U1002535

AI 2306 The UN in World Politics

Coursework 1 Seminar Tutor: Ruth Brown Word Count: 1503 (excl. references)

1. What roles do international organisations play in global politics?

Introduction

This paper will look at the role of the United Nations as one of the primary international organisations in global politics, and will also look at the role of the European Union. This
You say you are going to look at the EU in global politics, and in your introduction it seems that you will look at them both equally, but seems you spend more time on the UN. Would that be a problem? Delete one of these to

paper will elucidate what academics maintain that the roles are currently in decline. This paper will also exemplify what roles the international organisations are currently demonstrating. This paper will position itself that the central role of these specic international organisations is to to be a setting where states can co-operate under the auspices of a neutral, centralized and independent banner. This paper recognises that there are different types of international organisations, many of whom have a primary focus. Examples of these include the IMF focusing on nancial transactions, NATO focusing on military affairs, and the IAEA which concentrates on safe and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. However for the purposes of this paper only two international organisations will be reviewed. Abbott and Snidal (2005) believe that International Organisations have a number of roles in international politics neutral information provider (p.43, Abbott and Snidal,

I think you need to add an ; here in order to make it clear that there is a seperation in sentence (if that makes sense) or maybe you could put such as

2005); as a trustee (p.44, Abbott and Snidal, 2005) and also as an allocator (p.45, Abbott and Snidal, 2005). They also make clear of a difference between International organizations as opposed to other international institutitions and that the main distinguishing traits of international organizations are their autonomy and their unication properties a concrete and stable organizational structure (p.31, Abbott and Snidal, 2005). The ability that an organization like the United Nations and the European Union has with its vast amount of people to have a centralized secretariat infers an

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independence that is suitably functional. There is also the addition of impartiality that implies further independence to the organization. This enhances the roles mentioned earlier giving them a veriable stamp of authenticity. For example if the UN peacekeepers enter a situation, they are seen to be neutral purely because the International Organisation they represent has already demonstrated that neutrality in its previous functions and at its core.

The role of international organisations in global politics has been to bring together a conglomerate of powers, of states to co-operate. Karns and Mingst (2010) point out that states cannot not manage alone, what is needed is cooperation of some sort among governments and the increasing number of nonstate actors (Karns and Mingst, 2010, p. 3). There are a wide variety of international policy problems that require governance (Karns and Mingst, 2010, p.3). The UN was set up so that there was an international body able to bring those separate states together, and also a Liberal view of the world permeated each State the concept of laws and mutual co-operation after two horric world wars was a view many could embrace. As the report on Global Governance mentions the world was focused on preventing a third world war and avoiding another global depression (p.3, report, 1995).
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referenced

Rosenau and Czempiel (1992) contend that the prevailing global order...consists of a more extensive diversity of sites, rates of change and congurations of structure (p.12, Rosenau and Czempiel, 1992). This has encouraged the need for International Organisations that can bring some order to the chaos. The report on Global Governance highlights that in this age of globalization what was previously thought of as world politics and governance belonging soley to the state and intergovernmental relations...now [must] be understood as...involving non-governmental organisations,

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citizens movements, multinational corporations, and the global capital market (Report, 1995, p.2-3).

Barnett and Finnemore (2004) highlight how International organisations have never been more central to world politics than they are today. Any chance glance at the news also demonstrates this, if one investigates almost any violent conict, environmental concern, nancial meltdown, or humanitarian crisis, and you will nd international organizations involved, probably in a leading role. (p.1, Barnett and Finnemore, 2004), and yet Kothari (1998) argues that there has been in the last 15 years an expanding discontent and scepticism of the role of the United Nations (p.186, kothari in Paolini et al, 1998), Barnett and Finnemore (2004) say it is liberal-inspired theories of international organizations [that] almost always cast these organizations in a positive role (p.ix, 2004, Barnett and Finnemore). This again subscribes to the view that scholars will view the role of international organizations depending on which theory of international relations they most favour.

However the United Nations, as opposed to the European Union, which has limited membership depending on geographical location among other things, is the only international organisation which has universal membership and [is considered a] general purpose international organization (Smith, 2006, p.2). Therefore its role is one that frequently produces mixed results. When multilateral decisionmaking and
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diplomacy is involved, it is a complex process that appears.

In the eld of International relations Brown and Ainley (2005) argue that our view of the world, how we process and interpret it is all dependent on how we dene it. There are a number of theories that are espoused but this paper will briey look at how looking

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through the lens of a Realist or the lens of and Liberalist affects how academics see the
should be a add is between this and the

roles of international organisations in global politics. An example of this the fact that the UN has produced things like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and yet Forsythe (2006) believes that human rights are linked to Liberalism and Realism is a synonym for attention to state interests-foremost among which is security (Forsythe, 2006, p.3). And so the UN has become a place where the realist interests of each State looking after its own interests has clashed with the Liberal view of all working together under a legal framework so that war is prevented. The establishment of a set of international, intergovernmental institutions to ensure peace and prosperity was a logical, welcome development (p.3, 1995, report on Global governance) Gamble and Lane (2009) indicate that it is only since the the third phase of its development (p.3, 2009, Gamble and Lane) that the EU has even been considered a major player in world politics (p.3, 2009, Gamble and Lane), and Youngs (2010) expostulates that their inuence in world affairs [is] increasingly attenuated Some of this understanding of the roles of International organizations has to do with how academics view International Organisations. Abbott and Snidal contend that states have taken IOs more seriously than have scholars (p.54, 2005, Abbott and Snidal). They assert that they played a major role ininstances of interstate collaboration (p. 54, 2005, Abbott and Snidal). Lyons however points out that within US foreign policy the UN has became increasingly marginalized (p.499, Lyons, 1999), this then informed the rise of international organisations like NATO, the EU and the OECS which were connected to the Bretton Woods agencies[constituting] an integrated system of industralized democracies (p.499, Lyons, 1999).

Whether the EU is considered by academics to be a leading player in global politics or not, Bengtsson and Elgstrom allege that it still aspires to play a leading role (p.93, Bengtsson and Elgstrom, 2012). It undertakes negotiations, cooperation schemes, and conict resolution processes with a vast number of actors (p.93, Bengtsson and Elgstrom, 2012)

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References
Barnett, M. and Finnemore, M. (2004) Rules for the World International Organizations in Global Politics. New York. Cornell University Press

Brown, C. And Ainley, K. (2005) Understanding International Relations. 3rd edn. Hampshire. Palgrave Macmillan

Forsythe, D.P. (2006) Human Rights in International Relations. 2nd edn. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. Smith, C.B. (2006) Politics and Process at the United Nations The Global Dance. Colarado. Lynne Reiner Publishers Youngs, R. (2010) The EUs role in World Politics A retreat from liberal internationalism. London and New York. Routledge Rosenau, J.N and Czempiel, E-O. (eds) (1992) Governance with Government: Order and Change in World Politics. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press Karns, M.P. and Mingst, K.A. (2010) International Organizations The Politics and Processes of Global Governence. (2nd Edn). Colorado and London. Lynne Rienner Publishers Kothari, S. (1998) Where are the people? The United Nations, Global Economic Institutions and Governance in Paolini, A.J., Jarvis, A.P and Reus-Smit, C. (eds) Between Sovereignty and Global Governance The United nations, the State and Civil Society. Hampshire and New York. Macmillan Press Ltd, pp.186-206 Conicting Role Conceptions? The European Union in Global Politics, Rikard Bengtsson and Ole Elgstrom, p.93-108, Foreign Policy Analysis (Jan 2012) vol 8, issue 1, Wiley-Blackwell. Our Global Neighbourhood The Report of the Commission on Global Governance, Oxford University Press, New York, 1995

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AI 2306 The UN in World Politics The UN and American Politics, Gene M.Lyons, Global Governance vol 5 number 4 (oct - dec 1999), p.497-511, Lynne Reiner Publishers The Politics of Global Governance International Organizations in an Interdependent World, edited by Paul F. Diehl, 3rd edition, 2005, Lynne Reiner Publishers, London and Colorado. chapter 2 Why States Act Through Formal International Organizations, Kenneth W. Abbott and Duncan Snidal, p.25-59

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