MIDTERM FIRST HO IN CONTEMPORARY WORLD

CREATING AN INTERNATIONAL ORDER

The world is composed of many countries or states, all of them having different forms of government.

Scholars studying political, military, and other diplomatic engagement between two or more countries are

Studying International relations.

Phenomenon of Internationalization-------- It explore the deepening of interactions between states.

Internationalization----- it does not equal globalization but it is a major part of globalization.

States/Governments -------- are key drivers of global processes

What International relations are today is largely defined by events that occurred as far back as 400 years
ago.

ATTRIBUTES OF TODAY’S GLOBAL SYSTEM

Four Attributes of Today’s Global System

1. Countries or states that are independent and govern themselves.

2. These countries interact with each other through diplomacy

3. There are International organizations like United Nations that facilitate these interactions

4. Aside from facilitating meetings between states, international organizations also take on lives of their
own.

WHO -------- World Health Organization

ILO ---------- International Labor Organization

Not all states are nation, and not all nations are states. If there are states with multiple nations, there
are also single nations with multiple states.

NATION----- According to Benedict Anderson, nation is an imagined community. It is limited, because it

does not go beyond a given official boundary. Nation often limits themselves to people who have imbibed a
particular culture, speak a common language and live in a specific territory.

Imagined --------- does not mean that the nation is made up. Rather, the nation allows one to feel a
connection with a community of people even if he/she will never meet all of them in his/her lifetime.
Benedict Anderson ---------- an Irish Political scientist and historian. He is best known for his 1983 book
Imagined Communities which explored the origins of Nationalism.

State ---------refers to a country and its government.

ATTRIBUTES OF A STATE

-Exercises authority over a specific population, called its citizens

-Governs a specific territory

-Has a structure of government that crafts various rules that people (society ) follow.

-The most crucial, has sovereignty over its territory.

Sovereignty refers to internal and external authority. It is also one of the fundamental principles of
modern state politics.

INTERNALLY ------ no individual or groups can operate in a given national territory by ignoring the state
like churches, civil society organizations, corporations and other entities.

EXTERNALLY -----Sovereignty means that a state’s policies and procedures are independent of the
interventions of other states.

-Nation and States are closely related because it is Nationalism that facilitates state formation.

-States become independent and sovereign because of Nationalist sentiments that clamors for
independence.

THE INTERSTATE SYSTEM

The origins of present day concept of Sovereignty can be traced back to the Treaty of Westphalia. After
a brutal religious war between Catholics and Protestants, the Holy Roman Empire , Spain, France,
Sweden, and Dutch Republic designed a system that would avert wars in the future by recognizing that the
treaty signers exercise complete control over their domestic affairs and swear not to meddle in each other’s
affairs.

TREATY OF WESTPHALIA ------------ set of agreement negotiated in 1644 and signed in 1648 to end the
Thirty Years War between the major continental powers of Europe

The Westphalia system provided stability for the nations of Europe, until it faced its major challenge by
Napoleon Bonaparte. Bonaparte believed in spreading the principles of the French -Revolution
-Liberty

-Equality

-Fraternity. To the rest of Europe and thus challenged the power of kings, nobility, and religion in Europe.

The Napoleonic war lasted from 1803 – 1815. In every country they conquered, the French
implemented the Napoleonic Code

NAPOLEONIC CODE

-Forbade birth privileges

-Encouraged freedom of religion

-Promoted meritocracy in government service.

MERITOCRACY -------- a political system in which economic goods and /or political power are vested in
individual people on the basis of talent, effort, and achievement rather than wealth or social class.

Anglo and Prussian armies finally defeated Napoleon in the battle of Waterloo in 1815, ending the latter’s
mission to spread his liberal code across Europe. To prevent another war and to keep their system of
privilege, the royal powers created a new system that in effect, restored the Westphalian System

THE CONCERT OF EUROPE ---------- an alliance of great powers--- United Kingdom, Austria, Russia, and
Prussia. -------that sought to restore the world of monarchial, hereditary, and religious privileges of the time
before the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars.

The concert power and authority lasted from 1815 – 1914 at the dawn of World War 1.

United Nations
 It was coined by former US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942.
 Operation began on Oct 24, 1945
 Started with 50 representatives.
 Functions in four areas namely military issues, economic issues, environmental issues, and human
protection.
 The latest member is the Republic of South Sudan
 The headquarters is in New York.
 Is the major force in governing interstate relations?

Number One Goal of the UN

 Maintaining peace and building friendships.
 Providing a forum where countries could gather to discuss global issues.
 The central mission of the UN after the war is maintaining international peace and security.

How to Maintain Peace and Security according to UN

 Working to prevent conflict
 Helping parties in conflict
 Make peace
 Peacekeeping
 Creating the conditions to allow peace to hold and flourish

Programs of the UN
1. UNICEF ------- United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund
 Primary goal is to help children around the world by collecting funds and provide education
programs.

Economic Issues----- the main focus is the reduction of global inequality.

Environmental Issues
 UNEP ----- United Nations Environmental Program
 IPCC ----- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
----- Efforts to mitigate climate change like assessment of climate science, facilitation of
climate agreement, giving assistance to countries to reduce emissions

International Courts and Tribunals

 International Criminal Court (ICC)
 International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)

Human Right
 Office of the Un High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
 The Human Rights Council
 Human Rights Treaty Bodies
 UN Development Group’s Human Rights Mainstreaming Mechanism (UNDG-HRM)

Legal Instruments
 International Bill of Human Rights consists of three legal documents
1. Universal declaration of Human Rights
2. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
3. International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

NATO ---- North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is a defensive treaty or a military alliance between the
United States, Canada, and 25 European countries. Its main purpose was to defend each other from the
possibility of communist Soviet Union taking control of their nation.
Global Economic Associations
 WTO --- World Trade Organization. It is made up of 162 countries. It was created with the goal of
increasing free trade.
The WTO has six key objectives: (1) to set and enforce rules for international trade, (2) to provide a
forum for negotiating and monitoring further trade liberalization, (3) to resolve trade disputes, (4) to
increase the transparency of decision-making processes, (5) to cooperate with
other major international economic .

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a treaty entered into by the United States,
Canada, and Mexico; it went into effect on January 1, 1994. (Free trade had existed between the U.S.
and Canada since 1989; NAFTA broadened that arrangement.)

. The North American Free Trade Agreement's purpose is to reduce trading costs, increase business
investment, and help North America be more competitive in the global marketplace. The agreement
is between Canada, the United States, and Mexico. (Trade freely without taxing each other)
Factors behind the Emergence of Global Governance
 Declining power of nation- states
 Flows of all sort of things through borders of nation- states.
 Mass migration of people
 Horrendous events within nation- state
 Global problems

The United Nations and Contemporary Global Governance

There are many sources of global governance. States sign treaties and form organizations in the
process legislating public international law. International non- governmental organizations (NGOs) though
not having formal state power, can lobby individual state to behave in a certain way. Powerful transnational
corporations can likewise have tremendous effects on global labor laws, environmental legislation, trade
policy and many more. Even ideas such as the need for “global democracy” or the clamor for “good
governance “can influence the ways international actors behave.

What is an International Organization?

Groups like UN or institutions like the IMF and the World Bank are usually called as International
Organization. In 1960’s and 19970’s, many scholars believed that IOs were just venues where the
contradicting, but sometimes intersecting, agendas of countries were discussed. However in the recent
years, IOs showed that this IOs can take on lives of their own. IOs thus become influential as independent
organizations. IOs can also be sources of great good and great harm. The most visible symbols of global
governance.

Powers of IOs
 Power of classification -----because they can invent and apply categories, they create powerful
global standards.
 Power to fix meanings-------- legitimate sources of information
 Power to diffuse norms

Five Active Organs of the UN

1. The General Assembly ----- (GA) UN’s main deliberative policy making and representative organ.
Its functions are the following:
 Decisions on important questions, such as those on peace and security
 Admission of new members
 Budgetary matters --- two thirds majority of the GA. Decisions on other questions are done
by simple majority.
 Annually, the Gener4al Assembly elects a GA president to serve a one year term of office.

All member states ( 193) have seats in the GA. Carlos Romulo was elected GA president from 1949 –
1950. GA is the most representative organization in the UN.

2. The Security Council (SC)

 The most powerful
 Consists of 15 member states
 GA elects 10 of these 15 to two- year terms
 The other five sometimes refer to as the Permanent 5 (P5) are China, France, Russia,
United kingdom, and the United States.
 P5 has been permanent members since the founding of the UN and cannot be replaced
through election.
 SC takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or an act of
aggression. Recommends methods of adjustment or terms or settlement.
 In some cases can resort in imposing sanctions or even authorizing the use of force to
maintain or restore international peace and security.
THE P5
 Have permanent seat
 Holds veto power. One veto vote from P5 member can stop SC action dead in its track.

3. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

 Principal body for coordination
 Policy review
 Policy dialogue
 Recommendations on social and environmental issues.

 Implementation of internationally agreed development goals

 Has 54 members elected for three- year terms
 Currently it is the UN’s central platform discussions on sustainable development

4. International Court of Justice

 Settle in accordance with international law

5. The Secretariat
 Consists of Secretary- General and tens of thousands of International UN staff members
 Day to day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly
 They serve as UN employees and not as state representative.

The biggest challenge of the United Nations is related to issues of security