Introduction to Global Governance

www.un.org

The United Nations

Symbol of the UN

The olive The olive wreath wreath

represents represents peace and peace and harmonyharmony

That That surrounds surrounds

or or protects protects the world the world

and its and its peoplepeople

Origins of the UNUSA President. Roosevelt coined the name “United Nations,” which was first used in the “Declaration by United Nations” in 1942, during World War II, when representatives of 26 countries pledged their governments to continue fighting against the Axis Powers.

From August to October 1944, representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States met to discuss creating an international peacekeeping organization.

The United Nations officially came into existence on Oct. 24, 1945, when the charter was ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States and by a majority of the other fifty signatories including Australia.

The UN headquarters is in New York City New York, USA.

Goals and Purposes of the UNThe purposes of the United Nations are set forth in Article 1 of the Charter:

1. To maintain international peace and security.

2. To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self- determination of peoples.

3. To cooperate in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character, and in promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all.

4. To be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.

Principles of the UN

All member states have sovereign equalityAll member states must obey the UN

CharterStates must try to settle their differences

by peaceful meansStates must avoid using force or

threatening to use forceThe UN must not interfere in the domestic

affairs of a member stateAll member states must try to assist the

UNAll member states should encourage non-

members to follow UN principles.

Structure of the UN

The General Assembly

The General Assembly consists of all 193 member states, each having a vote. On important issues a two/thirds majority of those present and voting is required; other questions require a simple majority vote. All member states have an opportunity to bring issues of concern to the GA. The Assembly also considers and approves U.N. budget and assesses member states according to their ability to pay. It provides a forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter.

Any recommendation made by the GA is non-binding.

See Hugo Chavez call Pres. Bush ‘Satan’ at the UN in 2006

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=binMjEiS8AY

The Security Council

Under the Charter, the functions and powers of the Security Council are:

to maintain international peace and security in accordance with the principles and purposes of the United Nations;

to investigate any dispute or situation which might lead to international friction;

to recommend methods of adjusting such disputes or the terms of settlement;

to formulate plans for the establishment of a system to regulate armaments;

to determine the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression and to recommend what action should be taken;

to call on Members to apply economic sanctions and other measures not involving the use of force to prevent or stop aggression;

to take military action against an aggressor; to recommend the admission of new members to the UN; to recommend to the General Assembly the appointment of the

Secretary General and, together with the Assembly, to elect the Judges of the International Court of Justice.

The Security Council has a total membership of fifteen (15).

There are five (5) permanent members: the USA, UK, Russia, France and China [ROC till 1971 and PRC since]. The other ten (10) members are non-permanent and only serve for a period of two years. They are elected to the SC by other states.

The five permanent members have the power of veto over any SC decision, that means they can stop the SC and therefore the UN from acting decisively or from intervening in a situation/conflict anywhere in the world.

Historically this has meant that the UN has rarely used a military force to stop conflicts, except in Korea, Gulf War where peace making forces have been sent or in some other incidents like Rwanda, East Timor where peace keeping forces operations have been used.

Look at Libya 2011 and Syria 2012 for contrasting stances

New York Times March 17 2011

LA Times 1 February 2012

‘Kal’ The Economist 3 February 2012

Economic and Social Council

This Council is the principal organ to co-ordinate the economic and social work of the U.N. and its specialized agencies. It makes recommendations and initiates activities relating to world trade, industrialization, natural resources, human rights, the status of women, population, social welfare, education, health and related matters, science and technology and many other economic and social questions, for example: WHO, UNESCO, IMO and UNICEF. About 75% of total UN annual spending is done under the ECOSOC banner. It has 54 members elected for three-year terms by the General Assembly.

Trusteeship Council

The UN established the Trusteeship Council as one of its main organs, and assigned to it the task of supervising the administration of territories placed under the Trusteeship System.

Major goals of the System were to promote the advancement of the inhabitants of these Trust Territories and their progressive development towards self-government or independence.

The aims of the Trusteeship System have been fulfilled to such an extent that all Trust Territories have attained self-government or independence, either as separate States or by joining neighbouring independent countries.

The Trusteeship Council suspended operation on 1 November 1994

International Court of Justice

This court is the judicial organ of the U.N. and sits in The Hague, Netherlands.

All U.N. member states are automatically members of the Court. It issues judgments on all questions that states refer to it and all matters provided for in the U.N. Charter or in treaties or conventions.

The Court has dealt with a wide variety of subjects, including territorial rights, fishing jurisdiction, territorial sovereignty, and the right of passage through foreign territory.

The ICJ has 15 independent judges, of different nationalities, elected by both the General Assembly and the Security Council.

Do not confuse the ICJ with the ICC!

Secretariat The Secretariat -- an international staff working in duty stations

around the world -- carries out the diverse day-to-day work of the Organization.

At its head is the Secretary General (Ban Ki-moon) , who is appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council for a five- year, renewable term.

The duties carried out by the Secretariat are as varied as the problems dealt with by the United Nations.

These range from administering peacekeeping operations to mediating international disputes, from surveying economic and social trends and problems to preparing studies on human rights and sustainable development.

Secretariat staff also inform the world's communications media about the work of the United Nations.

The Secretariat has a staff of about 25,000 under the regular budget drawn from some 170 countries. Considering the work it does this is patently an insufficient staff number.

Is the UN a world government?

No! Though often criticised for not doing enough, it is really just an ‘association’ of states.

This means it can only act or move as fast as its members will allow it to. It has very little if any direct authority or power to compel its member states to actually do anything they do not want to do.

The SC can but historically has rarely done so!

LA Times 2 February 2012

The UN Is Accused of Many Things

‘Across the US, activists with ties to the Tea Party are railing against all sorts of local and state efforts to control sprawl and conserve energy. They brand government action for things like expanding public transportation routes and preserving open space as part of a United Nations-led conspiracy to deny property rights and herd citizens toward cities.’

‘Activists Fight Green Projects, Seeing UN Plot’

New York Times 3 February 2012

UN Issues

1. Lack of a central focus/vision

It is a very decentralised organisation, with separate governing bodies and links to a myriad of different government agencies. States can pick and choose which agency they want to join or not join, leave or return to. Agencies can and often do overlap in function creating confusion.

2. A lack of money

The UN relies on annual contributions from its more wealthier member states to fund its operations, this is about $20 billion per annum. But it is chronically under resourced as the USA, in particular, has become its biggest debtor, owing it about $ 1.891billion or 46% of its total monies owed.

In January 2011 the US government paid the majority of what it owed the UN but still owes some $736m dollars.

3. The principle of sovereignty

Multilateralism depends on nations coming together to try and solve over-arching problems that do not stop at a nations borders e.g. climate change. However, because of ‘national interest’ a nation-state may not always do what is right but rather do what is ‘best’ for itself. USA not signing Kyoto, and Australia only signing in 2007.

Can a more comprehensive agreement binding on all 193 member states be created in the next few years?

What’s wrong with the UN?

In no particular order:

1. Attitudes of the the P5 – Structure of the UNSC

2. The very poor human rights record of many member states

3. Inability to stop/prevent acts of genocide - Sudan

4. Graft and corruption within the UN Kofi Annan5. Lack of resources (Only 26 out of the 192 member states

have paid their total obligations in full to the UN core budget

as of May 2010, which means the UN is short some $2 billion.)

Reforming the UNThe UN needs reform. On that everyone agrees. But there is sharp disagreement on what kind of reform is needed and for what purpose. Again and again over the years, the UN has been reformed – on average once every eight years.

The shortcomings of the UN are primarily rooted in the dysfunctional global order and the conflict-prone state system, not in the UN’s institutional arrangements. Few reformers are willing to admit that the UN’s complex and inefficient machinery results from deep political disagreements among its members and between other contending forces in the global system. Yet the United States, military superpower and transnational corporate headquarters, clearly wants a weak UN with an impossibly small budget and scarcely any voice in economic matters. Many other nations, to the contrary, want a stronger UN and more effective multilateral policy making.

Where to now for the UN?In an interview with TIME magazine former American ambassador to the UN John Bolton was asked the following question:

“Given the UN’s endemic inertia, corruption and competing national agendas, do you think it serves America’s national interest to be a member?

His response was..“It does, although its not a body that I would rest our foreign policy on. The UN (however) can be a useful instrument of American foreign policy”.

In essence the most powerful states dismiss the UN and ignore it when it is in their national interest to do so. Weak or powerless states, want the UN to grow and prosper as it is only through the UN

that they can have a voice on many global issues.

Where to now for the UN? Part II

“Much of the UN’s problems lie in its genes, from its personnel system to the Security Council. It is in the nature of things that countries tend to pursue their own, often selfish, interests and political leaders act to promote their survival in office….For those who believe in the UN and multilateralism, the problem is to translate the wellsprings of citizen support .. into serious action”

Morton I. Abramowitz, fellow of The Century Foundation

Where to now for the UN? Part III

“The United Nations .. needs reform not simply because the balance of power has been shifting in the world, but because the basic assumptions on which it was constructed have been eroding steadily for decades and are now at the point of collapse.”

Dr. Paul Monk

November 2009

See Handout from ‘The Globalization of Politics”