars to other territories to play out tensions closer to home.
Meanwhile, inter-state global tensions are increasing as some countries retreat from globalization.

Conflict and war is often triggered by access to resources, increasingly exacerbated by climate
change, a fear of migrants and many of the other challenges set out here. Conflict and war are moreover
major contributors to environmental damage and climate change.
 MIGRATION AND MOBILITY

The world is more mobile than ever before but mobility and migration is disproportionately and
unequally spread. Voluntary migration is usually stimulated by economic factors, including the belief
that another country offers better prospects. Forced migration is driven by environmental change and
degradation, war and persecution of minorities. Increased mobility, while enabling skilled people to
engage globally results in an elite distanced from their own communities of origin. The ease of travel, on
the other hand, means that health pandemics could spread faster than we could control and increased air
travel is contributing to climate change.
 LIVING IN A GLOBAL SOCIETY

National economies are more interdependent than ever before. This creates opportunities but can
also create considerable instability. Access to the opportunities that globalization has to offer are
unevenly distributed, with many feeling alienated beyond their immediate communities. Changes in
work practices and production models have left many in insecure low paid employment, with many
citizens feeling that they have lost control over their destinies to distant institutions run by strangers.
 IDENTITIES AND CHANGING NORMS IN SOCIETY

On the one hand, many of the changes underway promote a greater diversity of views, beliefs,
groupings and movements allowing people to connect in new ways valuing diversity.
On the other hand, we are seeing a retreat towards older social norms and beliefs in search of
security. In some locales, people’s chosen identities continue to incite violence and abuse. Despite access
to more voices than ever before, there is a danger of narrowing rather than broadening one’s gaze. These
tensions play out in different ways across the world and with several affecting both individual and group
identity at any time.
 TECHNOLOGICAL DISRUPTION

The transformation in information, nano, bio and neuro technologies is already creating significant
disruption at unprecedented scale and pace. Learning to live and work with AI as part of our lives is vital if
we are to benefit from these changes. Trends suggest the global stock of robots will multiply in the next few
years, reaching as many as 20 million by 2030, with 14 million in china alone. At the same time estimates
also suggest that a similar number of manufacturing jobs will be lost.
The effects of these job losses will vary greatly across countries and regions, with a disproportionate
toll on lower-skilled workers and on poorer local economies. In many places, the impact will aggravate
social and economic stress in times when political polarisation is a worrying trend. As the OECD has
highlighted, this means that participation in higher education matters more than ever.
 INCREASING INEQUALITY OF WEALTH AND INCOME

Rising social inequality comes from unequal access to wealth (capital and assets) on the one hand
and income (earned money). Since the 2008 financial crash, recovery has been uneven: countries such as
the UK, US, canada and australia have seen an increase in income inequality while it has continued to
decrease in countries like india and china.
Wealth inequality is more universal as privileged groups have consolidated their control of assets and
resources in a global market. In many parts of the world a sense of inequity has been sharpened by these
real inequalities. Inequality in wealth and income leads to wider inequality in access to resources which
will be exacerbated as new skills and knowledge are required with the extent of technological disruption.
 RECOGNIZE GLOBAL ISSUES IDENTIFIED BY THE DELPHI
SURVEYS AND INTERVIEWS IN 1996-1997

In 1996, the millennium project3 asked several hundred futurists around the world what was going
on now that could become very significant to the future in twenty-five years’ time and that is either not
know or misunderstood. A total of 182 developments were collected by the delphi survey. Another set of
delphi surveys and interviews collected and rated 131 actions to address these developments. These were
all distilled into fifteen global issues with overviews and strategies.

These global issues identified by the delphi surveys and interviews in 1996–1997 were:
1. World population is growing; food, water, education, housing, and medical care must grow apace.

2. Fresh water is becoming scarce in localized areas of the world.

3. The gap in living standards between the rich and poor promises to become more extreme and divisive.

4. The threat of new and re-emerging diseases and immune micro-organisms is growing.

5. Capacity to decide is diminishing (as issues become more global and complex under conditions of increasing uncertainty and risk).
6. Terrorism is increasingly destructive, proliferating, and difficult to prevent.

7. Population growth and economic growth are interacting adversely with environmental quality and natural resources.

8. The status of women is changing.

9. Religious, ethnic, and racial conflicts are increasingly severe.

10. Information technology offers both promise and peril.

11. Organized crime groups are becoming sophisticated global enterprises.

12. Economic growth is bringing both promising and threatening consequences.

13. Nuclear power plants around the world are aging.

14. The HIV epidemic will continue to spread.

15. Work, unemployment, leisure, and underemployment are changing.

 GROUP 5
 ROSEMIE MALAY
 NOEMI LIBERATO
 VANESSA MABUNGA
 JOLISSA ROYO
 CHELSEA ARANETA
 ROMNICK INFANTE
 MARK JOHN CATARAJA