TCW REVIEWER
companies).
The United Nations and Contemporary Global
Governance
Bentham
 he was a doctrine and utilitarian thinker
 Bentham firmly believed that world
governance was possible, at least under
his Utilitarian system.
Kant
 Kant’s cosmopolitan theory of justice
can provide a third way between
nationalism and its bleak alternatives
providing a measure of global
governance upheld by nations without
recourse to a world state.
 Bentham and Kant are internationalists
imagined the possibility of a global
government, nothing of the sort exists
today.
 There is no one organization that various
states are accountable to.
 Moreover, no organization can militarily
compel to a state to obey predetermined
global rules.
 However, there is some regularity in the
general behavior of states.
GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
 Refers to the various intersecting
processes that create this order.
 Is a movement towards political
cooperation among transnational
actors, aimed at negotiating responses
to problems that affect more than one
state or region.
 States sign treaties and form
organizations, in the process legislating
public international law (international
rules that govern interactions between
states as opposed to say, private
 International non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), though not
having formal state power; can lobby
individual states to behave in a certain
way).
 Powerful transnational corporations can
likewise have tremendous effects on
global labor laws, environmental
legislation, trade policy, etc.
 Even ideas such as the need for “global
democracy or the clamor for “good
governance” can influence the ways
international actors behave.
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION
 Scholars refer to groups like UN or
institution like the IMF and the World
Bank.
 Term is commonly used to refer to
international intergovernmental
organizations or groups that are
primarily made up of membe-states
 1960’s-1970’s
Michael N. Barnett and Martha Finnem ore
POWER OF INTERNATIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS
1. Power of Classification
2. Power to fix meanings
3. Power to diffuse norms
FIVE ACTIVE ORGANS OF UNITED
NATIONS
 General Assembly
- “main deliberative
policymaking and
representative organ”
- General Assembly Hall in New
York
 - Annually, the general referred to it by
assembly elects a GA authorized UN organs
President to serve one year and specialized
term of office. agencies.”
- Carlos P. Romulo (1949-1950)
 Secretariat
 Security Council  Secretary-General and
- Permanent Members: China, ten thousand of UN
France, Russia, United staff members who
Kingdom and United States. carry out the day-to-
- Non-Permanent Members: day work of UN as a
Bolivia, Cote d’lvoire, mandated by the
Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, General Assembly and
Kazakhstan, Kuwait, the organization’s other
Netherlands, Peru, Poland principal organ.
and Sweden.
- P5 cannot be replaced CHALLENGES OF THE
through election UNITED NATIONS
- Takes the lead in determining
the existence of a threat to  Limits are
the peace or act of placed upon its
aggression. various organs
- A heir to tradition of “great and programs
power” by the need to
 Economic and Social Council respect state
- “the principal body for sovereignty.
coordination, policy review,  States refused
policy dialogue, and to cooperate.
recommendations on social  The
and environment issues, as maintenance of
well as the implementation of international
internationally agreed peace and
development goals. “ security
- Rhonda King is the new
elected President for
ECOSOC.
VETO POWER
 International Court of Justice  A veto from any of the permanent
 “to settle, in members can halt any possible action
accordance with the Council may take.
international law, legal
disputes submitted to it  One Country’s objection, rather than the
by states and give opinions of a majority of countries, may
advisory opinions
cripple any possible UN armed or
diplomatic response to a crisis.
EXAMPLE VETOED EVENTS THAT MADE
THE UN INEFFECTIVE:
 Kosovo War
 An ethnic cleansing
against ethnic Muslim
Albanians in the
province of Kosovo.
 North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO)
led by US sought SC
intervention however,
China and Russia
threatened to veto any
action of the SC,
rendering the UN
incapable of addressing
the crisis and left the
UN ineffectual.
 Civil War in Syria
 Incidents of violence in
Syria have been
mounting since the
uprising since the
uprising against
President Bashar
Assad’s regime in
March 2011.
 Prisons and makeshift
detention facilities are
swelling with men,
women and even
children. Deaths by
summary executions
and unspeakable
torture are widespread.
People are also dying
from hunger and once-
rare infectious diseases.
Whole urban centers
and some of
humankind’s great
architectural and
cultural heritage lie in
ruins.
 Russia has threatened
veto the SC resolution
against the Syria since
the Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad is an
ally of Russian dictator
Vladimir Putin, the
latter shield away from
any policy that could
weaken the legitimacy
of the former.
INTERACTIVE LESSON 4
 September – each year, in what
month, the full UN membership
meets in the General Assembly Hall in
New York for the annual General
Assembly session.
 Peace keeping – UN staff members
are recruited internationally and
locally, and work in duty stations and
on peacekeeping missions all around
the world
 Environmental
 The economic and
social council is the
principal body for
coordination, policy
review, policy dialogue
and recommendations
on economic, social and
environmental issues,
as well as
implementation of
internationally agreed
development goals.
 Aggression
  The security Council
takes the lead in
determining the
existence of a threat to
the peace or act of
Aggression.
 Judicial
 The International Court
What is hew and different about the 17 SDGs
of Justice is the
principal Judicial organ
of the United Nations.
 International
 The United Nations is
an International
organization founded in
1945.
 Secretariat
 The secretariat
comprises the
Secretary-General and
tens of thousands of
International UN staff
members who carry out
the day to day work of
the UN as mandated by
the General Assembly
and the Organization’s
other principal bodies.
 Policy Making
 The General Assembly
is the main deliberative,
policymaking and
representative organ of
the UN.
INTRODUCING THE SDGs
The Sustainable Development Goals
 A set of 17 goals for the world’s
future, through 2030
 Backed up by a set of 169 detailed
targets
 Negotiated over a two-year period
at the United Nations
 Agreed to by nearly all the world’s
nations of sept 25.
o Universality - First, and most important,
these goals apply to every nation, and
every sector. Cities, businesses, schools,
organizations, all are challenged to act.
o Integration – second, it is recognized
that the goals are all inter-connected, in
a system. We cannot aim to achieve just
one goal. We must achieve them all.
o Transformation – and finally, it is widely
recognized that achieving these Goals
involves making very big, fundamental
changes in how we live on earth.
17 Sustainable Development Goals
1. End poverty in all its forms
everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security
and improved nutrition and
promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote
well-being for all at all ages.
4. Ensure inclusive and quality
education for all and promote
lifelong learning.
5. Achieve gender equality and
empower women and girls
6. Ensure access to water and
sanitation for all.
7. Ensure access to affordable,
reliable, sustainable and modern
energy for all.
8. Promote inclusive and sustainable
economic growth, employment and
decent.
9. Build resilient infrastructure,
promote sustainable
industrialization and foster
innovation.
10. Reduce inequality within and
among countries.
11. Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient
and sustainable.
12. Ensure sustainable consumption
and production patterns.
13. Take urgent action to combat
climate change and its impacts.
14. Conserve and sustainably use the
oceans, seas and marine resources.
15. Sustainably manage forests, combat
desertification, halt and reverse
land degradation, halt biodiversity
loss.
16. Promote just, peaceful and inclusive
societies
17. Revitalize the global partnership for
sustainable development
 Each goal is important in itself,
and they are all connected.
STATE AND NON-STATE ACTORS IN
GLOBAL POLITICS
-Korczyk’s Class
ACTOR
- Any individual or entity that
has the power or authority to
influence political processes
 State Actors
- Those that in everyday
conversation
- We refer to them as countries
- In global politics State actors
are the one we consider to be
the primary actors
- State actors influences
political processes through
domestic and foreign policy
- When the united states
decides to enter into a trade
agreement with another
country they are acting to
influence political processes
around the world
- When state actors have
foreign policies they influence
things globally and state
actors domestic policies
influence the people in their
states.
 Non-State Actors
- are all those organizations
and individuals who have the
power to influence political
process but aren’t affiliated
with any one particular state
- are also group into different
categories:
1. NGOs
(Non-Governmental
Organizations)
- NGOs are typically those
organizations that aim to do
some good in different parts
of the world.
- Example: Amnesty
International that deals with
human rights around the
world. OXFAM that has
mandate of working in
developing countries to deal
with issues around poverty.
Doctors without borders who
go into different places that
might be facing epidemics
major issues about health
 care. Doctors from around
the world come together in
order to help that situation.
2. TNC (Transnational
Corporations)
- Because of their immense
wealth, they are able to
influence political processes
around the world as well
- Examples: companies like
McDonald’s, Apple, Royal, Dutch
Shell, because of their size scope
and ability to operate in so many
different parts of the world, they
have become quite powerful on
the global stage.
3. IGO (Intergovernmental
Orgazinations)
- Examples: European Union,
the World Bank or United
Nations, where States
willingly join these
organizations in order to gain
some mutual benefit of
working together with other
countries on specific issues.
- World Bank, deals with free
trade and trying to promote
trade agreements and fair
trade practices around the
world and so States join that
in order to have the
protection that trade
agreements are going to be
fairly followed.
 Global Politics Actors
- It’s tricky to think of them as
non-state actors, because for
– Examples: the case of the
united nations which has a
fairly limited power to act on
its own accord it actually
needs the direct support of
the states that are members,
in order to be able to
accomplish things, so there’s
some debate in the world of
global politics about whether
you can even consider an
organization like the United
Nations a non-state actor but
for our purposes that
designation certainly works
- so it’s these interactions
between these actors that
really makes global politics
tick and that relationship
between states and i-gos for
example and the ability of
NGOs to increasingly be able
to do more work in countries
around the world.
STATE ACTORS – the actions
of state actors are sometimes
referred to by their capital
cities, so its important to
know the capital city of major
global players.