Global Governance

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  • Created by: RebekahW
  • Created on: 21-03-20 20:44

What is global governance?

Countries of the world working together to set up institutions, laws, treaties, rules and norms on how to tackle global issues that are common to all countries and cannot be dealt with by any one particular country.

Examples:

  • Climate change
  • Conflict resolution
  • Epidemics / pandemics (Covid-19)
  • Terrorist threats

World government:
The notion of a single common political authority for all of humanity.

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Norms, laws and institutions

Institutions:
Political and legal organisations. They exist to pass and enforce laws, decide whether a law has been broken, or act as a forum for different groups to discuss issues and sort out their differences. At the global scale the incluse the United Nations, World Trade Organisation and International Criminal Court.

Laws:
Rules that are established by countries through international agreements. They are legally binding. They cover human rights, labour standards, trade regulations etc.

Norms:
Accepted standards of behaviour. There are usually consequences for countries, companies or individuals who don’t follow them. E.g. It is generally believed that people have the right to freedom of speech - countries that restrict this right may face international condemnation.

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Issues global governance tries to tackle

UN (United Nations)
WTO (World Trade Organisation)
World Bank & IMF (International Monetary Fund)

Climate change
Marine exploitation and pollution
Trade
Financial stability
Environmental protection for fragile spaces.
Cross border crime and international justice.
International developments
Human rights
Standards of production
Laws of the sea
Security

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The rise of global governance

Globalisation:
The world is shrinking. Our lives in this country are not very dissimilar to the lives of others in other countries. Globalisation has brought countries of the world closer together through trade, migration and culture.

Terrorism/security threats:
Global terrorism has been on the increase. The sight of attacks across Europe in the last couple of years have made the issue more current in the news. Terrorism is a complex issue. There is the recruitment of terrorists, financing of terrorist activities, the investigation and arrest of terrorism etc., all of which are trans-border issues.

Environmental issues like deforestation, pollution etc.:
As our demand for resources increases we have exploited more fragile environments. Exploitation of resources create two issues: sustainability problems and destruction of habitats. Environmental issues are created by countries directly and indirectly.

Climate change & global warming:
Global temperatures have been rising at an alarming rate since the industrial revolution. Scientists now know that the release of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from human activity from human use.

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United Nations

4 main aims:
To develop global peace and security.
To develop friendly relations between nations.
To use cooperation to solve international issues.
To bring countries together to settle disputes.

The UN is made up of several organisations e.g. the UN Security Council which is responsible for maintaining global peace and security. There is also UNICEF (United Nations International Childrens Education Fund) and UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organisation).

UN promotes stability and growth but some people believe it has made this worse.

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UN - Growth and stability

Growth:
The UN Millennium Development Goals have helped reduce the number of people in poverty, increased the amount of children in primary school and reduced child and maternal mortality rates.

Stability:
UN peacekeeping missions can help to end wars, e.g. peaceful elections were held in Côte d’lvoire in 2015 after years of civil war.

Inequalities:
Developed countries hold the most power over decisions made. Many of the global issues tackled affect African countries the most, but no Africa. Country has a permanent seat at the UN Security Council.

Injustices:
At times the UN has been ineffective. In 1995, it failed to protect 8000 people in Srebrenica in south-east Europe when they were massacred by Bosnian Serbs.

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Liberalism

Emphasises that the broad ties among states have both made it difficult to define national interests and decreased the usefulness of military power.

Neo-liberalism developed in the 1970s as some scholars began arguing that realism was outdated.

Increasing globalisation, the rise in communication technologies, and the increase in international trade meant that states could no longer rely on simple power politics to decide matters.

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