International Organizations
Opening session of the League of Nations, Geneva, 1920
Credit: UN Photo / Jullien
Summary
International organizations represent the most common form of multilateralism. More often criticized than applauded, they nevertheless show the ability to endure and adapt, even though other institutions for cooperation, such as clubs, are on the rise. Often considered the instruments of the most powerful states, international organizations are also bureaucracies with significant influence over the international scene.
An international organization (IO) is a “formal, continuous structure, established by agreement between members, whether governmental representatives or not, from at least two sovereign states with the aim of pursuing the common interest of the membership” (Clive Archer). This broad definition refers both to intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), and to international NGOs and, possibly, multinational companies as well. It enables interstate cooperation and transnational solidarity to be incorporated into their thinking, encouraged by the rapprochement between societies; it also allows convergences that have taken place between all these actors to be better appreciated. For example, non-governmental meteorology institutions, which were set up from 1872 onwards, became intergovernmental during the first half of the twentieth century, and then developed into the World Meteorological Organization in 1950.
According to a stricter and more common meaning, an IO understood as an IGO constitutes the most widespread form of multilateralism. The earliest organizations were created in the nineteenth century and were particularly focused on common technical problems; for example, the International Telegraph Union (1865) became the International Telecommunication Union, and the Universal Postal Union (1874). In 1919, the League of Nations (LoN) was the first IO with a universal vocation and broad jurisdiction. Its history of failure, although partly justified in terms of collective security and inability to attract the greatest number, does not do justice to the innovations, such as the creation of an international civil service, and the economic and social progress it brought about. (UN), an “LoN with teeth,” the Bretton Woods institutions (International Monetary Fund [IMF] and the World Bank [WB]), and GATT (the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), which continues to exist since the statutes of an International Trade Organization negotiated in Havana (1948) have yet to be ratified – all formed the framework of the international liberal order after World War II, set up under the leadership of the United States. Unlike the LoN, these IOs succeeded in becoming universalized, and multi-membership then became the general rule for states. Since that time, regional, global, sectional, and general IOs cover most areas of international politics, though their mandates often overlap, giving rise to competition between them.
UN member state admissions, 1945-2018
Comment: This document traces the chronology of the 193 current member states’ admission to the United Nations. From the 1960s, the new entrants largely reflected the independence of most African states (decolonization) but also the situation in Central Asia (collapse of the USSR) and the Balkans (the break-up of Yugoslavia). The “non-members” remain: on the one hand the observers (Vatican, Palestine), and on the other those territories whose status is still ill-defined (Western Sahara, Taiwan, Kosovo).
United Nations Security Council, 2018
Comment: Unlike the UN General Assembly, where all have a seat and are able to vote, the number of seats at the UN Security Council is restricted (15) and powers are unequally divided. Five states are permanent members and have a right of veto (United States, China, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom) and ten other states are elected according to a geographical distribution, some countries being appointed much more frequently (Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Pakistan, Italy, India, and Colombia).
Resilience of International Organizations
More often criticized (for being outmoded, inefficient, undemocratic, technocratic, etc.) than praised, most IOs nevertheless demonstrate an ability to endure and adapt, whether it means ad hoc changes (developments in Security Council working methods) or reinventing roles (as in the example of NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization], the military alliance created during the Cold War, which changed its style when bipolarity came to an end). In addition to organizational reforms given wide media coverage, IOs change by adjusting and participating in the developments of international hierarchies and making both normative and cognitive innovations. Even though their number has increased by comparison with the early twentieth century, the growth of IOs has not been linear. It so happens that some of them disappear (LoN, Warsaw Pact) or else become obsolete. Furthermore, although IOs have represented the most traditional form of international cooperation, the multilateral configuration today is characterized by the proliferation of other institutions such as clubs, which are increasingly being set up independently of IOs (G7/G8, financial G20).
Intergovernmental organizations, 1909-2017
International Bureaucracies
Because of their intergovernmental nature, IOs are often thought to reflect interactions between states and to be the tools of those who are most powerful. However, they are also administrations, which leads us to shift the focus toward secretariats and study them as independent actors whose influence is exerted through the creation and diffusion of knowledge (researchers’ roles at the WB), as well as their place in negotiation processes (preparation of pilot studies) and in the implementation of agreements (role of the WB, the UND [United Nations Development Program] and UNE [United Nations Environment Program] in establishing National Ozone in national administrations). International bureaucracies, due to the spread of reforms within them inspired by new public management and the promotion of good practice, are also part of the increasingly technical nature of discussions and the depoliticization of IOs. The many studies which view IOs as public services are helping to renew thinking and analyses surrounding international civil servants, their sociological profiles, their relationship to their state of origin, their politicization, and the formation of bodies that are separate from international civil servants (the European civil service in particular).
Nationality of UN Secretariat staff, 2016
Comment: This map shows the nationalities of the UN Secretariat staff in 2016. There is no list compiled of the staff working on peace missions and in specialized agencies. Although the nationalities of UN personnel partly comply with quotas, with most coming from Central Africa (DRC, Sudan, Kenya), managerial staff are underrepresented; then come the United States, France, etc. The proportion of managerial staff is high among the citizens of small island states in Europe, Northeast Asia and, to a lesser extent, South America.
- states > State
- The state is a political system that is centralized (unlike the feudal system), differentiated (from civil society, public/private space), institutionalized (institutions are depersonalized), territorialized (a territory whose borders mark the absolute limit of its jurisdiction), that claims sovereignty (holding ultimate power) and that bears responsibility for ensuring its population’s security. In public international law, the state is defined as a population living on a territory defined by borders subject to a political authority (the national territorial state).
- NGOs > Nongovernmental Organization
- Use of this expression became more widespread following its inclusion in Article 71 of the United Nations Charter. NGOs do not have an international legal status and the acronym is used in different contexts to refer to very different kinds of actors. It generally designates associations formed by individuals over the long term in relation to not-for-profit goals, often linked to values and beliefs (ideological, humanist, ecological, religious, etc.) rather than financial interests. Active on a wide range of issues at both the local and global levels, NGOs now number tens of thousands, but vary greatly in the scale of their budgets, staff and development.
- multinational companies > Multinational corporation
- Company that has undertaken foreign direct investment (FDI) giving it access to facilities that it owns fully or in part (subsidiaries). The first MNCs date from the late 19th century; corporations of this kind have become widespread in the early 21st century. The majority of FDI takes place between industrialized nations. Such companies are now transnational rather than multinational, the largest among them tending to evolve into global corporate networks.
- transnational > Transnational
- A relationship is transnational when it forms at the global level, whether intentionally or in practice, and exists outside the national context and at least partly beyond the control or influence of national governments (Bertrand Badie, 1999). Transnationalism is an interpretation of international relations that emphasizes the role of non-state actors and cross-border flows. It has developed since the 1970s around authors such as Joseph Nye, Robert Keohane and James Rosenau, in reaction to the dominance of realist and neorealist analyses.
- multilateralism > Multilateralism
- To see multilateralism as international cooperation involving at least three states reduces it to a mere technique. In fact, it also has a qualitative, normative aspect which has been evident since the time of the League of Nations. According to Franck Petiteville, this makes multilateralism a form of international collective action which aims to produce “norms and rules seeking to establish a cooperative international order governing international interdependencies.” The adjective “multilateral” first appeared in the late 1940s which is when awareness of the concept began to emerge.
- security > Security
- A set of representations and strategies developed by an individual or collectivity to reduce the threats to which they feel exposed. At the international level, security may consist of: 1) an unstable, precarious balance between the security of different nations, underpinned by their degree of power; 2) the concerted organization of this balance (international security); 3) the establishment of a security regime imposed on all states that have signed up to it (collective security). Above and beyond any tangible threat, the language of security tends to represent objects or groups of people as dangers for the security of states, notably in order to justify particular security policies (state of emergency, military action, closing of borders, etc.).
- institutions > Institutions
- The term institution refers to social structures (rules, standards, practices, actions, roles) that are long-lasting, organized in a stable and depersonalized way, and play a part in regulating social relationships. An institution can be formalized within organizations (international or otherwise). In political science, institutionalism tackles the objects of political analysis by studying their structural basis and their organizational model rather than thinking about how they relate to society.
- liberal > Liberalism
- Arising from Enlightenment philosophy, Liberalism refers to a corpus of political philosophy that places the preservation of individual rights at the center of its conception of society and the political order. Devolving from this, on the one hand, are mechanisms to safeguard the individual against the arbitrary use of state power, which mostly translate into a preference for a democratic political order; and, on the other, an emphasis on respecting private property, which leads in turn to a preference for minimal state involvement in the economy – restricting the state’s role to matters of sovereignty. Behind this consensus are many debates around the level of state involvement in the economy, or around protection of individuals vs. that of a political order and given social norms, which translate into different variants of liberalism (such as German-style ordoliberalism, libertarianism, or liberal conservatism).
- alliance > Alliance
- An alliance is a commitment between two or more states that are seeking to ensure cooperation in the areas of international security and defense. Its purpose is to create a deterrent in the face of a third-party state, to increase the power of its members when there is the prospect of war, or to prevent allied countries from forming other alliances. Alliances may be institutionalized or more informal, permanent (NATO) or ad hoc (coalitions in Middle-Eastern wars). They can be appeasement factors when the deterrent effect comes into play, but they also create instability when rigid alignments can lead to military escalation, as in 1914.
- Cold War
- Period of ideological, geopolitical, economic and cultural confrontation between the United States and the USSR from the late 1940s through the end of the 1980s. Vigorous debate is still ongoing among historians regarding the precise dates of its beginning (the 1917 Russian Revolution? 1944? 1947?) and end (the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 or the collapse of the USSR in 1991?). These two superpowers formed two blocs of varying degrees of cohesion around them. This bipolarization of the world to some extent masked other political, economic and social dynamics.
- bipolarity > Bipolarity
- These terms refer to the division of power in the international system. According to the number of dominating powers (one, two, or several), the configuration is described as unipolar, bipolar, or multipolar, respectively. In contrast to these notions, discussed particularly among realist currents in international relations, the idea of apolarity has emerged, which stresses the irrelevance of seeing global space in terms of power centers, because of the way these have been transformed.
- G7/G8
- Following the informal meetings of the Library Group (comprising representatives of the United States, Japan, France, the Federal Republic of Germany and the United Kingdom), French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing brought together the heads of government of six states in 1975 (Italy being added to this list). Becoming G7 (Canada) in 1976, then G8 (Russia) in 1997, the group has now become seven again following Russia’s suspension (due to its annexation of Crimea). Initially focused on economics and finance, the G7-G8 agenda has since expanded to address security, political and social issues. This club of the major powers appears to lack legitimacy and representativeness; its summits regularly give rise to demonstrations.
- G20 > G20 (The financial G20)
- Club comprising the G8 members, 11 other developed states (South Korea, Australia) and emerging states (South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey) and the European Union. These countries’ finance ministers and central bank governors have been meeting since 1999, following a number of economic crises. Since 2008 it has become a summit meeting (heads of state and government), addressing financial, trade and development issues.
- powerful > Power
- Ability of political actors to impose their will on others. Comparable to the notion of authority within a nation, power is never absolute but has its existence in a relationship, since power relations are a matter of each actor’s perception of the other. Power is key to the realist approach to international relations, where it is understood in geostrategic terms (hard power is based on force and coercion, especially of a military nature). The transnationalist approach offers a more diversified vision including factors of influence (Joseph Nye’s soft power exerted in economic, cultural and other terms) and emphasizing the importance of controlling different orders of power, from hard to soft (Susan Strange’s “structural power”).
- negotiation > Negotiation
- Practice which aims to secure agreement between public or private actors, satisfying the participants’ material and symbolic interests by means of mutual concessions. International negotiations are one of the methods of peacefully resolving disputes and can be bilateral (between two actors) or multilateral (three or more actors). They often result in an official document (joint declaration, peace agreement, trade treaty, international convention). Collective negotiation (or collective bargaining) refers to negotiations within a company between the employer and workforce representatives (generally belonging to trade unions) regarding the application of labor law.