M9 Study Guide

M9S1 Important Notes

1. Globalization gave rise to transnational issues or issues that a single government cannot address
by itself (e.g. COVID-19).
2. Global governance is a movement towards political cooperation among transnational actors.
Global governance is aimed at negotiating responses to problems that affect more than one
state or region.
3. Global governance, in principle, should create a world government, i.e. a common political
authority for all of humanity, giving way to a global government and a single state that exercises
authority over the entire world.
4. Currently, there is no world government in existence but there are organizations that attempt to
perform the functions that a world government is supposed to do. These are intergovernmental
organizations and supranational organizations.
5. Intergovernmental organizations usually have a wider scope based on the number of its
members. However, they have very limited (if none at all) power to enforce compliance.
6. Supranational organizations have a lot of power to enforce compliance. However, their scope is
very limited based on their membership as not many nation-states want to surrender their
sovereignty.
7. Transnational issues are those problems affecting multiple countries and a single country is
usually not enough to address this. There are five categories of transnational issues discussed in
this module.
8. The environmental governance and managing the planet category (of transnational issues)
refers to transnational issues involving nature. As a species, we are doing a lot to damage the
environment and things are getting out of hand in some areas.
9. The governance of the economy and globalization category (of transnational issues) refers to
transnational issues that threaten to destabilize global economy and/or bring about damages
through globalization.
10. The political and institutional governance category (of transnational issues) refers to territorial
rights, privileges, and powers.
11. The governance of peace, security, and conflict resolution category (of transnational issues)
refers to maintaining peace and security especially when the conflict issue involved crosses
borders.
12. The governance of science, education, information, and communications category (of
transnational issues) refers to matters concerning science, technology, and how these two can
progress.
13. One thing to keep in mind when deciding if something is a transnational issue or not is to ask
whether an issue has a chance to affect multiple countries instead of just one.
14. A world government can exist through two possible approaches: (1) through violent and
compulsory world domination, or (2) peaceful and voluntary supranational union.

M9S2 Important Notes

1. A study of the global interstate system is a study of international relations and the international
system.
2. International relations pertain to the study of state and non-state actors and their relationship
to each other in the international system.
3. The international system is a patterned set of interactions among the major political actors on
the international stage.
4. International relations, based on its definition, allows countries to engage in relationships with
each other that lead to cooperation in a wide range of areas. There are so many different
aspects where countries can cooperate with each other such as dealing with transnational
issues, helping each other achieve development, share technologies, trade smoothly, and so on.
5. The nation-state is the primary actor of the global interstate system. Keep in mind though that
there are other actors present in international relations. Their role is just not as central as
nation-states.
6. A nation-state has three defining characteristics: (1) a unified people, (2) attachment to
territory, and (3) is a desire for sovereignty.
7. Sovereignty is the authority of a nation-state to govern itself.
8. Intergovernmentalism refers to arrangements whereby nation states, in situations and
conditions they can control, cooperate with one another on matters of common interest. In an
intergovernmental organization, member states maintain their sovereignty. The United Nations
is an example of an intergovernmental organization.
9. Supranationalism refers to governance arrangements where states decide to delegate some
responsibility for decision making to a body or decision-making forum that stands above the
nation state. In a supranational organization, member states surrender their sovereignty. The
European Union is an example of a supranational organization.