MODULE 1:

The Structures of
Globalization
At the end of this Module, the student will be able to analyze the various drivers of
globalization, and describe the emergence of global economic and political systems.

Lesson 4: The United Nations and Contemporary

Global governance

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. Define global governance
2. Identify the roles and functions of the United Nations
3. Determine the challenges of global governance in the 21st Century.

TERM BANK:

Global governance
International organization
IOs
NGOs
United Nation
General Assembly (GA)
Security Council (SC)
Veto
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
International Court of Justice (ICJ)
Secretariat

Study Guide Questions:

1. What is global governance?

2. What is an international Organization (IO)?
3. What the three classification of IOs?
4. What are the powers IOs?
5. What is United Nations?
6. What are the five (5) organs of the United Nations and its composition, functions, and powers?
7. Who are the United Nations peacekeepers?
8. What are the challenges faced by the United Nations?

Required Reading(s):

Chapter 4: The United Nations and Contemporary Global Governance

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 Pages 39 – 49
Abinales & Caludion (2018). The Contemporary World. Quezon City: C & E Publishing, Inc.

Videos:

The United Nations Explained.

Channel: Casual Historian.
Link: https://youtu.be/vWFiUX1wz9Q

How Does the UN Work?

Channel: Now This World
Link: https://youtu.be/tlmYtJiUK00

Why the UN security council matters

Channel: Global News
Link: https://youtu.be/L2qPYVfPGW0.

The Problems with the UN Veto Power

Channel: Now This World
Link: https://youtu.be/HPAONq36HKg

UN Peacekeeping animation – Security and rule of law in the field.

Channel: United Nations
Link: https://youtu.be/UtegUGSK1bg

What exactly do UN peacekeepers do?

Channel: Now This World
Link: https://youtu.be/Ns37jHVUilE

Recorded Lecture:
Shareable Link is posted along with this Lesson Guide.

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 The United Nations and
Contemporary Global
Governance

This lesson will only examine how global governance is

articulated by intergovernmental organizations.

Regularity of the behavior of the States instead of global government.

The fact that states in an

international order continue to adhere to
certain global norms means that there is
semblance of world order despite the lack
of single world government.

For example:

States, more or less, follow

global navigation routes and more often
than not, respect each other’s
boundaries.

In the same way, when they do not like – like when Russia invaded Crimea in 2014 – it
becomes a cause for global concerns and debates.

Global Governance refers to the various intersecting processes that creates this order.

Sources of Global Governance:

International law as a result of treaties and organizations:

States signs treaties and form organizations, in the process legislating public international
law (international rules that governs interactions between states, as opposed to say, private
companies).

Lobbying and pressuring state governments

1. International Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), though not having formal state

power, can lobby individual states to behave in a certain way.
i. For example: An international protection NGO can pressure governments to
pass animal cruelty laws.

2. Powerful Transnational Corporations can likewise have tremendous effects on global

labor laws, environmental legislations, trade policy, etc.

Spread of Global Ideas

Even ideas such as the need for “global democracy” or the clamor for “good governance” can
influence the ways international actors behave.

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 What is an International Organization (IOs)?

It refers to international intergovernmental organizations or groups that are primarily made

up of member-states.

Types of International Organizations (IOs):

Intergovernmental Organizations International non-governmental

Multinational Enterprises
(IGO) organizations (NGOs)

These are organizations made up They include many groups and It is an enterprise producing
of more than one national institutions that are entirely or goods or delivering services in
government. largely independent of more than one country.
government and that have
primarily humanitarian or
cooperative rather than
commercial objectives.

Examples: United Nations, Examples: World Wildlife Fund, Examples: Apple, Amazon,
Organization of American States, International Federation of Red Microsoft, McDonalds, and
North Atlantic Treaty Cross, Save the Children Volkswagen
Organization, World Health
Organization

Powers of International Organizations (IOs):

IOs have the power of classification

Because IOs can invent and apply categories, they create powerful global standards.

For example:
It is the task of the World Health Organization to define what a COVID-19 pandemic is.
And since states are required to acknowledge the existence of a global health crises and create
policies to mitigate its risks.
IOs have the power to fix meanings.
IOs are acknowledged as legitimate sources of information. As such the meanings they
create and fix have effect on various policies.

For example:
The United Nations have started fixing the meaning of security to not just safety from
military harm, but also to safety from environmental harm, and cyber hacks.
IOs have the power to diffuse norms.
IOs have the power to spread norms; thereby establishing global standards.
Norms are accepted codes of conduct that may not be strict law, but nevertheless
produce regularity.
Their power to diffuse norms stem from the facts that IOs are staffed with independent
bureaucracies, who are considered experts in various fields.

For example:
The World Bank economist are considered development experts, thus they can therefore,
create norms regarding the implementation and conceptualization of development projects.

With these immense powers, IOs can became sources of great good or great harm.

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The United Nations (UN):

Context of its creation

After the collapse of the League of Nations at the end of WWII, countries 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.

The five (5) active organs of the UN:

1. The General Assembly (GA)

Description: It is UN’s “main deliberative policymaking and representative organ.”

Membership: There are 193 member states in GA with Holy See and Palestine as
observer states
Powers and function:
1. Decides on important matters and questions. Questions on peace and
security, admission of new members, and budgetary matters, requires
a two-thirds majority vote of the General Assembly.” Decisions on
other matters are done by simple majority.
2. Elects a GA President to serve a one (1) year term of office.
3. Elects ten (10) countries to be part of the Security Council

The Question of Palestine and the General Assembly

On 29 November 2012 the Assembly granted Palestine non-member observer

State status in the UN. The relevant issues on the agenda of the Assembly and
its subsidiary organs, such as the Human Rights Council include the right of
Palestinians to self-determination, their sovereignty over natural resources,
assistance, refugees, IDPs, UNRWA, human rights, Israeli settlements, peaceful
settlement of the question of Palestine, and Jerusalem, among others.

REFERENCE: https://www.un.org/unispal/data-collection/general-assembly/

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 2. Security Council (SC)

Description: It takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or
an act of aggression.
“It is deemed as the most powerful organ of UN”.
Membership: The GA elects ten (10) member states for a two (2) year term; while, the
remaining five (5) members are permanent members called P5.
Powers and function:
1. To identify an existence of threat to peace.
2. Mediates in conflict resolution.
3. It can impose sanctions or even authorizing the use of force to
maintain or restore international peace and security.
a. It can issue a go signal to countries that seek military
intervention on proper grounds.
4. Veto power (the power to say ‘no’) – Each member of the P5 has veto
power. It only takes one veto from a P5 member to stop an SC action
dead in its track.

The Invasion of Kuwait

One of the Security Council’s top responsibilities is to protect the sovereignty of the
United Nations’ members.

After Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, U.S.
President George H.W. Bush announced that Iraq’s aggression would not stand.

What followed has been hailed as a high point for cooperation among the Security
Council’s P5 and an example of how the United Nations can work effectively to
advance the collective security of the world.

With the United States playing a leadership role, the Security Council passed
several resolutions imposing economic sanctions on Iraq and a deadline for
Saddam’s forces to withdraw from Kuwait. After Saddam refused to comply, the
United States spearheaded a UN-approved air and ground campaign comprising
around 750,000 soldiers from dozens of countries to restore Kuwait’s sovereignty.
Working through the United Nations provided legitimacy to the military
intervention, helping the United States drum up support from Congress and its
international partners.

After just seven weeks, Bush announced that the multinational coalition had
liberated Kuwait.

Reference: https://world101.cfr.org/how-world-works-and-sometimes-
doesnt/global-governance/what-un-security-council

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 3. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

Description: It 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 is UN’s central platform for discussion on sustainable
development.

Membership: It has 54 members elected for three (3) years term

ECOSOC operates at the centre of the UN system’s work on all three pillars of
sustainable development

Sustainable development is the international community’s most urgent priority, and the core aim of
the post-2015 development agenda. ECOSOC operates at the centre of the UN system’s work on all
three pillars of sustainable development—economic, social and environmental. It is the unifying
platform for integration, action on sustainable development and follow-up and review.

As the umbrella for the UN’s functional and regional commissions, and operational and specialized
agencies, it links the setting of global norms with their implementation. Across diverse fora, it brings
together all the different people and partners involved in achieving sustainable development, while
fueling broader awareness and action through sharing its own extensive knowledge and issue
expertise.

Within the UN system, ECOSOC has the main responsibility for following up on all major past
international conferences linked to the three pillars of sustainable development, and is carrying this
experience through in the post-2015 world. As a hub for the exchange of knowledge and mutual
learning, it has had an instrumental role in examining lessons learned from the Millennium
Development Goals, assessing the transition into the post-2015 agenda, considering implementation
issues, exploring the scope of a renewed global partnership and inviting youth to share their views
on their future.

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 4. International Court of Justice (ICJ)
Description: The court settles disputes between states (not individuals) that
voluntarily submit themselves to the court for arbitration.

Membership: The GA elects ten (10) member states for a two (2) year term; while, the
remaining five (5) members are permanent members called P5.

Powers and function:

1. To settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes
submitted to it by states;
2. To give advisory opinions referred to it by authorized UN organs and
specialized agencies.

Is the decision of the ICJ binding?

Its decisions are only binding when states have explicitly agreed to place themselves
before the court.

International Court Issues Unanimous Award in Philippines v. China Case

on South China Sea: The Court’s award is in the Philippines’ favor on most
questions.

The Tribunal’s award is highly favorable to the Philippines, ruling that China’s nine-
dash line claim and accompanying claims to historic rights have no validity under
international law; that no feature in the Spratly Islands, including Taiwan-occupied
Itu Aba (or Taiping Island), is an island under the United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); and that the behavior of Chinese ships physically
obstructing Philippine vessels is unlawful…

… China’s behavior in the aftermath of this decision remains uncertain. As the

foreign ministry statement demonstrates, Beijing is eager to clarify that it does not
accept the result of legitimacy of the Tribunal’s award and will continue its activities
in the South China Sea unhindered.

5. UN Secretariat

Description:
1. It is the bureaucracy of UN serving as a kind of international civil service.

Membership:
2. It consists of the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of international UN staff
members.
3. UN staff members are recruited internationally and locally, and work in duty stations
and on peacekeeping missions. Serving the cause of peace in a violent world is a
dangerous occupation. Since the founding of the United Nations, hundreds of brave
men and women have given their lives in its service.
Powers and function:
1. It carries out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated by the GA and the
organization’s other organs.

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The Blue Helmets

Description: It is UN’s military personnel.

Membership: UN Police (UNPOL) and civilian volunteers
Powers and function:
1. to promote stability, security, and peace processes; we protect personnel and
property; we work with local communities, and security forces promote lasting peace.

Challenges of the United Nations:

1. The UN is not a world government, and it functions primarily because of voluntary

cooperation from states.

For example:
The UN Council on Human Rights can send special rapporteurs to countries where alleged
human rights violations are occurring. If a country does not invite the rapporteur of places
conditions on his/her activities, however this information-gathering mechanism usually fails to
achieve its goals.

Such is the case with the Philippines withdrawal from ICC.

PHILIPPINES LEFT ICC

The departure of the Philippines follows the court being hit in recent
years by high-profile acquittals and moves by several nations to drop
out.

Manila moved to quit after the body launched a preliminary

examination in 2018 of President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug crackdown
that has killed thousands and drawn international censure.

Duterte’s drug war is his signature policy initiative and he defends it

fiercely, especially from international critics like Western leaders and
institutions which he says don’t care about his country.

However, court officials have said the preliminary probe launched by

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in February 2018 into possible crimes
against humanity in the drug war would continue.

Under the court’s rules, any matter under consideration before a

nation leaves the court is still under its jurisdiction.

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 2. UN issues of security and P5’s veto power.

KOSOVO WAR Ukraine-Russian War

In the late 1990s, Serbian leader Slobodan Ukraine—which declared itself an independent
Milosevic was committing acts of ethnic country in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet
cleansing against ethnic Muslim Albanians Union—has been forming closer ties with the
in the province of Kosovo. Hundreds and European Union and with NATO. Russia,
thousands of Albanians were victims of the however, sees these ties as an economic and
massacres, mass deportations, and internal strategic threat to its own security.
displacement.
It has led them to engage into bloody war.
Amid this systematic error, the members of
NATO led by the US, sought SC Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution
authorization to intervene in the Kosovo on Friday that would have demanded that
War on humanitarian grounds. Moscow immediately stop its attack on Ukraine
and withdraw all troops, a move several Council
China and Russia, however, threatened to members said was deplorable, but inevitable.
veto any action, rendering the UN
incapable of addressing the crises.

In response, NATO decided to intervene on

its own.

Though the NATO intervention was largely

a success, it, nevertheless, left UN
ineffectual.

Conclusion:

International institutions like the UN are always in a precarious position. On the one hand, they are
groups of sovereign states. On the other hand, they are organizations with their own nationalities
and agenda.

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