Internationalism & Contemporary Global Affairs

yellow = important stuff

Internationalism

  • Belief in necessity, for nations to work together, carried out by..

    • Supra-nationalist organizations (members are gov’ts)

    • Non-gov’t organizations (members are regular peoples - NGO’s)

United Nations (UN)

  • Created in 1945

  • Goals are to..

    • Maintain international peace and security - via collective security

    • Develop friendly relations among nations

    • Cooperate in solving global problems

    • Promoting respect for human rights and freedoms

  • Peacekeeping operations (ie. Korea, Yugoslavia, East Timor, Kosovo, etc)

  • Peacekeeping came about as improvisations

    • 1st time - 1948 to deal with Arab-Israeli war

    • UN negotiated a truce (ceasefire) - idea of having military observers to monitor the truce

    • Ralph Bunche mediates on behalf of the UN

    • Pakistan and India conflict - 1948

    • 1956 - Suez Conflict

    • Successful missions; Kosovo, East Timor, Mozambique

  • Unarmed military observed, new idea of armed military observers to end conflict

    • Canadian Lester B. Pearson thought of the idea to have armed units to act as a buffer zone between fighting parties

  • Peacekeepers today are involved in disarmament, policing, re-building institutions, helping to set up governance and the justice system

Conditions for Peacekeeping

  1. Fighting parties are willing to accept the presence of peacekeepers

  2. Ceasefire must already be in place

  3. Peacekeepers will not use force, except in an act of self-defense

Roles in the UN

Secretariat

  • Runs the administration

  • Collects UN membership fees

  • Led by Secretary General António Guterres

General Assembly

  • Where all UN members meet to make declarations (eg. Human Rights Declaration) and recommendations for Security Council

Security Council

  • Only part of UN that can authorize the use of force

  • Has 5 permanent members with VETO power

    • Veto = absolute NO

      • Total 15 seats (permanent 5 and 10 elected ones each year)

      • P5 members

        • Russia

        • United States of America

        • Britain

        • France

        • China

Economic & Social Council

  • Made up of many commissions that work on issues of global importance

    • eg. illegal drug, weapon, and human slave trade

International Court of Justice

  • The World Court

  • Interprets international law and holds war crime trials/tribunals

TEXTBOOK PAGES: pg 241-244, 250, 262-265