Global Politics Examples

States

• Political entity that must have a functioning government, a defined territory, a permanent population and be recognised by other other states, e.g. UK, Wales and England

• Somaliland - has its own flag, parliament, currency and national identity, but is not recognised

Nation State

• A political community bound together by citizenship and nationality

Sovereignty

• Principles of absolute and unlimited power

• National sovereignty means the state has absolute authority over all of its citizens within its borders

Westphalian State System

• Treaty of Westphalia (1648) - ended Holy Roman Emperor’s claim to possess sovereign authority over virtually independent German states

• Each individual state would be sovereign over its own internal affairs, and no other state, or supposedly, superior body could intervene within its borders

• No state has the legal right to intervene in the sovereign affairs of another state

• UN Charter recognises the principle of the sovereign equality of all its member states: “No state has the right to intervene in the affairs of another state since they can all claim the same right to determine policy within their borders”

Globalisation

• The widening and deepening of interconnectedness and interdependence

Factors driving Globalisation

• Movement of people and ideas

• Role of non-state actors (e.g. IGOs, NGOs and regional organisations)

• Economic and financial interconnectedness

• Technological advancements

The Security Dilemma

• Actions taken by a state to increase its own security causes reactions from other states, which in turn leads to a decrease rather than an increase in the state’s security

• Often leads to arms race (e.g. Cold War)

• John Herz coined the term ‘security dilemma’

Global Governance

• We have no single, authoritative world government

• States are the principal actors - they make or break global governance initiatives, nothing is agreed globally unless states all agree to do it

• International law is largely unenforceable - optional, requires states to sign up to be under it, and states can withdraw or ignore judgements made by international courts

• Lack of international enforcement - few mean that can hold states accountable and force them to change their behaviour

Rogue States

• Illegitimate government that is exceeding its powers (e.g. North Korea)

• Often have no desire for any global governance

Failed States

• Not füllt in control of their own internal governance - often run by unrecognised rebel groups (e.g. Somalia, Taliban in Afghanistan, etc.)

• Government does not exercise full control over all of its territory

• These states are often unwilling or unable to participate effectively in global governance

Powerful States

• Can pick and choose which systems of global governance to take part in and can simply ignore international pressure (e.g. Russia and US)

The UN

• Developed in 1945 after WWII to replace League of Nations

• Initially 51 members, now 193

• All states agree to uphold UN Charter

The UN Charter

• To work towards creating a world free from war and conflict

• To ensure human rights for everybody - justice and equality

• To help eradicate poverty in the world and promote social progress/ better standards of life

• To encourage friendly relations between all states

• To uphold respect for international law

Role of UN Today

• Tackling climate change (COP, 1997 Kyoto , UNFCCC)

• Nuclear weapons and proliferation (UNGA dedicated Disarmament Commission)

• Peace and security (UNSC became more active after Cold War ended in 1991, UN military intervention - 1992 Somalia, 1994 Rwanda and 1995 Bosnia, as well as aid to Gaza 2023-25)

• Reducing poverty - 2000s MDGs and 2015 SDGs

UNSC

• Has power to pass legally binding resolutions, impose economic sanctions or take military action to maintain or restore peace and security

• 15 members, 5 permanent members (USA, Russia, China, UK and France - have veto power)

UNGA

• Consists of all members of the UN, each of which has a single vote

• Can debate and pass resolutions on any matter covered by the Charter, and has a specific responsibility to examine and approve the UN’s budget, determine members’ contributions, and elect the UN Secretary General and judges of the ICJ

• Has neither legislative role nor oversees or scrutinises the Security Council - just talk

ECOSOC

• 54 members elected by the UNGA

• Chief role is to coordinate the economic and social work of the UN and the UN family of organisations

• Involves overseeing the activities of a large number of programmes, funds and specialised agencies, including IMF, World Bank and WTO

The Secretariat

• Services the other principal organs of the UN and administers the programmes and policies laid down by them

When was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Adopted

1948

NATO

• Set up in 1949 at the end of WWII to provide collective security

• Currently 30 members

• Article 5 states that an attack on one of them is considered an attack on all - collective military response

Changing role of NATO

• 9/11 led to NATO invoking Article 5 - maintained a presence in Afghanistan form 2003-2021

• 1995 - Military action against the Bosnian Serbs

• 1999 - NATO bombing of Serbia and establishment of KFOR

• 2001-2002 - NATO deploys forces in Afghanistan

• 20019-2016 - Ocean Shield (Horn of Africa)

• 2011 - NATO’s involvement in overthrowing Gaddafi’s regime in Libya (led to instability)

IMF

• Established following Bretton Woods Conference in 1994

• Aims to encourage global financial stability by providing loans to countries facing economic crises and by providing technical advice to its 190 members

World Bank

• Established after Bretton Woods Conference in 1994

• Focuses on long-term development and provides grants and conditional loans to developing countries

Use of SAPs by IMF and World Bank

• Loans given from late 1970s which require the recipient states to meet certain conditions

• Suggested as a way to remedy the inefficiencies of developing countries and misguided government policies

• No longer called SAPs but conditionality remains (e.g. Argentina 2019)

Criticisms of SAPs

• Western Neoliberale policy was inappropriate to the developing world

• SAPs made problems worse in a number of ways

• Countries focused their economies of production of goods for export leading to environmental problems

• SAPs led to reduced public spending

IMF - Role

• Encourage stability in world exchange rates

• During Great Depression (1930s), IMF oversaw a system of fixed exchanged rates

• Now, provides economic stability by giving financial support or loans

• Monitors the economic outlook of both the world economy and individual member countries, including forecasting and commenting on potential threats and weaknesses

IMF - Response to Crises

• Key role is to respond to financial crises (e.g. GFC) and avoid them spreading to other countries

• Assisted with:

  • GFC (2008)

  • Asian Financial Crisis (1997)

  • Emergency lending to Brazil (1998) and Argentina (2000)

  • Eurozone Crisis (2008 onwards)

World Systems Theory

• Division of the world into core, semi-peripheral and peripheral areas

Dependency Theory

• Resources flow from periphery states to core states, which leads to accumulation of wealth by the rich at the expense of the poor states

ICC Examples

• 2019 - former Congolese rebel leader Bosch Ntaganda was convicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity and sentenced to 30 years in prison - effective

• 2018 - Trump - ‘As far as America is concerned, the ICC has no jurisdiction, no legitimacy and no authority’

ICJ Examples

• 2002 - ICJ settled dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon over the ownership of an oil-rich peninsula

• 1980 - Iran refused to acknowledge ICK sovereignty when the US brought a case against it for seizing the US embassy in Tehran in 1979

• 2020 - ICJ ordered the government of Myanmar to stop the genocide against the Rohingya Muslims, but Mynamar’s leader stated that the issue was an ‘internal armed conflict’ and therefore the ICJ didn’t have jurisdiction

Shallow Green Ecologists

• Advocate reformist measures of sustainable development

• Human-centred branch - acknowledges vital importance of protecting the environment

• Aim to conserve natural environment in interests of human kind

Deep Green Ecologists

• Need a radical, paradigm shift and eco centric approach

• Ideas include population control, zero economic growth and a shift away from materialism

• Aims to preserve and protect the environment itself rather than for the self-interested benefit to human beings

• Argue that all living things are of equal moral value

NAFTA

• Founded in 1992

• Improve trade and prosperity for signatory states

African Union

• Established in 1963 (OAU, replaced by AU in 2002)

• Main focus on ending colonial rules and apartheid and safeguards the sovereignty of member states

Arab League

• Founded in 1945

• Encourage cooperation and the pursuit of common interests among Arab-speaking states in Africa and the middle east

ASEAN

• Founded 1967

• Aimed to encourage economic, social, cultural, technological and educational development

• Counter the rising power of China in the Asian region

EU Agreements and Treaties

• Rome 1957 - set up the EEC

• Single European Markets Act 1986 - made provisions for single market

• Maastricht Treaty 1992 - transformed EEC into EU

• Amsterdam 1997 - strengthened foreign policy and cooperation

Guantanamo Bay

• Established in 2002 as part of war on terror

• Camp is known for violating many rights to increase security (e.g. torture of detainees)

• Camp is not on US soil which puts Guantanamo in a vague legal situation - prisoners can be held without charges for years