Global

Governance

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LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Define and identify the features global governance in the modern world.
• Compare and contrast Global Governance and National Governance.
• Develop an argument in favor and against the establishment of world
government.

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SELF-ASSESSMENT – Write your answers on a separate piece of paper.

True False Statement

Global Governance works like a national governance –
there is one superior authority that imposes peace and
order among the states.
Anarchy is the opposite of Order.
The world system recognizes two main actors or
players that interact with one another – State and Non-
State Actors.
The United Nations is an example of global governance.
Global Governance could be defined as collective
understanding on the benefits of cooperation among
actors in the system.

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Recall: State of Nature but in grander scheme of things?

Last chapter we established that humans, if left unrestrained, could be disastrous. Humans
are wired to satisfy their needs and wants. Put in an environment where the only rule is
“kill or be killed,” humans are driven to fight for its survival. This cyclical nature of violence
persisted until a central overarching power establish its authority in name of security and
stability. Hence, government were established to maintain peace and order among its
citizens.

The existence of government strictly exists at the state/national level. So far, there is no
world government that could oversee the affairs of the entire planet. This means that the
global level is in anarchy. This mirrors the condition that existed before people established
their own government. Just like in the state of nature, no authority exists that could exact
obedience and compliance among states. States are left on their own devices to do anything
even at the expense of other states. The question now is – If the formation of state with its
centralized government led to the stability and security of its people, would it follow that
the formation of a “world government” lead to peace and order among states?

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World Government: Is it Viable?
There is no clear-cut answer to the question. However, most of the realities the world is
facing right now tends to go against the creation of a world government. For one, it is
challenging to manage diverse societies and communities with different socio-economic
situations such as different religions, wealth disparity, technological access, cultural traits
among others. Say in a world government, there is a world congress that would discuss
issues of humanity and provide solutions to those. Can you imagine how long it would take
to pass a bill into a law or a policy that would be universally beneficial? Arriving at a
decision that would satisfy everyone is virtually impossible without ever committing
inconvenience and discomfort on another group. This could potentially cause tensions and
even conflict among them. How would representation work in this set up? Should we have
one representative per country (community) which means 1:1 vote? Or should
representation depend on the number of population relative to the total world population?
Where should the main government office be located? Which area should receive the most
funding/resources? Should we all focus on development efforts to lesser wealthy areas?
How about the already developed areas? Right off the bat, problems and questions arise.
Secondly, and perhaps the most valid reason is that states do not want to completely lose
their sovereignty in any way, shape or form. As it is discussed, sovereignty is the capacity of
the state to decide for itself. Taking away this meant stripping away their capacity to
manage their own affairs. As such, sovereignty is still the basis through which one’s
independence is derived, and no one wants to be at the behest of someone or some higher
authority? Right?

Things to ponder!

→ Do you think that world government is impractical? Or

do you think that it could solve many issues around the
world such as poverty and war?

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International Organizations as an alternative answer
States and its people found a way to circumvent the impracticality of world government.
Without completely losing its sovereignty, states band together to form international
organizations (Shortened as IO). IOs perform different duties and purposes but their
major functions may include: Facilitating interactions of states with regards to mediating
and resolving conflicts, pooling resources for development projects and initiatives, or
institutionalizing rules and regulations that would govern the behavior of its members.
Basically, international organizations are like clubs in your schools were members are
expected to participate in their events with a set of rules to follow. The main idea here is
that these organizations are voluntary in nature, states are not required to participate or
follow a certain rule unless they chose to. This is normally carried by signing then ratifying
treaties and agreements set forth by the organization.

The more than 170 world leaders who attended the World Summit at UN Headquarters in New York in September 2005.
UN Photo/ Eskinder Debebe (Courtesy of https://www.un.org/en/events/pastevents/worldsummit_2005.shtml)

Global Governance vs. National/State Government

The emergence of International Organizations led to the idea of Global Governance. To
understand global governance, it is better to contrast it with national governance. National
Governance (to be referred as government herewith) by virtue of sovereignty provided all

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powers as concentrated. This means that government
tackles all the issues ranging from security, economy,
culture, and politics, and has the monopoly to decide Governance may have
come from the Greek word
how to resolve these issues. The Philippine kybernan meaning to pilot,
government decides which problems should we focus steer or direct.
on and how are we going to deal with it – be it on
problem on terrorism, our dwindling economy, ever
worsening situation against Covid-19, problem on mass transportation and so on and so
forth. Global Governance, however, manages different issues through different actors. Here,
global governance is understood in terms of power as diffused. The ability to provide
solutions is distributed from different actors either state or non-state actors or both. The
World Health Organization (WHO) as an international organization is responsible in the
management and coordination of international public health issues. On the other hand, the
World Trade Organization (WTO) is assigned on securing stable working policies and
recommendation about global trade on goods and services. Albeit smaller in size compared
to WHO and WTO, Amnesty International is a non-governmental organization that seeks to
uphold human rights across the world from violations of life, liberty and property against
abusive actors like the corrupt governments, big companies or other influential groups.
Unlike the workings of national government where power is centralized, global governance
takes a decentralized approach in dealing with issues around the planet. Different
institutions and organizations take on a specific function or focus as indicated on the
previous examples.

It is important to note that there are two types of actors in international politics – state
and non-state actors. State as we discussed have four essential elements recognized as a
legal entity in the world. On the other hand, non-state actors are divided into two groups –
civil society and market. Civil society is comprised of groups or organizations working in
the interests of the citizens but operating outside of the governmental and for-profit
sectors (businesses) examples of this are non-governmental organization (NGOs) and
media companies. Market is normally composed of large financial institutions such as
World Trade Organizations, World Bank and International Monetary Bank and the

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multinational corporations (MNCs) whose huge wealth could influence the state both
positively and negatively as we have discussed in the previous chapters. (see the graph
below)

It is inevitable that there are situations where states have to voluntarily suspend its ability
to decide on a certain issue especially when there is an imminent concern or a great benefit
in doing so. While technically sovereignty might be infringed, it is for the interest of the
state. We see in recent decades that many states voluntarily bind themselves in many
agreements and rules to act in unison not only for the states’ own interest but to the larger
community. As we have discussed so far, Global Governance could be defined as the sum of
laws, norms, policies and institutions that define, constitute and mediate transborder
relations between states, cultures, citizens, intergovernmental and non-governmental
organizations and the market.1 Here global governance is understood as a shared idea and
expectations of actions of the states and non-state actors amongst them. Common
understanding and compliance create order and stability without needing a central world

1 (Weiss T. a., 2014)

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government that could enforce its will even with the use of physical force to exact
obedience among the members.

Global Governance in Action

Global governance just like globalization is everywhere, albeit not easily identified. This
may include requiring import and export food producers’ labels on nutrition facts to
banning the use of steroids in any Olympic games. To get a better grasp of global
governance it is most fitting to provide illustrations, and this includes:

United Nations Flag (upper left) and images from world wars in the past century.
Images courtesy of https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/
world-war-ii-started-in-1939

(1) The United Nations was established after World War II due to the common
recognition among states that there should be an avenue through which states could
discuss and argue their concerns without resorting to conflict or war.
(2) In 1989, 20 countries ratified the Montreal Protocol completely banning the
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) found in aerosols, refrigerators, air conditioners, food
packaging that greatly damages the ozone layer. Few years later, all of the countries
fully phased out the production and use of CFCs.

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 Aerosols (Left) has been one of the main contributors of CFCs in the atmosphere; Counterfeit items (right) had
been one of the main problems of many companies around the world.

(3) As early as 1886, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic
Works has been adopted by dozens of states protecting the works and upholding the
rights of their creators. According to World Intellectual Property Organization, the
convention “...provides creators such as authors, musicians, poets, painters etc. with
the means to control how their works are used, by whom, and on what terms.” 2
Since then, numerous treaties and agreements were adopted to further expand its
scope and content.

(4) Perhaps the most recent example of global governance is the call of hundreds of
scientists from around the world for the World Health Organization to recognize
coronavirus as airborne. If done so, this would change the way government and
people respond to Covid-19, given that until now the virus is thought to only spread
via direct contact and huge respiratory droplet. According to New York Times:

“If airborne transmission is a significant factor in the pandemic, especially in crowded spaces with
poor ventilation, the consequences for containment will be significant. Masks may be needed

2 (Unknown, ND) - https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/

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 indoors, even in socially-distant settings. Health care workers may need N95 masks that filter out
even the smallest respiratory droplets as they care for coronavirus patients.

Ventilation systems in schools, nursing homes, residences and businesses may need to minimize
recirculating air and add powerful new filters. Ultraviolet lights may be needed to kill viral
particles floating in tiny droplets indoors.” 3

(Images courtesy of: https://www.examineus.com/welcome.html)

(5) However, not all global governance manifest in institutions (UN & WHO) and
agreements (Montreal Protocol & Berne Convention) and policy recommendations
(Scentists call to WHO), it could also be observed on commonly agreed practices or
norms. An example of this is the requirement for a degree to practice certain
profession. In many parts of the world, many doctors, nurses, engineers and lawyers
needed their respective degree. Some countries require passing the licensure exam,
others do not. Ultimately, the international common practice requires one to acquire
a higher professional degree – but the extent to which one could practice, exams to
pass and educational institution where it is acquired, remained under the laws and
decision of the state where one wants to practice.

3 (Mandavilli, 2020)

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Summary
• Unlike the state whose order and stability rests on one central governing body, the
international system relies on different actors such as international organizations,
non-governmental organizations as well as multinational corporations in managing
the world.
• Global governance is a collective understanding on the benefits of cooperation and
stability of the larger community manifesting on the recognition and compliance of
different laws, norms, institutions and policies that govern the interactions of the
states.
• The suspension of the ability of the states to decide on some areas of its affairs may
be beneficial, and could outweigh the partial, temporary loosening of sovereignty for
its own sake and the larger community of states.
• Global Governance supplants the impracticality of having one world government in
the most complex of ways.

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ACTIVITY
INSTRUCTION: Answer the question in one MS word file. Kindly rename the file as –
Lastname_FirstName_Section_Governance. The format would be 1” all sides / 12 font size
/ Cambria or Times New Roman / 400 – 700 words.

 You are chosen to represent the Philippines in the United Nations. The agenda of
the session is “Whether or not to establish a world government,” your country
is in favor of establishing a world government. How would you convince your
fellow representative from other countries to vote in favor of world government?
Make a position paper arguing the good points on why we need one central
authority to manage the world affairs. Note: Your paper should be able to convince
your fellow representatives that we need to establish a world government.

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REFERENCES:

Weiss, T. a. (2014). The United Nations Meets the Twenty first century: Confronting The
Challenges of Global Governance. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publication Ltd.
Unknown, A. (ND). Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. Retrieved
from wipo.int: https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/
Mandavilli, A. (2020, July 04). 239 Experts With One Big Claim: The Coronavirus Is Airborne.
Retrieved from The New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/04/health/239-experts-with-one-big-claim-the-
coronavirus-is-airborne.html

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