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Notes - Karns and Mingst - International
Notes - Karns and Mingst - International
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Notes:
The
Notes:
Domestic politics
Similar types of political and economic institutions aid organization
and enhance effectiveness of cooperation (That is why the EU
achieved much more functional integration than ASEAN)
Strong domestic consensus needed
Regional arrangements influence the domestic politics in return
o Leadership matters
Economic factors driving regionalism
o High levels of economic interdependence
o Complementarity of economies and policies
o Availability of compensatory mechanisms
o Desire to attract FDI and trade (larger market)
o Intimately connected to FTAs
o Closeness in economic factors is by no means sufficient to create a feeling
of a community, but can facilitate integration and enhance benefits
o Economic globalization and regionalism are interrelated
Two waves of regionalism
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o 1) the Cold War the initial stages of European integration
o 2) starting 1980s
Single Market and the EU
NAFTA
Impetuses
Global economic changes
Uncertainty stemming from global arrangements (e.g. the
shortcomings of the WTO)
The end of the Cold War, triumph of the liberal doctrine
Increased volume of trade
Increasing spill-over of national issues
New models of regional arrangements
Freer bonding after the Cold War tensions subsided
E.g. NAFTA, APEC, ASEAN+China
Associated with the growth of the importance of the civil society
Local resentment of the US global dominance
Anti-globalization backslash
Europes regional organizations
o After the WWII a dense network of economic, political and security
arrangements established
o The iron curtain divided Europe into two blocks, both internally intertwined
The Soviet bloc
the Warsaw pact (mutual defence obligations)
COMECON (economic cooperation)
Western Europe
Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC;
1948)
o Administering implementation of the Marshall plan
NATO (1949)
Council of Europe (CE; 1949)
o Goal: to facilitate economic and social progress
o
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Structure of the EU
Bicameral legislature
The European Council
o Composed of ministers and presidents
o Meets 4 times a year
o Gives political direction, doesnt go into details
o Chaired by the EU president (reforms of the institution
are on the way)
The European Commission
o Supranational executive bureaucratic body
o It has exclusive responsibility for advancing the goals
of the treaties and for initiating new community laws
o Designed to oversee the good of the community as a
whole (the conscience of Europe)
o Draws up the budget and spends the funds
o Oversees implementation of legislation by members
Monitors compliance
Has right to warn members if they fail to abide
May impose sanctions (cooperating with the ECJ)
o Promulgates regulations binding on states
o 27 members representing states
Nominated by national governments, but not
accountable to them for their actions
(accountable to Europe, rather than their home
countries)
5 year renewable terms
o Supervises work of some 30 000 civil servants
o Directorates on particular issue areas
o Resembles a cabinet of a national government
o The president of the commission
Functions as the chief executive of the EU
Assigns portfolios, can veto executive
candidates
5 year renewable terms
(usually former prime ministers)
The Council of Ministers (Council of the European Union)
o Made up of national ministers
o Represents intergovernmentalism
o Shares responsibility with the Parliament
Approves law proposals of the Commission
Approves the EU budget
Defence policy, security, common foreign policy,
coordination and judicial cooperation
Concludes treaties on behalf of the EU
o Presidency rotates every six months
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o
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NGOs
o
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NGO
o
o
o
o
o
o
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Other
o
o
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Sharp
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The
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Criticism
o Lack of transparency in negotiation
o Misjudgement in imposing liberal economic solutions
despite their inapplicability
o Excessive mingling with economic processes
IMF and WB and debt in poor countries
HIPC Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative
Providing 41 countries unable to manage their debts
opportunity to reschedule conditions or cancel debt
MDRI Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (2005)
Initiated by the G8
Debt cancelled for 14 very poor countries
Collaboration with NGOs
1990s pressure on the institutions to open up and become
accountable
In 1990 NGOs involved in 20% of projects. In 2007 70%.
Monitoring activities, whistleblowing, consultation, cooperative
execution of projects
WB more open than the IMF
Criticism of the Bretton Woods institutions
Accused of being a tool of great powers
Because of its weighted system of voting
The institutions refused funding of the enemies of the USA
during the Cold War
Technocratic rationality
Clubby elitist culture
Concerns over effectiveness of policies and functions
Calls for new architecture of global economic governance
The UNs approach to economic development
Normative function
GA providing general direction and supervision for economic
activities
o E.g. defining sustainable development
Operational function
Creating a series of regional commissions to decentralize
planning and programs
o 5 regional commissions producing information on
possibilities of stimulating growth in their respective
areas
Making a commitment to technical assistance and training
programs
o people, skills and technologies
o grants, not loans
UN Development Programme (UNDP) Est. 1965
o Less significant than Bretton W. institutions, declining
funds
The UN important in:
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WTO
WTO
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The idea of human rights = every person by the virtue of being human is
endowed with social, civil and political rights, and must be granted
freedom and dignity
o HR concept has an expression in every religious and cultural tradition
known to man, but relative importance of principles varies
o First generation: Magna Charta 1215; The French Declaration on the
Rights of Man 1789; the US Bill of Rights 1791 essential liberal rights and
freedoms
o Second generation: Social rights, cultural rights, economic rights
o Third generation: Specific rights
children, animals, disabled, refugees, migrant workers,
right to political participation; right to democracy
o Universalism/relativism?
Western/Muslim tradition conflict in terms of relative weight of
individual freedom and collective existence
Position of women?
Relativism often asserted by totalitarian governments that do not
find principles of human rights convenient for their cause
Human rights institutions and mechanisms
o NGOs and movements
History
Anti-slavery groups in the late 18th century
Red Cross 1860s
WWI, WWII relief organizations; CARE, Oxfam
1970s: Human Rights Watch, The Mothers of the Plaza de
Mayo, National Endowment for Democracy
Functions and roles: educating the public, gathering and
disseminating information, doing research, drafting conventions,
monitoring, naming & shaming, mobilization, operational tasks
o The League of Nations
Covenant lacking proper mention of human rights, mostly because
most of the founding nations wouldnt qualify themselves
Establishment of the norm that territories may not be annexed
following wars, move towards emancipation of nations
Study of slavery Intl Convention on the Abolition of Slavery and
the Slave Trade (1926) ground-breaking, but weak in terms of
enforcement
Declaration on the Rights of the Child (1926)
ILO rights of workers, ILO later provided grounds for HR discussion
within the UN
o The UN
The preamble reaffirms the faith in fundamental human rights, in
the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of
men and women and of nations large and small
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Provisions do not define human rights though open to
interpretation
International obligation towards human rights vs. the principle of
non-interference
o
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NAFTA
Approached the env. problem from two different angles
Sanitary and phytosanitary measures each country
established its own level of protection
Explicit linkage between trade and the environment more
comprehensive than in the WTO
o Each party is entitled to place ban on imports if
compliance with environmental standards is in
question (as long as it is not an attempt to
discriminate)
The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation
Addresses regional environmental issues
Encourages compliance with domestic law and promotes
cooperation (but doesnt set standards itself)
Concerns of both MNCs and NGOs are taken into account
o conflicts settled by the WB International Centre for
Investment Disputes
unclear enforcement
mixed account in prevention of environmental damage
o has sufficient institutional structure, but fails in certain
instances
e.g. export of hazardous waste to Mexico
ASEAN
Incorporated the environmental issue in its agenda,
cooperates extensively with NGOs, yet fails to act
multilaterally in the case of crises
The region is extremely environmentally fragile
o Haze caused by Indonesian forest fires
o Poor farming practices involving lots of chemicals
o Urban pollution
o Little environmental consciousness
o Economic competitiveness has much bigger weight
than protection of the environment
Regional networks developed in cooperation with Western
governments and NGOs in 1990s
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