V.

NON-STATE ACTORS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Historically, state was the only actor in international relations for a very long time. Currently, thanks to development of relationships, change in nature of economics and globalization, other important actors enter into the world political events.

1.

Intergovernmental international organizations. States that had common interests and needed collective action, created

certain units already in ancient times. These units were aimed to fulfill the interesrts of their members.

Prehistory of common international organizations - 8 century BC, when states cooperated to strengthen their defense capability in ancient China. Similar forms can also be found in ancient Greece where, in defense against Persian aggression, so called Peloponnesian Association was created. These origins of international organizations were a kind of alliances or military alliances of states against a stronger enemy. The history of modern international intergovernmental organizations did not begin until the early 19th century. Development of international trade, transportation, emergence of new forms of communication such as telegraph, telephone and email, were followed by the need of agreements and by the need of regulation of these relations.

This fact necessitated emergence of the first international organization known as International Administration Union. As a result of technological progress, the need for international regulation of many new and previously unknown areas such as international transportation, communications and telecommunications appeared. It was necessary to introduce transnationally operating rules to allow development of transportation, communication and connections across national borders. Central Commission for Navigation on the river Rhine, founded in 1815, is considered to be the first-ever international organization. It was later renamed to the International Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine.

Gradually, states.

other

similarly

designed

international

organizations

were

established to regulate shipping on so called international rivers in various In connection with invention of new means of transportation and communication, other international organizations as the Telegraph Union in 1865, Railway Union in 1866 and the Postal Union, in 1878, were established. Activities of these organizations have proved to be necessary and these organization exist even today. The need to address many problems related to several countries influenced growth of all types of international organizations. In 1900, there were 30 intergovernmental and 170 non-governmental organizations in the world, and in 2001 the figure rose to almost 250 intergovernmental and over 6000 NGOs.
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Considering the large number, different focuses and functions of organizations it is not easy to define their common essence. International organizations which associate states are referred to as international intergovernmental organizations. They have international legal subjectivity and they are considered to be new subjects of international law. It is so because the founder members give part of their subjectivity in favor of organization in order to properly fulfil its mission. Not every international grouping of states is also a subject of international law in all circumstances because it depends on the will of founding states which delegate the international-legal subjectivity on an international scale to international organizations. In practice, there are international organizations that do not have international legal subjectivity, such as the British
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Commonwealth or Commonwealth of Independent States. These international groupings act on behalf of member states but they represent only their joint institutions and they do not bind directly the member states.

International organization can be characterized in the following way: international intergovernmental organization as the subject of international law can be defined, as a community of states which are equipped with their own institutions and powers which is permanently active and operates in accordance with international law.

International intergovernmental organization which meets these criteria is considered to be a subject of international law with its own subjectivity, which is able to incur international law obligations and bear the consequences of its own unlawful conduct.

International intergovernmental organizations generally arise as a result of negotiations of an international conference which adopts Multilateral Agreement on the establishment of organization. This Agreement sets out the structure of international organization, its activities, working institutions, method of acquisition and loss of membership, meeting procedures, budgeting etc. From a legal perspective, subjectivity of international organizations can

not match subjectivity of states, because organizations do not have unlimited possibilities for action. Their tasks are provided in the founding treaty. Therefore, international organizations, unlike states, do not have general powers and they embody the principle of specialty which means that the founding states equip them with powers, scope of which is a subject to their tasks. In practice, various international organizations have a different range of international legal subjectivity.

Since the scope of activities of international NGOs depends on the will of member states, they are considered to be derived subjects of international law.

Similary to states also international NGOs are likely to conclude international agreements, therefore they have so called law making competency. Organizations and their representatives may be granted diplomatic immunity and privileges, right to diplomatic representation of state organizations or diplomatic representation of the members of organizations and in some cases also in non-member countries. Any disputes between international NGOs and states may be a subject to international arbitration. International organizations convey international responsibilities in the case of misconduct. Necessary condition for the existence of any international organization is that it must build its governing organs.
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Permanent nature of these institutions is the fact that they are constituted for an indefinite period of time and that they have permanent legal status. Theory and practice of international relations does not have a uniform classification of international organizations institutions. Therefore, it is possible to describe only those types of institutions which occurr most often in practice. In terms of importance the organs of institutions can be divided into main and auxiliary, for example the main UN body is the General Assembly, and, for example Commission on the Environment is a subsidiary body.

In terms of functions of the organs we can devide these into governing, executive and administrative organs. From the legal point of view, organs can
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be didided into international, which are created by delegated representatives of member states, inter-parliamentary, which are created by delegates of national parliaments and administrative.

States, represented by their leaders, are the members of international bodies. All the member states have the right to be represented in the bodies. An example is the General Assembly of the UN. In other international organizations, this body is usually called conference, congress, or in organizations with less members it is called council. Jurisdiction of such bodies corresponds to the decision taking on the general and fundamental problems of the organization.

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Executive bodies of organizations are frequently plenary bodies and therein only the representatives of selected countries take part. An example is the UN Security Council. In other international organizations they are tend to be called board, commission, directorate etc. These bodies address the immediate tasks under the general provisions of the plenary meetings between their sessions. Interparliamentary organs arose mainly after World War II but, at present, they are not used anymore. An example of such organ is the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe or NATO.

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One of the main activities of each international organization is to take decisions in international relations. The result of decision-making activity is the expression of will of states brought together in international organization. In legal terms, this expression of will of states is called resolution, decision, declaration, statement, recommendation etc. In fact, decisions of international organizations may be divided according to several criteria. From the legal point of view, we can distinguish decisions which legally bind the addressee and those which do not bind the addressee. The second mentioned have character of recommendations. Most of the decisions have nature of recommendations. It means that member states are not legally obliged and they do not require international-legal responsibility. These

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decisions are more of moral and of political importance linked to the prestige of states. Decisions concerning the bodies of organizations are often legally binding decisions. Voting procedures are important in terms of decision making. The most frequent procedure is to take decisions by unanimity which means that for the adoption it is necessary that all members vote in favor of the decision. In past, this was the only way how to vote. It benefited the principle of sovereign equality of states, which in practice means that each state have one vote. Advantage of this method of voting is a strong presumption of compliance because it is supported by everybody.

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In case of non-compliance it can happen that unanimity is very long or even impossible to be reached. This makes the organization unable to take action. Due to these facts, some bodies or organizations have introduced the majority voting, which means that the decision is considered to be binding when majority of participants voted in favor of it. We distinguish so-called simple majority (50% of the votes +1), or a qualified majority (expressed as 3 / 5 or votes). Another type of voting is so called weighted voting, which is similar to voting in joint stock companies. It is used mainly in international economic organizations, e.g. decision making bodies of the International Monetary Fund. Its essence lies in the fact that each state has a share of votes derived from the amount of funding invested in the organization. A similar principle is also used
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for voting, when weight of votes of states is derived from the number of its inhabitants such as the EU Council of Ministers. Importance of various international organizations can be understood on the basis of their functions. There are many of these functions. In general, the basic function of all the international organizations is to match interests, reach understanding, solve problems, provide assistance that leads to the improvement of relations between states. In addition, however, functions of international organizations differ in their focus: - Regulatory functions these embody the creation of models and standards of conduct of the actors in international relations. Their purpose is to harmonize their activities. These may have nature of moral, political or legal standards.
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- Control functions thanks to them, organization controls whether the actors of international relations and mostly states act in compliance with norms of international relations. - Operational functions through these functions organizations provide to their members, and sometimes to non-members, certain services or assistance. As noted above, nowadays, there is a large number of international organizations. Due to their categorization, which allows a better overview of them, they can be divided into several types. In terms of geographic scope we divide them to global organizations. All countries in the world can become members of these, e.g. UN.

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Regional organizations are those where the scope of membership is defined by certain regions, mostly mainland, or even closer, for example Council of Europe or the Nordic Council. In terms of issues and objectives, which the organization addresses, we distinguish general (universal) organizations for example UN, EU and specialized e.g. International Air Union or the World Health Organization. In terms of activities which they perform, specialized organizations can be divided into: - military and political (e.g. NATO or Warsaw Pact) - economic (e.g. the IMF or the WTO); - cultural (e.g. UNESCO)

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- health (eg WHO). Given division of organizations is relative. There are also specific international organizations which from a certain aspect of their activities, have nature of intergovernmental organizations and from other aspect, they are of nature of non-governmental international organization. An example of such organizations is the International Red Cross.

2.

International non-governmental organizations NGOs form the largest group of international organizations. These

organizations were not established by states but only by personal entities or legal persons from several countries. In terms of international law, these

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organizations do not have international legal subjectivity and therefore their activities are regulated by rules of national law. International NGOs can be described as institutions that cut across national boundaries and whose members are not states but social organizations, companies or individuals. In legal language, personal entities or legal persons from several countries are the members.

Transnational relations, which are understood as relationships between individuals and organized groups throughout the boundaries, actually arose with the emergence of sovereign states.

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Beginnings of these relationships actually date back to missionaries, explorers of new territories or traders with exotic goods. These relations reached a qualitatively new level of relations with the development of transport, particularly railways, telecommunications, telegraph and telephone. These ways of means have created a wide space for communication and collaboration at international level. Transnational relations get to a qualitatively new level in conditions of globalization. Actors operating outside the structure, such as transnational corporations, transnational NGOs, social movements, media, and other groups enter into international politics, which was previously seen as a privileged sphere of action of states and their organizations.
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The net of transnational actors is currently quite wide and dense and therefore they may be divided into three basic groups according to specific characteristics: NGOs of political nature like international revolutionary movements, nation liberating movements operating in several countries, international association of political parties etc. Internationally active terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda are specific phenomenon operating in international arena with political objectives but using illegitimate instruments. Greenpeace and other organized forms of movement for improvement of l environment are very popular international organization. It was founded in Canada in 1971. Its aim is to highlight environmental problems that threaten
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humanity and it tries to find ways to address them. Activities of this organization are characterized by peaceful forms of advancing its goals. Actions against nuclear testing, fight against global warming, pollution of the natural environment, reducing biodiversity of plants and animals, genetic engineering and so on, can be mentioned among the specific activities. The organization has its regional and national offices in 41 countries worldwide. Coordinating organs are located in Amsterdam and its activities are funded by money from donors and charity funds. To maintain independence, they do not use funds from businesses and government institutions. In relation to states and their organizations, the non-governmental international organizations can operate in various forms. First, they may criticize states, create pressure to address serious social issues such as ecology,
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human rights, fight against corruption, etc. In some cases, there might be serious clashes between them and the governments observed. In relation to international intergovernmental organizations, many NGOs have reached prominent position. They have impact on the course, implementation and results of international policy in certain areas. NGOs receive special status in global and regional intergovernmental organizations, enabling them to influence their decisions. Thanks to this action, they are involved in the creation of international-law, addressing many specific areas of international life.

Their share in monitoring the compliance with international legal obligations of states (eg, control of regularity of elections, monitoring levels of
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compliance or violation of human and civil rights) is also significant. They may also act as an initiator of international public opinion to address various problems. Given their impact, some NGOs are institutionally incorporated into the work of international intergovernmental organizations in the form of advisory or supervisory bodies. NGOs of non-political and non-commercial character - for these organizations it is typical that they have minimal or no impact on international politics. This includes eg. international associations of trade unions which supervise social and safety conditions of work. At the same time, during the internationalization of economy through their solidarity, they may help to improve working, social and payment conditions of employees.
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International interests and professional associations are the largest group of international NGOs. Today, there is no sports industry, which would not have its international organization. Also different professions, like doctors, teachers, scientists have their international organizations. They can also, under certain circumstances, influence the decision making process in the international political sphere in terms of providing expert advice on the adoption of certain decisions. Churches, operating across national frontiers, are important actors which influence the system of values, attitudes and conduct of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Their influence on the conduct of people is obvious and therefore they may also significantly influence international policy.
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3.

Supranational corporations Supranational corporations have become a significant player in international

relations in connection with the development of internationalization and globalization of economy. Names like Exxon, General Motors, Shell or COCA COLA are familiar to majority of current world population. Three main features of international corporations: - they realize organized activities in several countries at the same time; - they set up goals which are not achievable in territory of one state; - they operate in economic sphere and the bulk of their activities is nonpolitical.

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A company becomes a multinational corporation when it controls and manages production facilities in at least two other countries. It is difficult to clearly determine the dividing line between transnational corporations and companies with foreign branches. Other authors consider multinationals companies to have at least 25% of their economic activities carried out abroad. In terms of theoretical integration, the multinational corporations can be described as oligopolies. It means companies that have substantial shares in the world market and that can significantly affect world prices. It can thus be said that in sectors in which they operate, competition is weakened. In order to maximize their profit, they are able to accept minimum profit during certain period just to destroy the competition and then benefit from market dominance.
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In practice, there are several ways how the companies can joint at international level: - fusion is the most common way of international companies linking, when one company absorbs another; it may be voluntary or forced; - consolidation is type of connection in which the companies merge so that the original are extinguished and a new corporation is set up, - acquisition is such link, where one company buys another in the way it buys a controlling interest share or the entire enterprise, - joint ventures is a company with foreign equity there occurs mutual control of the parties that allows them to peer review over the decision-making

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In terms of international relations, it is very important to perform the analysis of consequences of international corporations proceedings on world economy and government policy. It can be noted that these effects are highly contradictory. From one point of view they help the states in which they operate to reduce unemployment, start up economic upturn, to collect more taxes, to support emergence of new technologies and scientific and technological development. Using comparative advantages and development of private business, production gets cheaper. Concentration of resources allows realization of investment projects that would otherwise have not been possible. To sum up, it could be said that they increase wealth in the world. On the other hand, oligopoly character of transnational corporations can undermine market forces
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and allow excessive profits. In order to maintain their influence they often support various authoritarian regimes. They reinforce dependency of the less developed countries on the richest countries. By moving production to countries with lower living standards and wages they may slow down the growth in living standards. Transfer of assets to countries with lower compulsory contributions minimizes their tax burden. Global maneuvering of multinational corporations in global undermines states' abilities to implement autonomous economic policy, which especially in case of weak economies, is the only option how to attract the foreign investors. This is done by providing incentives, exemptions, investment incentives, adjustment of social and labor law and education etc.
4.

International community
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In recent years, especially since the end of the World War II, international relations often use the term international community, which reflects a summary of their actors. Emergence of the current international community was preceded by a relatively long history. The very concept was introduced already in ancient philosophy, especially in stoic and in later Christian thinkers. Till our time, we can distinguish three stages of development of international community: The first phase so called family of Christian nations included medieval states which profess Christianity. The Church represented kind of supra state, which had a specific position "over the States." Church through the Pope could even punish the rulers and the countries which contradicted its rules.

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Instruments of ecclesiastical penalties were excommunication from the Church, declaration of holy war or crusade. On the other hand, the Catholic Church tried to prevent or at least to regulate military conflicts between the Christian rulers. During this period there were also movements that considered the international community to include all, even pagan states, which emphasized the unity of mankind. The second stage is so called club of civilized countries - such understanding of the international community has been established within the Congress of Westphalia after the Thirty Years War in 1648. Initially, only the states signatories of Congress were included in this club. Later, the number of states - members of community have increased thanks to other European countries.
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An important milestone in the development was the admission of Turkey in 1856 at the Paris Congress. Turkey was the first non-Christian country. Later such countries as Japan, Persia, China and Siam were affilliated. Due to the development of colonization, the European community has become in fact international community. Europe dominated the global international relations and dictated its rules to the rest of world. European domination eliminated at least three regional communities: Confucian Chinese, Hindu India and Islamic Arab. The present international community represents he third stage in the development of international community it began to be formed after World War II in connection with the process of decolonization. During its

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development it got pluralistic and multicultural character. It currently faces a serious issue of finding so-called solutions to global problems of mankind. In theory, there is controversy about the definition of the current international community. Difference between different concepts lies in the fact whether the current international community comprises only states or also other actors of international relations.

5.

Individual's role in international relations International relations are inherently social relations, which means, relations

created by human beings - individuals, but especially large social groups. Their essence consists mainly in relations between organized social groups, but the

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individual's role in them can not be overlooked neither. Therefore, the science of international relations in relevant contexts describes also the role of individual in various contexts.
1.

International relations are largely affected and created by great personalities, political leaders especially government officials who have decision-making responsabilities and regulating roles in international relations. The fact that everybody belongs to a particular social group as a member of nation, church, a citizen of the state, a member of trade unions or of professional groups, everybody can influence the international relations. Mainly as a citizen of democratic state, he is part of the public, which represents public opinion as a regulator of international relations. Next, he creates political representation that presents certain values and interests in
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2.

3.

international relations. Ultimately, public through direct democracy, such as the referendum, may itself decide on the most important foreign policy issues of state.
4.

Although international law primarily regulates relations between states and international organizations, but in special area such as human rights, individual is also the subject of international law. In practice it means that he is under the protection of international law, and may also seek their rights before international courts.

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