Global governance organisations

What is the UN?

The first post-war inter-governmental organisation established after WW2.

When was the UN established?

1945.

What is the UN’s overall aim?

To maintain peace and security globally.

How many sovereign state members does the UN have?

193.

What are three important agencies within the UN?

IMF- international money fund

World Bank Group

WHO- world health organisation

What is the main important global governance organisation that is not a part of the UN?

The world trade organisation.

What are the “big five” in the UN?

General assembly- all 193 countries

Security council- 15 members, 5 permanent

International Court of Justice- legal side

UNESCO- peace-aimed outreach organisation

Peacekeeping

What is peacekeeping in the UN?

People from member states are sent out to restore peace

It is highly criticised

Who are the five permanent members of the UN security council?

China

France

Russia

US

UK

What are the millennium development goals?

A set of 9 goals set by the UN in 2000 to be achieved by 2015 promoting ‘stability and growth’.

What are the 9 millennium development goals?

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

• Achieve universal primary education

• Promote gender equality and empower women

• Reduce child mortality

• Improve maternal health

• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

• Ensure environmental sustainability

• Develop a global partnership for development

What was the UN’s numerical goal to ‘eradicate extreme poverty and hunger’?

Halve the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day.

By 2015, it reached 14%.

What was the UN’s numerical goal to ‘achieve universal primary education’?

Ensure that all boys and girls complete primary school.

It reached 91% by 2015.

What was the UN’s goal to ‘promote gender equality and empower women’?

Eliminate gender disparities in education, particularly at primary and secondary levels.

Level reached 0.98 in primary and secondary education by 2015.

What was the UN’s numerical goal to ‘reduce child mortality’?

To reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate in children under five.

It only fell by around a half by 2015.

What was the UN’s numerical goal to ‘improve maternal health’?

To reduce by three-quarters the number of women dying in childbirth.

It only reduced by around a half by 2015.

What was the UN’s goal to combat disease?

To halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.

By 2015, there were still 2.1M new HIV/AIDS cases per year.

What was the UN’s goal to ‘ensure environmental sustainability’?

To integrate principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes, and reduce the proportion of people without access to drinking water.

Environmental decline was still proven to be occurring by 2015.

What was the UN’s goal to ‘foster a global partnership for development’?

To foster a global partnership for development, which includes targets for aid money and economic trade.

Positives of the UN:

• Deters from use of nuclear processing

• Has overseen decolonisation

• Universal declaration of human rights- 1948

• UN convention on the law of the sea- 1982

• Countries must now abide by international law

• UN peacekeeping won Nobel peace prize in 1988

• IPCC assesses and helps against climate change

Criticisms of the UN:

• Inactivity, especially in the prevention of genocides

• Voting trade deals

• Has done little to address the first nations of the world

• A core issue is the conflict between co-operation and self interest

• Famously, there has been failed peacekeeping in Rwanda, Somalia and Angola

• Much of the UN is dominated by the west

• The US’s 2003 invasion of Iraq was unlawful and proved biases within the organisation

• Perceived “bias against Israel”

• UN peacekeeping has committed crimes against the innocent, e.g in Kosovo

The World Bank:

• 189 member countries

• President is from US

• Established in US in 1944

• General aim: reduce poverty

• 2 meetings per year

• Started helping countries post-WW2

• Brought clean water + sanitation to East Asia

• Does not protect displaced people

The International Money Fund: 

• 191 member countries

• Managing director from Bulgaria

• Established in 1944

• Aims to promote monetary cooperation globally

• Meets annually in Autumn

• Responded well to COVID-19

• Some of their loan conditions have caused crises

The World Trade Organisation:

• 166 member countries

• Director general is from Nigeria, and the first woman in this position

• Operation began January 1995

• Ministerial conference meets every two years

• Fundamental goal- improve living standards

• Was set up to facilitate international trade post-WW1

• Has increased the value of world trade by around 4x

• It is argued that the WTO has increased the development gap

The G7:

• Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, US

• Annual meeting is the G7 summit

• Set up 15th November 1975

• General meeting for political issues

• Described as ‘informal forum’

• Current president- Macron

• Big positive: Paris agreement

• Often conflict, especially involving Trump

The G20:

• 21 member countries

• Current leader is South African

• Set up in 1999

• Deals with financial issues

• Set up to address economic instability

• Meets annually

• 2025- first summit in Africa

• Good action on 2008 financial crisis

• Often a bad lack of consensus