The Contemporary World

Module 6

Author
Leoncio P. Olobia
Olobia, Leoncio. The Contemporary World. Leyte Normal University

Module 6
Institutions Governing International Relations

OVERVIEW

This module introduces you to international relations and institutions governing

them. Read the following lectures and perform the task that follow.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of the module, you are expected to

 Discuss the different institutions governing international relations

 Differentiate globalism from globalization
 Analyze global citizenship in terms of its impact to nations
 Explain the importance of international relations

MOTIVATIONAL ACTIVITY

What is the importance of asking help from other people? Relate this to your
experience.

DISCUSSION

United Nations

Founded in 1945, the United Nations (UN) is an international institution tasked to

maintain peace, order and security, and to promote friendly nations with other
nations. It is central in protecting human rights, stability and social progress. It is
the largest and most powerful institution in the world, its headquarters seated in
New York City and main offices situated in Geneva, Nairobi, Vienna and Hague.
As a leading political organization, nation-states convene to deliberate on issues
affecting humanity but it remains an independent actor in global politics (Aldama,
2018). The institution was coined by US President Franklin Roosevelt in an effort
to revitalized ravaged societies in the aftermath of World War II.

Some of the general functions of UN are in these areas: military, economic and
environmental issues, and human protection. You will notice that the 17
Sustainable Development Goals as a global doctrine was drafted by UN to address
issues ranging issues of poverty, education, health, climate change among others.
Clearly, its functional role in society is broad extending beyond politics and power.

Furthermore, one of its programs is called UNICEF where its primarily goal is to
help children all over the word ameliorate from abject poverty, provide education
through funds collected from different agencies and institutions.

The UN promotes human rights brought to the realm of international law since its
inception in the 1940s, as explained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
However, the institution is critiqued mainly because it fails to stop wars raging in
many countries around the world. Apart from this, political meddling of domestic
issues as in the case of the Philippine’s War on Drugs of President Duterte’s
administration has put the institution in ‘hot water’ or is it the other way around.

National Alliance Treaty Organization

NATO is a defensive treaty, a military alliance sought by its members, United

States, Canada, and about 30 European countries. It is a collective security among
member nations such that any country outside of the alliance that tries to mess
with any member nation will combine military forces of the latter in defense.

NATO was also created after World War II and continued to expand well into the
Cold War. Following the collapse of Soviet Union in the 1990s, countries like
Poland, Croatia and former Soviet States joined the alliance threatening Russian
force as a result thereof. Among the countries listed, the United States has the
most advanced military system.
Non-Government Organizations

NGOs are independent organizations that are not tied to the government. These
organizations are usually formed by citizens, private groups that render services
to people and communities during war or natural calamity.

An example of an NGO is the Red Cross organization that provides emergency

relief such as food, water, medicines and other needs for those whose lives have
been destroyed by war or any other disaster. It is a collective organization that
seeks funding from benevolent citizens all over the world with philanthropic
heart. During war, it helps people from both sides of the camp so it is important
that the red logo must be worn to protect volunteers.

GLOBALISM AND GLOBALIZATION

Globalism refers to the network of connections that transcends distances of

different countries in the world. Globalization is the ‘increase or decrease of
globalism (Nye, 2002, p. 1). In other words, the link between nations is called
globalism while the speed of those interconnections is called globalization.

If you will compare globalization with globalism by stating that globalization

means interconnectedness and globalism is not, it becomes confusing because it
implies that people today are generally connected while in the past they were not
connected. History is filled with narratives that assert nations were united under
one rule after some territorial battles signifying interconnectedness while today
societies are linked digitally. Therefore, it is fitting to note that people have
always been connected but the speed of connection has changed over time.

According to Nye (2002), globalism and globalization can be differentiated in

terms of ‘thickness’. In the past nations traded goods signifying globalism but
today trading is magnified or thickened due to the bountiful means to trade goods
as in the case of online trading, thus, globalization thickens globalism in the
contemporary world. Further on, Nye (2002) enumerates three other forms of
globalism aside from economic globalism: military globalism, environmental
globalism and social globalism.
GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

Global citizenship is a moral and ethical disposition that can guide the
understanding of individuals or groups of local and global contexts, and remind
them of their relative responsibilities within various communities (Peski & Baraldi,
2012).

It can be gleaned from the definition that global citizenship is not a single attitude
but a collective force that makes people travel to many boundaries of
consciousness in terms of responsibility in the contemporary setting. The degree
of citizenship, comradeship and shared responsibility is contextualized to local
communities even in the process of global integration.

Some forms of global resistance become unavoidable in the midst of

globalization. As previously discussed in earlier modules, you have learned that
protectionist policies shield countries from foreign ‘invasion’ into the domestic
economy. While free trade policies are in order, the practice of protectionism
continues. Second, the idea of fair trade is yet another form resistance to global
interconnection in the sense that countries engaged in free trade raise questions
of fair market price, employment effect of trade, among others. In other words,
fair trade practice assert welfare benefits that accrue from exchange of goods
beyond income earned from trade Finally, issues of autonomy, democracy and
social justice hound societies as domestic concerns that impede globalization
efforts.

ASSESSMENT

Write a vlog on the implication of Russia-Ukraine war on international relations.

Include the role of NATO in your analysis. (Watch the news, read Internet articles,
etc. to add depth into your analysis).