Chapter 6: International Organizations

Introduction

International organizations of all types act as part of global governance to address the most basic of concerns: security, freedom, order, justice, and welfare. There are theoretical explanations that have been proposed for the existence and structures of such organizations. International organizations are usually classified into two main groups: 1) international governmental (intergovernmental) organization, 2) international nongovernmental organizations. There are also non-state actor organizations, but many of those are considered in the nongovernmental category.

Theorizing about International Organizations

There are at least three theoretical approaches or frameworks by which to think about international organizations: functionalism, neofunctionalism, and regime theory. Functionalism assumes that the provision of common needs may unite peoples transnationally, across territorial or regional boundaries, making them eventually meaningless.

Functionalism assumes that there are specific, near-universal needs and services, and further assumes there is unity of interests in security, freedom, order, justice, and welfare. ese, as ‘enmeshment’ (interdependence) increased, would result in international integration.

Neofunctionalism also assumed that integration would best be proceed internationally by working on areas of mutual interest. Both functionalism and neofunctionalism presumed that individual loyalty to the original nationstates would weaken as people became aware that integration o ered many positive benefits. e bulk of these benefits would be best maintained and delivered by this new cooperative arrangement.

However, they differ from each other:

• Neofunctionalism is a theory of regional, not global, integration.
• Functionalists were not much concerned with institution-building, but neofunctionalists are.
• Neofunctionalists are attuned to the political implications and complications of strong integration because of a “spillover effect”

Their successes rest upon integration theory, which is a process in which supranational institutions replace national (or even regional) ones.

Regime Theory, too, explains cooperation in international relations. Stephen Krasner defines a regime as those “sets of implicit or explicit principles, norms, roles, and decision-making procedures around which actors’ expectations converge in each area of international relations”.

• “Principles are beliefs about fact, causation, and moral correctness.
• Norms are standards of behavior de ned in terms of rights and obligations.
• Rules are specific prescriptions or proscriptions for action. Decision-making procedures are prevailing practices for making and implementing collective choice. Regimes are not temporary, and do not change with every shift in power or interests. They are not short-term.

The United Nations

The reason why international organizations exist is that working with them is fundamentally essential to modern diplomacy. International organizations are places where nations can find solutions to complex problems. The best known international organization is the United Nations. The League of Nations and World War II: The League of Nations was formed in 1919 at the Paris Conference, but it failed because of representation, collective security goals, and enforcement. The collective security system required nations to act against states they considered friendly, but no state was willing to send its citizens into another war. The United Nations was founded in 1945 following the World War II and developed a Charter to effectively address collective security. The Purpose of the United Nations and The United Nations Structure: The United Nations has four purposes;

1. to maintain international peace and security;
2. to develop friendly relations among nations;
3. to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights; and
4. to be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.

Today, more than thirty affiliated organizations cooperate in the effort and they are as the United Nations System. The Charter of the United Nations: The Charter provides the UN’s organizational structure, principle, powers, and functions as a written constitution. The basis of the Charter is that all states are equal under international law and have full sovereignty over their own affairs. According to the Charter all states have full independence and territorial integrity and they have responsibilities and obligations.

Main Organs of the United Nations: The six main organs of the UN are

the General Assembly,

the Security Council,

the Economic and Social Council,

the Trusteeship Council (inactive),

the International Court of Justice and

the UN Secretariat.

The UN Security Council has five permanent members (P5): Russia, the United States, China, France, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The In Security Council also has revolving places for ten Non-Permanent Members, who serve for two years but who do not have veto power like the P5. According to the Un Charter, the main responsibility of the Security Council is the maintenance of international peace and security. All member states belong to the General Assembly and each member has one vote. The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has 54 members (each serving for three-year terms) and focuses on three dimensions of worldwide development issues: the economic, the social, and the environmental. The ECOSOC is the principle organ for the following activities:

• promoting higher standards of living, full employment, economic and social progress
• identifying solutions to international economic, social and health problems
• facilitating international cultural and educational cooperation
• encouraging a universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms

The UN Secretariat provides administrative services for the UN. It supervises the Security Council and its military staff and it supports the work of the General Assembly.

The Trusteeship Council, which has been inactive since 1994, represents the important role the UN played in decolonization.

Keeping, Making and Building Peace: One of the most important roles of the UN has been that of peacekeeping. A peacekeeping mission can only start when all involved states and parties agree to it. Peacekeeping by UN forces is multidimensional: It not only try to maintain peace but also facilitate political processes, protect civilians, assist in the disarmament, support the organization of elections, protect and promote human rights and assist in restoring the rule of law. Because there is no standing UN military force, it may take months before a mission is in place. Today, the UN has peacekeeping operations in many parts of the world.

The European Union

The European Union (the EU) is unique for several reasons: • democracy in the EU comes from the states rather than the union itself; it has no government but a democratic tradition running through many of its members.

• In some issue areas, such as trade and the economy, it has a supranational character.
• In security and defense, however, the EU does not have a supranational power, which means is not a federal institution.
• It is the individual member states who is responsible for the implementation of policy and laws.
• It has a judicial system that is separate from its legislature, like that of a modern state.

The EU’s characteristics distinguish it from both typical intergovernmental organizations and typical federal states.

European Integration After the War: The EU was established with the aim of ending frequent wars and conflicts between neighboring states. First, in the 1950s, the European Coal and Steel Community was formed. The six founding countries were Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, and the Netherlands. In 1957, the Treaty of Rome created the European Economic Community (Common Market), which was later renamed the European Community. In time, some other countries joined the EU, and in 1979 all citizens were able to elect their EU Parliamentary members directly. In 1986, the Single European Act was signed, which created the Single Market. In 1993, the Single Market was completed with the four freedoms: movement of goods, services, peoples, and money. In 1993, the name European Inion was adopted

Organizational Structure of the European Union: Structures in the EU are described along functional lines. The EU institutions are the European Commission, the European Parliament, The Council of the EU, European Council, Economic and Social Committee, Committee of the Regions, the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Auditors.

There are “Eurocrats” in the European Commission and they are largely apolitical. The EU Parliament has limited legislative power. It must approve the European Commission’s budget and it shares powers with the EU Council on issues including migration, employment, health, and consumer protection.

The Council of the EU includes relevant ministers of each member state and this is a good indicator of the unwillingness of member states to give up sovereignty. European Council, on the other hand, is composed of the leader of each of the member states.

Membership in the EU: To join the EU, a European state needs to fulfill specific economic and political conditions called the Copenhagen Criteria. Under the terms of the Maastricht Treaty, all current member states and the European Parliament must agree to any enlargement.

Some Major Regional Intergovernmental Organizations

African Union; The advent of the African Union is an important event in terms of the institutional evolution of the continent. The African Union was established in 2002 and it is the successor organization to the Organization for African Unity. The Organization of the African Unity had sought to rid Africa of the remaining vestiges of postcolonialism and apartheid, promote unity and solidarity among African states, coordinate and intensify cooperation for development, to promote international cooperation, to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states.

The African Union has a structure like the UN and an African Union president is chosen to serve for one year. The African Union has concentrated on security-oriented projects sometimes in joint efforts with the UN.

The African Union has been criticized for not adequately addressing draught and famine relief in the short, medium, and long term.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN): It was established in 1967 by Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand with the purpose of stimulating economic development, social progress and cultural development and to promote peace and security in that region.

The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC): Also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council, it was founded in 1981 and includes all states around the Persian Gulf Except Iran. Considering their dependency on oil income, all member states are engaged in highpowered, high-investment, high-pressure programs to change that.

The Organization of American States (OAS): It is a regional organization in the western hemisphere. It was initially founded in 1889-1890. OAS was chartered in 1948 with the purpose of addressing economic, military, and cultural matters.

The structure of the OAS is very similar to other organizations. The OAS faces issues like government corruption, organized crime, human trafficking, violent drug cartels, crumbling infrastructure, unemployment, and cultural differences leading conflicts.

İnternational Non-Governmental Organizations

International Red Cross , Red Crescent, and Red Crystal Committee: The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a global humanitarian network that assist people facing disaster, conflict and health and social problems along with blood drives for donations. It also provides education in first aid, for example.

The red crystal symbol was added in 2007 to accommodate non-Christians and non-Muslims into the Red Cross population. The organization is considered neutral in conflict situations and it provides basic food supplies and other support to those in need. Ensuring clean water supplies, advocating removal of land mines, practicing forensic science, care for refugees are some of its other efforts.

International Islamic Relief Organization (IRO): The IRO is active worldwide and assists people with security and safety, food, health care, clean water, education, economics, etc. The IRO is also on alert in cases of natural disaster.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF): It is a well-known international nongovernmental organization which provide medical care “on the ground” in conflict zones. The medical professionals and specialists are unpaid volunteers; they are apolitical, neutral and impartial.

Non-State Actors (NSAs)

Non-state actors are those entities that participate or act in international relations but are not states. They can be violent or nonviolent in character and actions. Some examples are Roman Catholic Church agencies, Lutheran World Relief, and Quakers. Quakers founded Oxfam, Amnesty International, and Greenpeace. Oxfam “is an international confederation of 20 organizations working together with partners and local communities in more than 90 countries. One person in three in the world lives in poverty. Oxfam is determined to change that world by mobilizing the power of people against poverty. Around the globe, Oxfam works to find practical, innovative ways for people to lift themselves out of poverty and thrive.

Violent Non-State Actors (VNSAs) include drug cartels, insurgents and related revolutionaries, guerrillas, paramilitaries, terrorist groups, including ISIS (the Islamic State in Syria), the Lord’s Resistance Army, the Khmer Rouge (formerly in Cambodia), militias, criminal and human trafficking organizations, and more. It is thought that the most effective VNSAs usually arise when governments are weak. When the government loses control, people turn to other affiliations: tribes, families, or clans, for example. They may also turn to the VSNA itself.