ULUSLARARASI ÖRGÜTLENME VE KÜRESEL YÖNETİŞİM - Deneme Sınavı - 14

The international organization is an umbrella term that covers both intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs). IGOs refer to formal institutions whose members are predominantly states. INGOs, on the other hand, have a different composition of membership from IGOs as their members are mainly individuals or groups of individuals rather than states.

Legitimate transnational actors from a country can be transnational companies, political parties, or NGOs. Legitimate actors usually engage with IOs in the management of international relations. As a legitimate type of transnational actors, transnational companies (TNCs) play a relatively greater role in international politics today. They primarily lobby foreign governments in several ways; they can indirectly ask their own government to put pressure on a foreign government, try to affect the target government through IOs, or directly reach its diplomatic missions or ministries.

Non-legitimate transnational actors can also produce an impact on international politics. They generate serious problems for states such as criminal financial flows, criminal trade, or illegal trafficking. Because of this, states nowadays individually or collectively are trying to find legal solutions toward blocking the illegal activities of these groups.

As is also understood from the information given, the correct answer is E. All statements regarding international organizations in the options are correct.

"Evans and Newham identify the scope of global governance as follows: “Global governance should not be confused with World government, which implies a singular or unitary authority."

"IR theories discuss global governance mostly in relation to state and power. Realists hold a critical stance toward global governance, because its existence would refer to the absence of anarchy in the international system. Yet anarchy is the defining characteristic of the international system."

"Trans-governmental organizations, on the other hand, refer to the networks of cooperation between governmental actors that are not part of central foreign policy organs. The International Union of Local Authorities (IULA), the Interpol, or the Inter-Parliamentary Union are some examples of TGOs. "

Having studied the aims and activities of IOs, Archer has identified three types of organizations based on the relationship that these organizations aim to promote among their members. The first are those organizations that encourage cooperation among its members, who are not in conflict with one another. The second is those organizations that aim at reducing the intensity of a conflict among its members through the methods of conflict management and conflict prevention. The third is those organizations that aim at producing confrontation between its members or between its members and non-members. The functions of the UN Security Council defined under Chapter VII of the Charter exemplify this third type of organization and of the nature of relationship. As is also understood from the information given, the correct answer is C. “International Organizations (IOs) that encourage cooperation among its members, who are not in conflict with one another”, “IOs that aim at reducing the intensity of a conflict among its members through the methods of conflict management and conflict prevention” and “IOs that aim at producing confrontation between its members or between its members and non-members”.

“IOs that focus on high politics are mostly concerned with international order and security” and “IOs that focus on low politics that are concerned with technical, economic, and cultural issues” are the group of organizations identified by Petland regarding their focus.

The institutional structure of an international organization may also change over time. For example, the Nordic Council was established in 1952 with the aim of fostering cooperation between Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden (Nordic Council, 2018a). As is also understood from the information given, the correct answer is A. In order to deepen the cooperation, the Nordic Council of Ministers was created in 1971 to complement the Council as well as a Secretariat was set up. Moreover, the organization enlarged: in 1955 Finland, in 1970 the Faroe Islands and Åland, and in 1984 Greenland joined the organization. The Council of Ministers consists of sub-groups focusing on different issue areas, including labor, sustainable growth, equality, culture, and environment.

The UN General Assembly is an excellent example of an interstate organ where each member state has one vote. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe illustrates a parliamentary organ, which is composed of 324 parliamentarians from 47 member states.

Moreover, some IOs have judicial bodies in order to settle the disputes between the members such as the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the UN, or to act as the ‘court of last resort’ such as the European Court of Human Rights.

International Organizations (IOs) mainly provide a common platform for members to meet, deliberate, find solutions to their common problems, resolve their disputes, and widen their collaboration.

These are: articulation and aggregation, norm-setting, recruitment, socialization, rulemaking, rule application, rule adjudication, information, and operation.

The first main function of IOs is articulation and aggregation. This refers to the ability of IOs to bring together unions or organizations that focus on similar issues.

The second significant function of IOs is norm-setting. International organizations greatly contribute to the creation of new norms. They also encourage states to involve in norm-setting processes. Throughout the 20th century, IOs played key roles in the development of new international norms especially on human rights, slavery, global economy, and environment.

The third function of IOs is recruitment. This refers to their organizational capacity to allow new members to become a member of the international community with full rights.

The fourth main function of IOs is socialization. In general, socialization can be considered as a learning process of states about values. INGOs can enable people who share the same beliefs to get socialized at the international level.

Other three significant functions of IOs are rule-making, rule application, and rule adjudication. Although these kind of functions are more associated with states, IOs also fulfil such roles in the international system. These functions of IOs are particularly important because the absence of a central authority makes it difficult to produce common rules in international politics.

Another main function of international organizations is concerned with information and operation. IOs provide mechanisms for the exchange of information among states. Through new information technologies and regular meetings, they help different actors discuss common problems, and as such they not onlyfoster information but also decrease the transaction costs. IOs also fulfil operational roles especially in the international banking system and aid mechanisms for the developing countries. As they are established mostly in issue-specific areas, NGOs provide expertise and technical assistance thanks to their organizational structure.

As is also understood from the information given, the correct answer is E. “Articulation and Aggregation”, “Norm-setting”, “Recruitment” and “Socialization” are among the functions of international organizations. The other functions of international organizations which do not take place in the options are “Rule Application” and “Rule Adjudication”.

The main theoretical classification on the role of international relations is structured around: traditional realism, liberalism, Marxism along with constructivism, feminism, the green theory, and other integration theories.

Integration is a process “whereby political actors in several, distinct national settings are persuaded to shift their loyalties, expectations and political activities toward new center, whose institutions possess or demand jurisdiction over pre-existing national states”. The theoretical approaches dealing with integration focus on the development of certain policies as well as institutional and governance structures that exist above and/or beyond the nation-state level.

Functionalism is an integration theory concerning the development, role, and functioning of IOs. David Mitrany, the founding father of the functionalist theory, justifies the establishment of IOs based on their social, economic, political, and other related functions that are deemed essential for promoting the interests of nation states. The functions of IOs provide the basis for the development of common interests and cooperation among nation-states. As is also understood from the information given, the correct answer is A.

Other integration theories are federalism, neofunctionalism, intergovernmentalism / liberal-intergovernmentalism.

Federalism as an integration theory gained prominence in the post-Second World War period. Following the War, the idea of establishing a supranational political union in Europe dominated the agenda of West European nations. The rationale behind this initiative was to prevent any future wars and establish a lasting peace in Europe.

Neofunctionalism, a theory of regional integration, was developed in the 1960s and 1970s as a “moderate conceptual tool” for assessing the European integration process. Neofunctionalism expands the notions of functionalism by combining the “functionalist mechanisms” with “federalist goals,” devoting extensive self-sufficiency to “supranational” institutions.

During the political stalemate in the 1960s, neofunctionalism was highly criticized by the intergovernmentalist approach. In contrast to neofunctionalists’ stress on the role of supranational decision-making bodies in the institutional structure of IOs, prominent scholars of intergovernmentalism such as Stanley Hoffmann point to the decisive role of national/domestic politics for the integration process (Hoffmann, 1966). Intergovernmentalism and liberal intergovernmentalism consider the formation of IOs as a process of inter-state bargaining process wherein socioeconomic interests, the positions of political elite, and ideology matter to a great extent.

The definitions of the other international theories are as follows:

Realism is one of the major theories of international relations. The state-centric approach of realism is accepted as its distinctive trait, since the state is theoretically acknowledged as the main actor in international relations who follows its own interests and compete for power in the international system. Realism considers the concept of power as the ability to change and adjust the behavior of others in an anticipated way. Presuming that the state behavior is mainly shaped by the dynamics of power and security in international relations, it is hypothesized that states can maximize their self-interests by providing their own security and preserving (and even increasing) their own power.

In its debate on international affairs, liberalism focuses on the individual rather than on the state and draws its basic ethical tenets from the value of the human being. Based on the works of Adam Smith such as The Wealth of Nations and of John Locke such as The Essay Concerning Human Understanding, the liberal approach acknowledges the possibility of establishing cooperative relations between not only individuals but also nation states. Accordingly, nation states can build peaceful interstate relations especially through such issue areas as economics and trade. Although liberalism does not assume that war is illusory, at least it defines the nature of international relations as a sequence of cooperation and conflict, not only as a conflictual process as Realists do.

Marxism along with constructivism, feminism, the green theory are critical IR theories.

The Marxist approach contributes to the understanding of international relations and the role of IOs by critically assessing realism and liberalism, which are the dominant theoretical approaches to international relations. Marxism primarily focuses on the role of economic power in international affairs. Marxism criticizes capitalism as the main mode of production on the grounds that it causes inequalities among nation states and thus destabilizes the world order and increases the possibility of a conflict among states. Marxism regards IOs as tools and/or influence mechanisms of capitalism that widen the gap between the developed nations and the developing/ underdeveloped nations.

Constructivism is one of the recent prominent theories of International Relations. The constructivist approach focuses on the epistemology and sociology of knowledge as well as the agentstructure debate. The approach perceives the current world structure through the lens of “social construction of power politics”. Constructivism argues that IOs contribute to bilateral and multilateral cooperation among nation states, despite the fact that their material interests and political power may not be maximized through this cooperation.

As one of the critical theories of international relations, feminism focuses on the role of gender and gender politics in international affairs. Feminism discusses women’s possible role in, and contribution to, the decision-making and policy-making processes within IOs with regard to important issues of international affairs and global governance.

Green Theory: Today’s world is facing a rapid process of globalization that has produced complex and interdependent structures. These complex structures include economic, political, social as well as ecological issue areas where a good global governance has become a necessity. The environmental issues are no longer considered within the scope of nation states. Rather, these issues expanded and many new actors participated in managing them, including “networks of experts, environmentalist organizations and multinational corporations as well as new agencies set up by governments”. This theoretical approach suggests that today IOs play a significant role in the decision-making mechanisms that deal with environmental issues and develop “legally binding” policies negotiated and agreed upon by nation states and non-state entities. In fact, IOs help to strengthen the idea of global governance on environmental issues by reconciling processes of rule-making and rule implementation that takes place at different levels of governance, i.e. sub-national, national, supranational, and international.

The idea of global governance is based on the formation of an international society, which consists of nation states that aim at forming global institutions and following global practices. The process of globalization of an international society includes reflective universalism that embodies state-society relations around the world. These interactions involve not only the formation of universal values and norms, but also common practices aiming at creating a peaceful world order. Universalism is a theme prominently associated with the modern world-system. It is in many ways one of its boasts. Universalism means in general the priority to general rules applying equally to all persons, and therefore the rejection of particularistic preferences in most spheres. The League of Nations was the first attempt at putting the idea of universalism into action with regard to peace and international security. The United Nations is the second international organizations with universal values. For several reasons, the UN is considered a more effective organization than its predecessor, the League of Nations. The idea of universalism embedded in the UN’s structure and autonomy is reflected in many ways. As is also understood from the information given, the correct answer is A.

“The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)”, “Warsaw Pact” and “The European Union” are regional cooperations. There is a growing trend of regional groupings and formal institutional structures in today’s world affairs. The initial regionalist developments as a formal institutional cooperation in international relations came into existence in peace and security issues. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact as alliances exemplify the establishment of a permanent organizational structure to deal with regional security challenges. Besides, we observe the establishment of regional economic, social, and political organizations, especially in Europe, following the end of the Second World War. The European Coal and Steel Community, which subsequently evolved into the European Economic Community, and the European Union are the most representative initiatives in regionalization.

Despite their relatively late emergence, IOs have rapidly become essential components of international relations. Particularly in the 21st century, the importance of IOs has remarkably increased due to the rapid development of interdependent structures in the world order as a result of the globalization process. It is in this context where IOs emerge as vital actors that involve in any type of political, economic, and social challenges that this century faces

The roots of IOs can be traced back to the emergence of the modern international system after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Because the early international system had been mainly dominated by European nation states, first IOs emerged in the 19th century in Europe. The Congress of Vienna (1815) created a more convenient atmosphere for the development of IOs. The role and place of the state in the system also changed as a result of the development of communication systems. Therefore, it became necessary to define the changing nature of the international system and the role of power and states in international affairs. With the involvement of the different types of actors, the international system has become more complicated and interdependent.

For example, The Paris Conference (1856), the Berlin Conference (1878), and The Hague Conferences (1899 and 1907) can be considered as mechanisms of early forms of IOs. However, the League of Nations is the first permanent IO that was established for the maintenance of international peace and security.

The growing roles of IOs and the increasing interdependence among states showed the importance of the con­cept of governance for understanding complex international affairs. Particularly, the end of the Cold War marked the beginning of the governance studies.

Realists hold a critical stance toward global governance, because its existence would refer to the absence of anarchy in the international system. Yet anarchy is the defining characteristic of the international system. Liberals, on the other hand, consider global governance as a means of governing world affairs in the absence of a global central authority and emphasize its problem-solving potential. Focusing on the role of international economic organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Marxist scholars consider global governance as a capitalist project that enables the imposition of the capitalist reproduction of social relations and disciplines (Diez et al., 2011: 75-76).

The traditional/realist approach to intergovernmental organizations considers that IGOs are based on the principle of state sovereignty. As such, IGOs are built on the idea that states are the only subjects of international law and they are legally equal.

TNOs are divided into three types: genuine INGOs, hybrid NGOs, and trans-governmental organizations (TGOs). INGOs are organizations that only consist of non-governmental actors. The International Olympic Committee is a telling example of INGOs. If the members of an organization belong to a specific geographical region, this kind of organization is classified as a regional organization. The most notable examples of regional organizations are the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU, The Euroasian Economic Union, and the Arab League.

The first main function of IOs is articulation and aggregation. This refers to the ability of IOs to bring together unions or organizations that focus on similar issues. IOs enable the actors who share similar objectives to work together for better conditions and help them make their voice heard. In case of disagreement, members may leave the umbrella organization and establish a new international organization. Trade unions, youth movements, employers’ associations generally illustrate this function of IOs

Realism is one of the major theories of international relations. The state-centric approach of realism is accepted as its distinctive trait, since the state is theoretically acknowledged as the main actor in international relations who follows its own interests and compete for power in the international system. Realism considers the concept of power as the ability to change and adjust the behavior of others in an anticipated way.

As such, in contrast to the realist perspective, liberalism takes a different stance on the role of IOs in world affairs. Since liberalism underlines the importance of cooperation between states, naturally this approach attributes a greater prominence to international organizations and considers them as essential actors of International Relations. In that respect, IOs are regarded as the “early institutions of world government.” IOs serve as a platform for states to cooperate and they provide with states and other non-state actors a formal set of rules that are necessary for managing international affairs. In this regard, IOs serve to the common good of all participating states rather than to the interests of a single most powerful state.

The study of international organizations (IOs) and global governance embodies a wide range of topics that have conceptual, historical, and theoretical dimensions.