International Organizations

By States and For States

What is an Inter-Govermental Organization (IGO)?

An organization with an international scope; has headquarters
and bureaucracy; and given authority to act by states on an issue
or region
Members are sovereign states, though non-state actors maybe be
invited
IGOs institutionalize specific norms of the interstate system
They permit the better regulation and management of issues
according to norms accepted by the majority of states
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Recent Innovation in Interstate System

First issue specific IGO
Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine (1815)

First political IGO

German Confederation (1816)
Members states retained Sovereign status
First Economic IGO
Zollverein (1833)

First Global political IGO

League of Nations (1920)

Increased number as Interstate System

and Word System overlap

Why do states create IGOs?

Expansion of political international system has not
encompassed the economic world system or global
cultural interactions
This means that issues arise in the latter ones which
single states cannot manage with legitimate authority
Options are either create a World State
Or
Create a trans-broader organization with the legitimate
authority to address the issue
IGOs are the alternative to a World State that states
have invented.

Transfer of Authority is key

When a state enters a IGO it confers that IGO with the
legitimate authority to take action on an issue , action
that at times may be against the state
This authority is what makes a IGO useful as it permits a
sate to influence an issues it might otherwise had been
unable to
However States remain Sovereign
Individually they retain the power to ignore the IGO
Only other sates can use force against them
Collectively the member states can restrict the activity of
an IGO

Why join a IGO: Great or Major Powers?

IGO can decrease the costs of coordinating activity at a regional or global level
They may help dampen the hesitation to work with major powers that middle
powers have due to major power strength
IN A WAY THEY WHITEWASH RAW POWER
IGOs can act as mediators between competing major powers.

Particular goals of Major Powers can be presented as universal if presented by an

IGO
IGO can act as conduits for influence into other states for the Major Powers
Creation and membership in IGOs can enhance the prestige of major powers
IGOs are a tool for international governance by major powers

Why join a IGO: Middle Powers and Micro-States?

Cheap way to get something done compared to doing it alone
Dilute Major Power Strength in international relations
Signal adherence to common norms and regimes for diplomatic
reasons
Get services that would other-wise be unavailable
Increase international prestige
Gain a voice for some international decisions
Gain some protection from aggression
Civil Service jobs for domestic constituents

Why Join IGOs: Fragile States

Source for domestic and international services
that are unavailable. Including things like health
Source of monetary and material assistance
Source of income and political rewards for
constituents
Source of legitimacy against domestic and
external challengers

Why not join a IGO?

Responsibilities: IGO membership requires willingness to avoid
certain actions and activities and behave in certain ways
Cost: Membership can be expensive as it requires maintaining a
permanent diplomatic presence. Members must also support the
organizations activities either with money or activities
Loss of Sovereignty: Middle Powers especially, might fear that a
wealthy and well organized IGO may exert increasingly
independent power on single member states. The Major powers
might resist that, but a middle power?

Fear of Major Powers: Fear that organization is simply a front for

major power politics.
Inability to meet requirements of IGO: Too poor , domestic
restrictions on foreign action

Types of IGOs
Global(International Telegraph Union)-Regional(EU, ASEAN)
Issue Specific (Rhine Commission) Multiple Issue (UN)
Issues
Security: NATO, UN, ASEAN
Economic: WTO, EU, MEROCSUR, IMF
Health: WHO
Transportation: ICAO (International Civil Aviation
Organization)
Communication: ITU
Culture: UNICEF
Legal-Judicial: International Criminal Court, INTERPOL

Structure of a Typical IGO

Secretariat
The International Bureaucracy that manages the IGOs activity
Given special immunities and rights usually given to state diplomats
Example: EU Commision
Various Agencies
Staffed by the Member states or Secretariat
Various levels of immunities or diplomatic law rights
They do the specific jobs of the IGO
Example: UNHCR
A formal continuous institution that directly represents the interests of member states
Holds budgetary power, decides on Secretariat, censures member states, and checks
Secretariat activity
Example: UN General Assembly
A at need institution that sees direct action of the members states in the name of the
organization and holds supreme authority
Example: EU European Council

It can be fun working in one

Critiques of IGOs
Critique of IGOs:
No independent enforcement mechanisms
No more than the sum of its part
Susceptible to Corruption
Subservience to States
Counter-arguments:
Many IGOs have functions of government, albeit
not that of coercion
Independent bureaucracy
Technical advice/monitoring
NGO-IGO partnerships can give non-sate actors a
voice
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United Nations
Main goal
maintain international peace
and security
All states are members
(193)
Security Council: executive
Secretary General
moral suasion and
implementation
General Assembly
International opinion
Various Agencies and Organs
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UN Security Council
Main/most powerful UN Body
5 veto-wielding permanent members (no
override)

10 non-veto rotating members

Geographical distribution

Need 9 out of 15 votes to pass

resolution
Only UN body with enforcement
mechanism
Who enforces?
Political decisions
Free riding

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Why Go Through the Security Council?

Judges the legal appropriateness of an intervention
Respect for international norms (use appropriate mechanism for
fighting wars)
International legitimacy

Reassurances about consequences

Uncertainty over other states positions
Uncertainty over other states willingness to impose large costs
Costs: opposition veto vs. non-veto member

Proposed changes:
Add more veto-wielding states (Germany, Japan, India,
Brazil, and South Africa)
Remove veto
17

UN General Assembly
One country, one vote (193 members)
Votes pass by simple majority
Vast majority of resolutions pass by consensus

Permanent observer status

(Vatican, Palestine)
Passes non-binding resolutions
Will of international community
Democracy on global scale?
Signal to domestic constituencies

G77 and the Non-Alignment

Movement
132 states, all non-Western
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UN Autonomous Agencies (>30

agencies)
UNHCR: Refugee Agency
WFP: World Food Program
UNDP: Development Agency
WHO: World Health Organization
OHCHR: Human Rights Agency

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The Secretary General

Ban Ki Moon (Republic of Korea)
Oversees day to day functioning of
UN
Assists Security Council in
diplomacy
Does personal diplomacy-Tries t
bring issues to the Agenda

Generally recent Speaking Sec.

Generals have been unwilling to
challenge the Security Council
Not always the case

Past Secretary Generals

Kofi Anan (Ghana)
1997-2006
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
(Egypt)
1992-1996
U Thant (Myammar)
1961-1971
Trygve Lie (Norway)
1st 1946-1952

Controversial
ones

Dag Hammarskjld (Sweden)

1953-1961
2nd Sec.General
Tried to increase the independence of the role
from the Security Council
Died during a mission in Africa
suspect conditions
His death was a major political event in Sweden
No Sec. General challenged the Sec. Council
after him

Kurt Waldheim
(Austria)
1972-1981
Later became Austrian
President

In 1985 his service in the

German World War II Army
came to the fore

Competing Goals of the United Nations

Non-intervention in domestic affairs
Part of UN Charter (Chapter 1)
Original UN objective: prevent conflict between states, not
within them
Response to colonialism

Human rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
Genocide Convention (1951)
Responsibility to Protect (2005)?

Ensuring international peace and security

Part of UN Charter (Chapters 6 & 7) non-coercive and
coercive
Rebel group movement
Refugee contagion

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Ali Gs take

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Created as an anti-Soviet
military alliance in 1949
Dominated by the US
Expansion eastward since end of
Cold War
Russia considers a threat
Alliance partly a collective security
organization
But also a way to manage conflicts
among allies
(Greece vs. Turkey)/ (France vs.
Germany)
25

Development - Issues
Post- Cold War Shift from Security Focus to general
Civilian-Security

NATO from Alliance to IGO

US feels Western European States do not contribute
enough to alliance
Eastern European states question commitment of
Western Europeans or US for their security
Alliance geographical scope has become global, but
membership has not

NATO Members Defense Spending 2014

European Union and Security

European Coal & Steel
Community
formed by Treaty of Paris in 1951
Intended to keep Germany
integrated in post-1945 political
system

Post-Cold War expansion

Integrate East Europeans (EU values)
Uncertain movement towards union

FP Chief, but no common FP

E.G. Iraq War (2003)
E.G. Russian energy

Membership in the European

Union 1957
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Debates over character of Union

Robert Schuman

Jean Monnet

Something
more than
a IGO

Just an IGO

Margaret Thatcher

Charles De Gaulle

Economic Union

Common market (no tariffs)

Largest economic bloc ($17.5T GDP vs.

$16.8T for US)

Euro (currency) introduced in

1999
Not all EU states adopted it
New members must agree to
adopt it (two tiers)

Inequality amongst members

Bulgaria ($7k) vs. Greece ($22k) vs.
Germany ($45k)

PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain)

bailouts
German resistance
Greek nationalism

Membership in the European

Union 2014
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Increasingly Complex

Issues
Can the rules of EU accommodate both liberal and social
democracy?

Democratic deficit?
National Interests vs. European Public Goods
(migration crisis)
Security?

Relations f Major to minor powers

Less Glamorous IGO: International Hydrographic

Organization (IHO)
1) Instrumental not Political Goal:
Survey global seas and oceans for safe
navigation

2) 85 member states
3) IHB Secretariat, Directing Committee,
International Conference every 5 years

When do IGOs fail: Case of League of Nations

1)
2)
3)
4)
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

Created after WW1 to promote peace and security -> Ancestor of UN

Secretariat, Assembly, Council, Court, ILO
Unanimity Principle
Collapsed with WW2
Why?
Not all Great Powers were members (US)
Organization unable to act on issues due to unanimity. Not just Great
Powers but minor powers ignored it
Too reliant on Great Powers to function
Great Power conflict was too great to be managed within the LoN.
Weakness led to loss of legitimacy

Lesson from LON for all subsequent

organizations
1) Organizations cannot survive intractable conflict between
member states.
Be careful who you admit!
2) Organization must maintain legitimacy as a entity that
offers states a service
Never turn against states, but also resist being turned to a
doormat
3) States that value an Organization must respect the
Organization and try to work through it.
If you want the IGO to work, do not ignore the IGO in area of
competency

Final role of IGOs

Peace-Inducing Mechanisms
Forum for mediation/arbitration
Forum for consultation
Facilitate coordination of action against
dissidents/malcontents
Convey information
IAEA and nuclear weapons

Create a common identity

European Union
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But it can be fun