Global Governance: Political

CHAPTER 3: Global Governance: Political

What is Global Governance?

Government:

-          An executive body that is in power, usually of a sovereign state

-          Often elected, a government’s leadership and authority are usually clear

Governance:

-          The act of governing and trying to command authority over a particular territory or group

The lack of a world government:

There is no recognised ‘world government’ which has sovereign power and the authority to act. They face several difficulties including:

§  States are the principal actors – nothing is agreed unless states agree to take action

§  International law is largely unenforceable – international law is often optional and requires states to actively sign up for the law to cover them, states can also change their minds ad withdraw from treaties that they have signed

§  Lack of international enforcement – There are few means of international enforcement that can hold states accountable and force them to change their behaviour

There are different types of states, such as:

1.       Rogue States: Illegitimate governments that are exceeding power and have no desire to be part of any systems of global governance, e.g. North Korea

2.       Failed States: Not fully in control of their internal governance and cannot hold authority over their populations, e.g. Somalia

3.       Powerful States: Can pick and choose which global agreements they are part of and ignore international pressure, e.g. Russia, USA

Political Global Governance:

There are three main ways in which states can work together in political global governance:

1.       IGOs: These organisations provide a permanent and formal rules-based framework in which states can negotiate and form agreements.

2.       International Treaties: A means of creating international law more flexibly on specific issues either within or independent of IGOs and between bilateral and multilateral states.

3.       Ad hoc Meetings: can meet in informal meetings and undertake negotiations and agreements on a more ad hoc basis

The United Nations

The League of Nations:

§  Founded in 1920 as the first attempt at global political governance

§  Membership was unstable as major powers left when they felt their national interests could not be protected

§  Failed in its founding objective after WWI to prevent another global conflict

§  Replaced by the UN after WWII

The United Nations:

§  Founded in 1945 to replace the League of Nations

§  Membership and functions have grown since its founding

§  Remains the world’s most comprehensive IGO and the pinnacle of global governance efforts

§  The use of the UNSC veto protects the national interests of major powers

§  Has 5 permanent members: China, France, Russia, the UK and the USA

The UN Charter:

To form the UN member states agreed to and signed the UN Charter, the UN’s constitution. It is the Multilateral Treatythat sets out UN powers within International Law and sets out member-state rights, powers of its organs and their relationship…