4

LESSON

The United Nations and

Contemporary Global
Governance
 Introduction
Although many internationalists like Bentham and Kant 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 a
state to obey predetermined global rules. There is however, some
regularity in the general behavior of states.
There are many sources of global governance. 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 companies).
International non-governmental organizations (NGOs), though not
having formal state power, can lobby individual states to behave in
a certain way.
WHAT IS AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION?
One major fallacy about International Organization is that
they are merely amalgamation of various state interest. In
the 1960s and 1917s, many scholar believe that IOs we re
just venues where the contradicting but something
intersecting, agenda's of country we're discussed no more
than talk shops. What has become more evident in recent
years, however, is that IOs can take one lives of their own.
First IOs power of classification. Because
IOs can invent and apply categories, they
create powerful global standards.
 Second IOs have the power to fix meanings. this is
a broader function related to the first. Various term
like "security" or "development" need to be well-
defined. States, organization and individual views
IOs as legitimate source of information. As such,
the meaning they create have effect on the various
policies.
Finally, IOs have the power to defuse
norms. Norms are accept code of conduct
that may not be strict law, but never less
produce regularity in behavior.
Their members are, as Barnett and Finnemore
emphasize, the "missionaries" of our time, Their
power to defuse norms stems from the fact that
IOs are staffed with independent bureaucracy
who are considered expert in various fields.
 THE UNITED NATIONS
Having examined the powers, limitations,
and weakness of International
organization, the spotlight will now fall on
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 2, countries that
are worried about another global war
began to push for the creation of a more
lasting international league. The result
was the creation of the UN.
The UN is divided into 5 organs. The General assembly (GA) is
UN’s “main deliberative policy making and representative organ”.
According to the UN charter: “Decisions on important questions,
such as those on peace and security, admission of new members,
and budgetary matters, require a two-thirds majority of the general
assembly. Decisions on the other questions are done by simple
majority. Annually, in the general assembly elects a GA President
to serve a one year term office.

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.
Although the GA is the most representative organization in
the UN, many commentators consider the Security Council
(SC) to be most powerful.

According to the UN, This body consists of 15 member

states. The GA elects ten of these 15 to two year terms. The
other 5 sometimes referred to as the Permanent 5 (P5) are
China, France, Russia, The United Kingdom and The
United States.
Much attention has been placed on the SC's P5 due to their permanent seats and
because each country holds veto power over the council's decisions it only takes one
veto vote from a P5 member to stop SC action dead in its track it is especially telling
that the P5 consists of the major to veto any action rendering the UN incapable of
addressing the crisis NATO decided to intervene on its own, today a similar dynamic is
evident in Syria which is undergoing a civil war Russia has threatened to veto any SC
resolution against Syria as a result the UN is again ineffectual amid a conflict that has
led over 220,000 people dead and 1million displaced despite these problem it remains
important for SC to place a high bar on military intervention when UN sought to invade
Iraq in 2001 it claimed that Iraq Saddam Hussein had weapon of mass destruction that
threatened the world it has since been discovered that there were no weapon of mass
destruction and the invasion of Iraq has caused problem for the country and the region
that last until today
THANK YOU!!
REPORTERS:
OSMA, IRAH MAY
DIMAYA, MARY JANE
PENDON, ERICKA JANE
BETITO, CLARISSE