International Organizations

Actors on the global stage

• States

• IGO’s– UN system– Regional (EU, OAS, NATO, ASEAN)

• NGO’s (Greenpeace, Amnesty Int’l)

• TNC’s (IBM, Sony, Citicorp)

IO’s defined

• Intergovernmental Organizations – IO’s whose members are states, often the locus of diplomacy

• Nongovernmental Organizations (NGO) – transnational organizations of private citizens; they include professional associations, foundations, and internationally-active groups in different states joined together to work towards common interests

International institutions

• Number of international organizations: 300 (IGO); 6,250 (NGO)

• Membership: – IMF 184– WTO 146

• IMF resources:– Assets $339 billion– Loans outstanding $188 billion

Continent-Wide IGO’s

Post-Empire IGO’s

Regional IGO’s

WTO

Diplomacy

• Archie Bunker: “Getting someone to do something they don't wanna by promising to do something you ain't got no intention of doing”

• A more formal definition: The total process by which states carry on political relations with each other; settling conflicts among nations by peaceful means

• Includes bilateral and multilateral negotiating techniques

Early Diplomacy

Modern diplomacy's origins may be traced in the states of Northern Italy in the late Middle Ages, with the first permanent embassies being established in the thirteenth century. Slowly this practice spread to the rest of Europe. A feature necessary for diplomacy is the existence of a number of states of somewhat equal power. In Asia and the Middle East, China and the Ottoman Empire were reluctant to practice bilateral diplomacy as they viewed themselves to be unquestionably superior to all their neighbors. The Ottomans, for instance, would not send missions to other states, expecting representatives to come to Constantinople. It would not be until the nineteenth century that the Empire established permanent embassies in other capitals.

The practice was later adopted by the great European powers. Spain was the first power to send a permanent representative; it appointed an ambassador to the Court of England in 1487. By the late 16th century, permanent missions became customary. The Holy Roman Emperor, however, did not regularly send permanent legates, as they could not represent the interests of all the German princes (who were in theory subordinate to the Emperor, but in practice independent).

Modern Diplomacy

During this period the rules of modern diplomacy were developed. The top rank of representatives was an ambassador. At that time an ambassador was a nobleman, the rank of the noble assigned varying with the prestige of the country he was delegated to. Strict standards developed for ambassadors, requiring they have large residences, host lavish parties, and play an important role in the court life of their host nation. In Rome, the most prized posting for a Catholic ambassador, the French and Spanish representatives would have a retinue of up to a hundred. Even in smaller posting ambassadors were very expensive. Smaller states would send and receive envoys, who were a rung below ambassador. Somewhere between the two was the position of minister plenipotentiary.

United Nations (UN)

On April 25, 1945, the United Nations Conference on International Organizations began in San Francisco. In addition to the Governments, a number of non-government organizations, including Lions Clubs International were invited to assist in the drafting of the charter.

UN Charter

The 1945 UN Charter envisaged a system of regulation that would ensure "the least diversion for armaments of the world's human and economic resources." The advent of nuclear weapons came only weeks after the signing of the Charter and provided immediate impetus to concepts of arms limitation and disarmament. In fact, the first resolution of the first meeting of the UN General Assembly (January 24, 1946) was entitled "The Establishment of a Commission to Deal with the Problems Raised by the Discovery of Atomic Energy" and called upon the commission to make specific proposals for "the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and of all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction."

Human Rights

The pursuit of human rights was one of the central reasons for creating the United Nations. World War II atrocities and genocide led to a ready consensus that the new organization must work to prevent any similar tragedies in the future. An early objective was creating a legal framework for considering and acting on complaints about human rights violations.

UN System• General Assembly• Security Council• ECOSOC - Economic and Social Council• ILO - International Labour Organization• FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization• UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization• WHO - World Health Organization• World Bank / IBRD - International Bank for Reconstruction and Development• IMF - International Monetary Fund• ICAO - International Civil Aviation Organization• ITU - International Telecommunication Union• WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organization• IRO - International Refugee Organization(ceased to exist in 1952)

Realist critique

Crude version: Institutions are irrelevant

A perspective only Americans could seriously entertain

• World Trade Organization

• International Monetary Fund

• European Union

Theoretical significance of the EU

- Realists gloat over setbacks

Challenge to realism

But the history of EEC, EC, EU is uneven

- Liberals celebrate periodic successes

- Anarchy is not immutable- Erosion of sovereignty - Functionalist transformation of interests (spillover/spillback)

Brief chronology

• 1950 Schuman Plan, ECSC

• 1954 EDC fails (August); Geneva Treaty ends French Indochina War (July)

• 1957 Treaty of Rome (France, FRG, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg)

• 1963-68 De Gaulle vetoes UK membership

• 1965-66 De Gaulle’s “empty chair” tactic (French walkout, demanding national veto)

» Luxembourg compromise on unanimity voting – Qualified Majority Voting – less than unanimity required

• 1973 UK, Denmark, Ireland enter

Qualified Majority Voting

• the proposal must be supported by 232 out of the total of 321 votes (72.27%);

• the proposal must be backed by a majority of member states;

• the countries supporting the proposal must represent at least 62% of the total EU population.

Brief chronology

• 1979-84 Thatcher forces budget renegotiations

• 1981 Greece joins• 1986 Spain and Portugal join• 1986 Single European Act – increased

harmonization • 1991 Maastricht Treaty on EU

» “Four Pillars:” social policy, EMU, justice, common defense policy

» UK opts out of social policy, retains an option for EMU

• 1992 UK leaves EMS (market pressure)• 1990’s Association agreements with Eastern

Europe• 1995 Finland, Austria, Sweden join• 1999 Economic and Monetary Union

(EMU)• 2004 Ten countries join EU

Brief chronology

Causes: Spill-overs

Ernst Haas

Lower barriers

Increasetrade

Create new firms

Mobilize new

lobbies

More than an International Organization

• Budgetary autonomy (direct taxation)

– 3% of government spending in Europe

• Direct effect of regulations, directives, ECJ rulings

• Internal affairs:– CAP

– Structural funds

– Social policy

– EMU

Realist critique

Sophisticated version: Institutions advantage powerful countries (Krasner 1992)

• World Trade Organization

• International Monetary Fund

• European Union

GATT, WTO

Cons for weak countries• Major powers set the agenda• Agricultural subsidies ($360B by OECD countries)• Trade barriers for infant industriesPros for weak countries• Quasi-legal system, DRPsBut, U.S. exerts outside options• Bilateral threats• Regional trade groups: NAFTA, APEC

Before GATT

• Discriminatory trade agreements advantaged stronger players

• Optimal tariffs are possible only for large countries

• Large economies fare better in trade wars

• Strategic trade subsidies can wipe out infant industries

International Monetary Fund

Criticisms• Conditionality

– Cuts social services & wages– Destabilizes new democracies– Benefits foreign investors

• Involvement in debt negotiations– Benefits foreign lenders– Facilitates excessive lending to unconstitutional

governments

• Weighted voting

IMF Voting

• Other G-10 is Italy, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland

International Monetary Fund

Benefits• IMF can serve as a self-commitment device

– Inflation, exchange rates, capital flight– Foreign investment

• Emergency financing as insurance against financial crises

But, it’s not clear the IMF can really reassure capital markets

Conclusions

• International institutions are key features of the international system

• Define strategies & options for weak powers• Represent power resources for strong powers• Distributional consequences of institutions are an

open empirical question• Research agenda: under what conditions do

powerful countries cede advantages in order to make joint gains?