Lesson 4: The Contemporary Global Governance

 
Lesson Outcomes:
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
1. Define global governance
2. Identify the roles and functions of the United Nations
3. Determine the challenges of global governance in the 21 century
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Activate:
1. Cite at least one major problem that the world is facing today?
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2. Who or what organization/s takes care of these problems? Why?
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3. Have these organizations been efficient in addressing the world’s major problems?
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Acquire:
GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
    Global governance refers to the various intersecting processes that create international order
(Claudio, 2018). These processes include policy-formulations which produce guidelines and agreements
that affect how governments and transnational corporations facilitate their interactions and negotiate on
responses to global concerns and problems. United Nations, as an international organization is the closest
manifestation of this global government.
    In Kant’s view, a global government is likened to a state system by which subjects are accountable to a
central government that implements and executes laws. In this state system, all people must abide by the
laws implemented otherwise, violators will be punished. However, this execution and application of laws
cannot be applied to an imagined global government because, all states are sovereign.  When states
violate international treaties, they are not severely punished; rather, economic sanctions are imposed.
Sources of Global Governance
    There are many sources of global governance. States sign treaties and create organizations, in the
course, legislating public international law (rules that govern interactions between states as opposed to
say, private enterprises). International non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), despite not holding
formal state power, can lobby countries to behave in a certain way (for example, advocates of animal
protection can pressure governments to implement animal cruelty laws). Transnational corporations can
also influence governments in the enactment of global labor laws, environmental legislations, trade
policy, etc (Claudio, 2018). 
International Organizations
    International Organizations refer to international intergovernmental organizations or groups that are
primarily made-up of member states (Evans & Newham, 1998). These global actors can influence
governments worldwide to make economic and political decisions based on a given standard and
framework. International relations scholars Michael N. Barret and Martha Finnemore listed three powers
of International Organizations by which they become influential (Claudio, 2018):
    Power of Classification. International Organizations can create powerful global standards that have
concrete effects on how individual governments implement policies (Banton, 2020). 
    Power to Fix Meanings. This is a broader function related to the first. Various terms like “security” or
“development” need to be well-defined (Claudio, 2018). As such, International Organizations, being
legitimate sources of information defines these terms. 
    Power to Diffuse Norms. A norm refers to “collective expectations for the proper behavior of actors
with a given identity” (Katzenstein, 1996). An international norm begins with an idea innovated by
individuals and ends as a widely institutionalized principle with the power to shape the
identity/preferences of states (Ring, J.J. 2014). 
Types of International Organization
    There are three main types of IOs, namely; Inter-governmental organization, International non-
governmental organization and Multinational enterprises (TYIO, 2020) . 
a. Inter-governmental organizations are bodies established based on a formal instrument of
agreement between the governments of nation-states. 
b. An international non-governmental organization are bodies independent of governments
and can be seen as two types, advocacy INGOs, which aim to influence governments
with a specific goal, and operational INGOs, which provide services.
c. A multinational corporation, or multinational enterprise, is an international corporation
that derives at least a quarter of its revenues outside its home country (Chen, 2020).   

The United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945 after the Second World War
by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations
among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights. 
It has four main purposes (UN, 2015):

 To keep peace throughout the world;

 To develop friendly relations among nations;
 To help nations work together to improve the lives of poor people, to conquer hunger, disease
and illiteracy, and to encourage respect for each other’s rights and freedoms;
 To be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations to achieve these goals

The Five Principal Organs

It functions with its five active organs. 

1. The General Assembly (GA) is UN’s main deliberative policy making body. It is consist
of diplomats from the 193 member-states. 
2. The Security Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace
or an act of aggression with its Permanent 5 (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom
and USA) leading the organ. 
3. The third organ is the Economic and Social Council which is the principal body of
coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on social,
environmental and development agendas. 
4. When it comes to settling disputes in accordance with international law, a specialized
organ called the International Court of Justice takes the responsibility. 
5. Lastly, the Secretariat headed by the Secretary-General carries out the day to day work of
the organization (Claudio, 2018). 

Challenges of the United Nations

    The Security Council’s veto power is one of the challenges that the United Nations has been facing
since its founding. For example, the UN resolution in December 2017 that required US President Donald
Trump to withdraw the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital city was vetoed by the US. In effect, the
resolution was not passed. Some states refuse to adopt resolutions and statements on the grounds that
membership is voluntary (Brazalote & Leonardo, 2019), 
    Weiss and Thakur (2014) , in their article entitled, The United Nations Meets the 21 Century:
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Confronting Challenges of Global Governance, identified challenges confronting UN based on

knowledge, norms, policy, institutions and compliance:

1. In terms of knowledge, the United Nations is underappreciated regarding how its

convening capacity and mobilizing power are utilized to help funnel and consolidate
knowledge from outside and ensure its discussion and dissemination among
governments.
2. The contrasting moral structure of social behavior in different member-states complicates
the formulation of a normative standard that can be applicable to all.
3. In formulation propositions, problems occur when only the member-states are heard. UN
belittle the helping hand of a non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the global
public opinion. Sometimes, recommendations are not executed.
4. Institutions can also be avenues where ideas are cornered and left behind. The modality
and processes for enforcing compliance with international norms and laws are not
present. In fact, some UN staff members violate cheat and challenge them.

Contemporary global governance discusses the political aspect of globalization. This section
explained the various processes that enable countries to interact with each other in the attempt to combat
global issues through collaboration and diplomacy. However, it can always fail in some aspect. 
Apply:
1. Make an investigative report on the Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis.
2. Use the following questions as your guide:

a. Did the World Health Organization (WHO) failed to contain the spread of the virus from Wuhan
China? (Indicate Facts)
b. What actions did the United Nations and other IOs take to combat the crisis? Were these enough?

3. Write your narrative in the space provided.

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Assess:
Instructions: Use the concepts discussed above to answer the following questions. You may browse the
internet to elaborate your work. 
1. Give Global Governance a scholarly definition. 
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2. Enumerate certain functions of the United Nations as international organization and explain its role in
addressing global concerns. 
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3. There are different challenges faced by the UN in maintaining global security. Cite examples of how
the UN became inefficient in addressing these concerns.
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References:
Banton, C. (2020). Third World (Economics Journal). Investopedia. 
Retrieved from: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/third-world.asp  
Date Retrieved: 4/28/2020

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Human Development Report 1994. New York: Oxford University Press, 23.
08/02/01
Retrieved from: https://www.gdrc.org/sustdev/husec/Definitions.pdf
Date Retrieved: 4/28/2020

Minority Groups Online Learning. (2020). Strengths and Weakness of UN.MGRI

Retrieved from: https://www.minorityrightscourse.org/mod/page/view.php?id=1624
Retrieved date: 4/28/2020

Katzenstein, Peter J. (1996). The Culture of National Security. Columbia University Press

Ring, J.J. (2014). The Diffusion of Norms in International Systems. University of Iowa Press

Chen, J. (2020). Multinational Corporation (MNC). Investopedia

Retrieved from: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/multinationalcorporation.asp
Date Retrieved: 8/28/2020

UN. (2015). History of the United Nations. un.org

Retrieved from: https://www.un.org/un70/en/content/history/index.html
Date Retrieved: 8/29/2020

Wilson Center. (2004). Threats, Challenges and Change: The United Nations in the 21st Century. wilsoncenter.org
Retrieved from: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/threats-challenges-and-change-the-united-nations-the-21st-century