Political and Economic Governance

• Strengths of IGOs:

  • good for smaller countries
  • Allows for long-term objectives (e.g. poverty and development)
  •  membership can be dependent on signing other key agreements e.g. UDHR)
• Weaknesses of IGOs:

  • Significant potential for gridlock
  •  smaller countries may be outmuscled
  •  state egoism undermines the project
• Strengths of treaties:

  • More flexible and responsive than IGOs
  • Require fewer states to agree, meaning they can be more targeted and specific
• weaknesses of treaties:

  • Treaty obligations can be ignored e.g. NPT
  • Regular meetings not necessarily held, so may not consistently encourage cooperation
• Strengths of Ad-hoc meetings:

  • Some are very high-profile, e.g. Paris Climate Summit 2015
  • Allow states to react to crises effectively  e.g. G20 London 2009 Summit
• Weaknesses of ad-hoc meetings:

  • Agreements can be seen as illegitimate or even illegal according to international law
  • Even less enforceable than treaties
• World Bank

  International organisation offering loans and developmental grants to the world’s poorest countries to promote development. 
• World Trade Organisation (WTO)

  Chief organisation regulating international trade, by promoting the rules-based system of trade which is then upheld by members 
• G20

  Organisation of 20 states, comprising 80% of world GDP and 2/3rds of world population.
• Washington Consensus

  Free market economic ideas advocated by the USA and most economic IGOs as to how struggling countries should reform their economies
• 1944 Bretton Woods Conference

  • 44 Allied nations met to discuss the future trade and financial systems in peacetime
  • Rise of Nazi Party in wake of Great Depression: how to be averted in future?
  • Conference aimed to find means of future stability in global economy
  • Led to the creation of Bretton Woods Institutions (IMF; World Bank; WTO)
• 2008 Global Financial Crash

  • Collapse of US subprime mortgage market precipitated a global economic recession
  • Caused by a lack of regulation and a lack of understanding of the systemic risk that existed in financial markets
  • Economic consensus said low regulation drove growth in the global economy
  • To prevent catastrophe private banks were bailed out to the tune of $13 trillion (e.g. G20 London Summit 2009)
  • Bailouts came from national governments, the IMF and the World Bank
• Key features of the IMF

  • HQ in Washington DC
  • 189 members
  • Member states provide contributions to the IMF fund
  • Provides loans to countries facing debt crises to prevent bankruptcy (competitive %r)
  • Provides monitoring, forecasting and policy advice (economic technical expertise)
  • Current Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva
• Key info and role of the World Bank

  • HQ Washington DC
  • 189 members
  • Focus post-WW2 was reconstruction of nations devastated by war
  • By 1980s the focus has shifted to development:
  • International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (loans to middle income countries with some conditions)
  • International Development Association (low interest loans or grants to poorer countries for development projects)
  • Provides technical advice on human and social development
  • Carries out research on aid and development (available to NGOs) e.g. World Development Report
• Case Study: Polonoroeste

  • Development project in Brazil in 1980s 
  • World Bank lent $440 million to authoritarian military dictatorship for project 
  • Convinced them that ripping masses of the Amazonian state of Rondonia would help economy - needed to build Highway 364 to connect service roads
  • Brazilian taxpayers forced to pay back loan with interest for years to come, with payments occurring into the 2000s 
  • WB’s loans disregard externalities - just 0.19% of the project's budget allocated for environmental protection 
  • Displaced many indigenous tribes living there
• World Bank Case study: Zimbabwe Reconstruction Fund (ZIMREF)

  • Aims to improve infrastructure and education in Zimbabwe 
  • Has invested over $52m in Zimbabwe’s education system 
  • Also provided $50m for green energy projects in Zimbabwe
  • Attached conditions to grant reduced average annual inflation from 560% to 98% in 2021
• The United Nations General Assembly is a an organ which is based on the liberal principles of sovereign equality. All states attend the UNGA with the same inherent rights as all other states.
• The UN Security Council has fifteen members of which five are permanent members (P5) and ten are non-permanent members who are elected to sit on a rotational basis. These rotating seats are filled based on a regional quota. The quota is:

  • 5 from African and Asian States
  • 1 from Eastern European States
  • 2 from Latin American States
  • 2 from Western European and other States

  Despite this quota, there are currently 60 states that have never sat on the UN Security Council. These include:

  • Afghanistan
  • Israel
  • Iceland
• Permanent Members of the UN Security Council: USA, UK, France, Russia and China.
• Non-Permanent Members of the UN Security Council : Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland, UAE.
• The United Nations was founded after World War Two with the aim of maintaining global peace. The League of Nations, which existed from 1920 to 1946, had failed to do this, to a large part due to absence of key powers including the United States, the Soviet Union and Germany (Germany joined in 1926 and left in 1933).
• Before the United Nations was formed, a canon of international law had been created to regulate when a war might be justified (casus belli) and what actions were justifiable within war (jus en bello). The UN Security Council aimed to create a body to adjudicate on cases within this existing body of international law and to develop it.
• In April 1945 the UN Conference on International Organisation opened in San Francisco and a Charter for the UN was drafted. This was agreed on the 26th June 1945 and was ratified by 50 countries. Six bodies were created: the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice and Secretariat.
• The Security Council can propose a number of actions for international situations. These might include:

  Diplomatic Measures 

  Sanctions 

  Arms Embargos

  Peacekeeping 

  Authorising Military Force 

  Referral to the ICC 

  Humanitarian Intervention 

  Recognition and Derecognition of States
• Recognition and Derecognition of States – The UN Security Council can order the recognition of States.
• Humanitarian Intervention – The UN Security Council may order humanitarian measures to be taken such as the delivery of aid.
• Referral to the ICC – The International Criminal Court can have international crimes, such as war crimes, referred to it for investigation by the UN Security Council.
• Authorising Military Force – The UN Security Council can authorise the use of force. This may take place either through a particular state or a coalition of states.
• Peacekeeping – The Security Council might order peacekeeping operations to try maintain or restore peace or to protect civilians.
• Arms Embargos – This is a particular sanction that means that countries are prohibited from trading arms with a certain state.
• Sanctions – This might include economic sanctions, or sanctions on things like travel.
• Diplomatic Measures – This might include trying to mediate between parties.
• Ukraine War – Russia has vetoed a number of resolutions that seek to condemn or enforce action over its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. For example, a resolution of 25th February 2022 calling for an end to the Russian Offensive in Ukraine was vetoed by the Russia.
• Syrian Civil War – Russia has deployed its veto a number of times in relation to the Syrian Civil War due to its strong relationship with the Assad regime. For example, on consecutive days in 2017 it vetoed resolutions relating to the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime.
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict – America has used its veto a number of times to protect the interests of Israel. Most recently, the US vetoed a resolution on the 18th October 2023 to call for humanitarian pauses as they argued it would disproportionately help Hamas in the conflict in Gaza
• Libya (2011) – In March 2011 the UNSC passed Resolution 1973 which authorised the use of force to protect civilians during the Libyan Uprising. However, both Russia and China expressed reservations about the resolution and Russia, in particular, indicated it might veto the resolution. Consequently, the wording of the veto was adjusted to limit the scope of military intervention so that it was used only to protect civilians and not enforce regime change. The resolution subsequently passed with Russia and China abstaining, rather than vetoing it
• Iraq (2002) – In November 2002 the UN Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1441. This gave Saddam Hussein a final chance to show he was complying with the disarmament obligations of a number of previous UN Resolutions. The US and Britain believed that Saddam were still not complying with resolution 1441 and demanded a meeting of the Security Council to allow military action to take place to remove any Iraqi threat that was believed to exist through the development of a Weapons of Mass Destruction Program.
• Sovereign Equality – The principle that all states have the same legal status regardless of their geographic position, population or economic strength.
• The UN is an international forum in which all 193 member states come together to discuss issues impacting humanity.
• United Nations Security Council – The organ of the UN that is responsible for maintaining international peace and security.