The United

Nations and
Contemporary
Global
Governance
 Global governance is how countries and international groups work
together to make rules and organizations that handle global problems
and promote worldwide peace and cooperation.

Many Internationalists such as Bentham and Kant envisioned a

worldwide government, there is none that exists presently.

No organization can compel a state to follow predefined global

regulations through military force.

In most cases respect each other’s territorial borders. Furthermore,

when they do not, which happened when russia invaded Crimea in 2014,
it causes global worry and controversy.
 WHAT IS AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION?

An international organization is a group of countries that join forces to solve global

problems, create rules, and promote cooperation in areas like diplomacy, trade, and
health. Examples include the UN, WTO, and WHO, and they help countries work
together on important issues.

UN or institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank are usually called
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (IOs). This term is commonly used to refer
international intergovernmental organizations or groups that are primarily made
up of member-states.
International relations scholars Michael N. Barnett and
Martha FInnermore listed the Following powers of IOs.

POWER OF CLASSIFICATION
ABILITY TO CHANGE THE MEANING OF THE WORDS
POWER TO DIFFUSE NORMS

IOs can be the sources of great good and great harm. They have the
ability to promote important standards such as environmental
conservation and human rights. However, they can become closed
communities that refuse to question their views.
The United Nations
The most prominent IO in the contemporary world, the United Nations (UN).
After the collapse of the League of Nations at the end of World War II,
countries that worried about another global war began to push for the
formation of a more lasting international league. The result was the creation
of UN.
The UN is divided into five active organs.The General Assembly
(GA) is UN’s “main deliberative policymaking and representative
organ.” According to the UN charter.

All member states (currently at 193) have seats in the GA. The
Philippines played a prominent role in the GA’s early years when
Filipino diplomat Carlos P. Romulo was elected GA president from
1949-1950.
 The third UN organ is the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which is
“The principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue, and
recommendations on social and environmental issues, as well as the
implementation of internationally agreed development goals.”

The fourth is the the International Court of Justice whose task “is to
settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to
it by states and to give advisory opinions referred to it by authorized
United Nations organs and specialized agencies.”

The major cases of the court consist of disputes between states

that voluntarily submit themselves to the court for arbitration
 Challenges of the United Nations
The UN is not a world government, and it functions primarily because of
voluntary cooperation from states. If states refuse to cooperate, the
influence of the UN can be severely circumscribed.
United Nations’ greatest difficulty may be attributed to issue of
security.
Today, a similar dynamic is evident in syria, which is undergoing a civil war. Russia has
threatened to veto any SC resolution against Syria; thus, the UN has done very little to
stop state-sanctioned violence against opponents of the government.

Despite these problems, it remains important for the SC to place a high bar on military
intervention. The UN Security Council has been wrong on issues of intervention, but it has
also made right decisions.