This is a general education subject, Study notes of World Religions

Download This is a general education subject and more Study notes World Religions in PDF only on Docsity! What is an International Organization? When scholars refer to groups like the UN or institutions like the IMF and the World Bank (see Lesson 2), they usually call them international organizations (IOs). Although international NGOs are sometimes considered as IOS, the term is commonly used to refer to international intergovernmental organizations or groups that are primarily made up of member-states. One major fallacy about international organizations is that they are merely amalgamations of various state interests. In the 1960s and 1970s, many scholars believed that IOs were just venues where the contradicting, but sometimes intersecting, agendas of countries were discussed-no more than talk shops. What has become more evident in recent years, however, is that IOs can take on lives of their own. For example, as seen in Lesson 2, the IMF was able to promote a particular form of economic orthodoxy that stemmed mainly from the beliefs of its professional economists. 10s can thus become influential as independent organizations. International relations scholars Michael N. Barnett and Martha Finnemore listed the following powers of IOS. First, 10s have the power of classification. Because 10s can invent and apply categories, they create powerful global standards. For example, it is the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that defines what a refugee is (see Lesson 10 for more). And since states are required to accept refugees entering their borders, this power to establish identity has concrete effects." Second, 10s have the power to fix meanings. This is a broader function related to the first. Various terms like "security" or "development" need to be well-defined. States, organizations, and individuals view 10s as legitimate sources of information. As such, the meanings they create have effects on various policies. For example, recently, the United Nations has started to define security as not just safety from military violence, but also safety from environmental harm." Finally, IOs have the power to diffuse norms. Norms are accepted codes of conduct that may not be strict law, but nevertheless produce regularity in behavior. 10s do not only classify and fix meanings; they also spread their ideas across the world, thereby establishing global standards. Their members are, as Barnett and Finnemore emphasized, the "missionaries" of our time. Their power to diffuse norms stems from the fact that 10s are staffed with independent bureaucracies, who are considered experts in various fields. For example, World Bank economists come to be regarded as experts in development and thus carry some form of authority. They can, therefore, create norms regarding the implementation and conceptualization of development projects. Because of these immense powers. IOs can be sources of great good and great harm. They can promote relevant norms like environmental protection and human rights. But, like other entrenched bureaucracies, they can become sealed-off communities that fail to challenge their beliefs. For example, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz famously criticized the IMF for using a "one-size-fits-all" approach when its economists made recommendations to developing countries." The United Nations Having examined the powers, limitations, and weaknesses of IOs, 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 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 the UN. Although the organization is far from perfect, it should be emphasized that it has so far achieved its primary goal of averting another global war. For this reason alone, the UN should be considered a success. 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: "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 other questions are done by simple majority. Annually, the General Assembly elects a GA President to serve a one-year term of office." 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. Allied Powers that won World War II. The Security Council will be further discussed in the next section. 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." It has 54 members elected for three-year terms. Currently, it is the UN's central platform for discussions on sustainable development. The fourth is 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." 927 The major cases of the court consist of disputes between states that voluntarily submit themselves to the court for arbitration. The court, as such, cannot try individuals (international criminal cases are heard by the International Criminal Court, which is independent of the UN), and its decisions are only binding when states have explicitly agreed to place themselves before the court's authority. The SC may enforce the rulings of the ICJ, but this remains subject to the P5's veto power. Finally, the secretariat consists of the "Secretary-General and tens of thousands of international UN staff members who carry out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly and the organization's other principal organs." As such, it is the bureaucracy of the UN, serving as a kind of international civil service. Members of the secretariat serve in their capacity as UN employees and not as state representatives.