International Organizations and the Sovereign State

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the concepts, theoretical definitions, institutional structures, and forms of state power and diplomacy detailed in the POLI 101 lectures.

International Organization (Mingst Definition)

An institution that draws membership from at least three states, having activities in several states, and whose members are held together by a formal agreement.

Multilateral Relationship (Baylis Definition)

An institutional relationship among three or more countries, requiring a minimum of three countries because multilateral interactions possess significantly greater complexity than bilateral (two-country) relationships.

Inter-Governmental Organization (IGO)

An organization with a membership consisting solely of states, usually founded upon a treaty or multilateral agreement, and composed of more than two states (e.g., United Nations).

Supra-National Organization

An organization made up of more than two member states with independent decision-making authority and the ability to impose certain decisions and rules on its member states (e.g., European Union).

International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO)

An international organization in which membership is open to transnational actors from national, local, business company, political party, or individual backgrounds (e.g., Red Cross, Médecins sans Frontières).

Hybrid Organization

An international organization in which both private transnational actors and governments or governmental agencies are admitted as members, each having full rights of participation in policy-making and voting (e.g., International Union for the Conservation of Nature).

UN Security Council

The UN organ responsible for maintaining international peace and security, consisting of 15 states: 5 permanent members (US, Russia, China, France, Britain) wielding veto power, and 10 non-permanent members.

UN General Assembly

The 'parliament of nations' where all UN member states are represented and hold one vote each; decisions require a two-thirds majority to pass and carry the status of recommendations rather than binding actions.

UN Secretariat

The organ headed by the Secretary-General that mainly carries out administrative, research, and management duties as directed by other UN organs, fulfilling a bureaucratic role that lacks independent political power.

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

A UN organ operating under the authority of the General Assembly that coordinates economic and social matters, consults with non-governmental organizations, and oversees the UN system alongside the Security Council and General Assembly.

UN Trusteeship Council

A UN organ created to supervise Trust Territories and prepare them for self-government or independence, which suspended operations in 1994 following the independence of the Pacific Island of Palau.

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

The primary judicial organ of the UN, comprising 15 judges elected jointly by the Security Council and General Assembly to decide legal disputes between states and issue advisory opinions.

International Criminal Court (ICC)

An international court based in The Hague that was established in 2002 via the Rome Statute, possessing jurisdiction to hold individual perpetrators accountable for crimes against humanity.

State (Max Weber Definition)

A human community that successfully claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory, requiring the dominated population to obey the authority claimed by the ruling powers.

State (Charles Tilly Definition)

An organization that controls the population occupying a defined territory, differentiated from other organizations operating in that territory, autonomous, centralized, and whose divisions are formally coordinated.

Sovereignty

The absolute and perpetual power vested in a commonwealth or state.

Juridical Statehood

The formal recognition of an entity as an independent sovereign state by other states within the international community.

State Formation (Tilly's Process)

The European historical process wherein inter-state warfare drove central administrative apparatus creation, sustained by a bargain extracting civilian taxes in exchange for military protection against external aggression.

State Power

The ability of a state to influence others, control outcomes, and produce results that would not have occurred naturally.

Natural Sources of Power

Inherent state attributes that generate power, including geographic size, geographical position (e.g., being a land-locked state), natural resources, and population size.

Deterrence

The strategic practice of discouraging or restraining an actor—typically a nation-state—from initiating unwanted hostile actions, such as an armed attack.

Compellence

An attempt to alter the status quo through coercion, which entails demanding that a party halt an action while threatening punitive harm or brute force if the target defies the demand.

Economic Sanctions

A coercive tool of economic statecraft using a 'carrot and stick' approach to compel an actor to change its behavior by disrupting trade and economic exchange.

Diplomacy

A process occurring between or among actors (typically diplomats representing a state) operating within the international system who engage in public and private dialogue to pursue objectives peacefully.

1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations

The core international treaty governing diplomatic protocols, which strictly recognizes sovereign states as diplomatic actors in the modern era.