UNIT 1: INTRO TO GLOBALIZATION Globalization as a process, condition, and ideology

DEFINING GLOBALIZATION ● Steger (2005) explains that globalization has been commonly understood either as a process,
a condition, or an ideology.
NAME/SCHOLAR/REFERENCE DEFINITION
As a Process:
Giddens (1990:4) the "intensification of worldwide social relations which link 1. Worldwide social interdependencies and exchanges while at the same time fostering in people
distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped a growing awareness of deepening connections between the local and the distant" (Steger,
by events occurring many miles away and vice versa"
2005: 13).
Robertsons (1992:8) refers both to the compression of the world and the a. Argument: about the compression of time and space brought about by changes in
intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole...
technology and the political, cultural, and economic aspects of human existence.
Harvey (1989) introduced globalization as the compression of time and space
and the annihilation of distance Table 1. Globalization according to Social Science and Human Disciplines
Sunny Levin Institute a process of interaction and integration among the people,
companies, and governments of different nations, a process
driven by international trade and investment and aided by Disciplines Time Agency/Domain Keywords
information technology

Steger (2005) process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political

systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on Political Science, 1980 “Internationalization of the State”, Competitor states, post
human physical well-being in societies around the world International Relations INGO’s international politics, Global
civil society
Grupo de Lisboa, 1994, quoted in DeSoussa Santos, 2002: 68 1) Internationalization and multinationalization are phases that
precede globalization because the latter heralds the end of the
state system as the nucleus of human activities
2) Explain that the activities and developments in globalization
have taken place outside the formal structures of the nation-
Development Studies IMF, World Bank Debt crisis, structural
state
adjustment policies

Supporting Facts:
1.) Globalization was first used as a term in academic circles in the decades of 1960s and 1970s
Geography Space, Place Local Global interaction,
(Nederveen Peterse, 2012; Steger, 2005) but had gained wide interest in the 1990s. Glocalization
2.) Scholars from the traditional disciplines of political science, economics, history, sociology, and
philosophy have examined globalization using the analytical tools and methods provided by their
respective disciplines.
a.) Historians, for instance, are more interested in determining whether globalization is Economics 1970 Multinational corporations, Global corporations, world
really a modern phenomenon. technologies, banks, finance product, global value chains,
hedge funds new economy, sovereign
b.) Economists, on the other hand, look into the changing patterns of international trade
wealth funds
and commerce as well as the unequal distribution of wealth.
c.) Political scientists focus more on the impact of the forces of globalization, such as the
international non-governmental organizations and international organizations, on the
state and vice versa.
 Globalization as a condition
Cultural studies Media, film, advertising, ICT Global village, ● Globalization is also referred to by scholars as globality.
McDonaldization,
Disneyfication, hybridization Scholte’s (2008) idea, argument, and concept
● globality as a social condition characterized by trans-planetary connectivity and supra-
territoriality.
Trans- planetary relations Supra-territorial relations
Philosophy 1950 Ethics Global problems, global
Ethics

● establishment of social links between people ● Social connections that transcend territorial
located at different places of our planet. geography” (Scholte, 2008: 1480).
Sociology 1800 Modernity Capitalism, Industrialism, ● Planet is not treated as a collection of ● social condition is characterized by thick
urbanization, nation states geographical units but as social space or an economic, political, and cultural
arena of social life interconnections and global flows that render
political borders and economic barriers
irrelevant (Steger, 2008).

Political Economy 1500 Modern Capitalism Conquest of the World Market Globalization as an Ideology:
Michael Freeden’s ideas, concepts, and arguments,
● Globalization exists in people`s consciousness because it consists of a set of coherent and
History, Historical 3000 BCE Population movement, trade, The widening scale of global, complementary ideas and beliefs about the global order.
anthropology technologies, world religions corporation, Global flows,
ecumene.
The 6 Core Claims
1.) Globalization is about the liberation and global integration of markets or as stated
succinctly in a Business Week article published in the late 1990s: “Globalization is about the
Biology, ecology Time Integration of ecosystems Evolution, Global ecology, triumph of markets over governments” (quoted in Steger 2005)
Gaia 2.) Globalization is inevitable and irreversible. State leaders pushing for neoliberal policies have
been heard proclaiming that globalization is happening and cannot be stopped, as it was a
global wave that has been sweeping the world.
Source: Nederveen Pieterse, Jan (2012) “Periodizing Globalization: Histories of Globalization, “New 3.) Nobody is in charge of globalization. Globalization does not promote the agenda of any
Global Studies, Vol.6, Issue 2, Article 1. specific class or group. In this sense, globalist are not dictating their own agenda on people.
4.) Globalization benefits everyone in the long run. Free trade and free market, globalist believe,
Flynn and Giraldez (2006) ideas, arguments, and concepts. will bring wealth and prosperity to everyone.
● Globalization is synonymous to permanent global trade, which began when all the major 5.) Globalization furthers the spread of democracy. Although democracy and freedom
regions of the world "exchange products continuously...and on a scale that generated deep and compromise a particular type of political system while free markets and free trade refer to a
lasting impacts on all trading partners" particular economic system
● They conclude that the birth of globalization took place in 1571, the year Manila was founded 6.) Globalization requires a global war on terror. This belief, which resulted from the 9-11
as a Spanish entrepot connecting Asia and the Americas. attack, combines the idea of economic globalization with the American brand of right-wing
foreign policy (openly militaristic and nationalistic).
The Impact of Globalization on the Academe Globalization as universalization and westernization
The advent of globalization in the 1970s had greatly affected the academic world as it Universalization Westernization Globalization
immediately gained the interest and attention of most social scientists, who were occupied with social
phenomena related to globalization. A process of spreading various Just a variant of Universalization Homogenization of culture,
objects, practices, and together with neo-colonialism, politics, economy, and laws
experiences to the different parts Americanization, or
Domain Questions of the planet Mcdonaldization
● Should be based on domain questions, which provide the assumptive bases for theorizing
(Robinson, 2005).
Theoretical paradigms associated with globalization.
World Systems Paradigm
Misconceptions about globalization
● Proponent: Immanuel Wallerstein,
● Idea/s: globalization not as a recent phenomenon but as virtually synonymous with the birth and
Globalization as internationalization
spread of world capitalism
● The terms internationalization and globalization are interchangeable, there is a big difference in
● Argument: the appropriate unit of analysis for macro-social inquiry in the modern world is neither
their meanings.
class, nor state/society, or country, but the larger historical system, in which these categories
Internationalization Globalization are located.
● Concept: capitalism has created a global enterprise that swept the 19th century leading to the
Activities by entities such as corporations, states, Includes a gamut of human activities that do not present time.
international organizations, private organizations, require reference to a state's national borders ● System: Core as Capital Intensive, Semi Periphery as Capital and Labor Intensive, Periphery
and even individuals with reference to national as Labor Intensive.
borders and national governments
○ Semi Periphery is former Labor Intensive states that achieved development

Globalization as liberalization Global Capitalism Paradigm

● Globalization is treating it as synonymous to liberalization ● Idea/s: Treat globalization as a novel stage in the evolving system of world capitalism
● Liberalization is commonly understood as the removal of barriers and restrictions imposed by ● Argument: new global production and financial system; both are seen to have superseded
national governments so as to create an open and borderless world economy, while, earlier national forms of capitalism
Globalization is realized when national governments "reduce or abolish regulatory measures ● Concept: 'transnational practices' (TNPs) as operational categories for the analysis of
like trade barriers, foreign exchange restrictions, capital controls and visa requirements"= transnational phenomena
Debatable arguments: ● System: transnational production, transnational capitalists and a transnational state
● Academics, business executives, and policymakers that have supported neoliberal policies of ○ globalization creates new forms of transnational class relations across borders and new
liberalization, privatization, deregulation, and fiscal restraint would in time bring prosperity, forms of class cleavages globally and within countries, regions, cities and local
freedom, peace and democracy for all. communities, in ways quite distinct from the old national class structures and
● Anti-globalization movements have opposed neoliberal policies, arguing that a laissez faire international class conflicts and alliances.
world economy produces greater poverty, inequality, social conflict, cultural destruction,
ecological damage and democratic deficits (Ibid: 1475). The Network Society School of Thought
● Advantages and disadvantages of laissez faire economics have gone on for centuries without ● Idea/s: globalization does not subscribe to the contention that capitalism fuels globalization
involving the language of globalization. ● Argument: technology and technological change are the underlying causes of the several
processes that comprise globalization
● Concept: the networked enterprise makes material the culture of the informational, global
economy: it transforms signals into commodities by processing knowledge’ (1996:188).
 ● System: informational, knowledge-based; (2) global, in that production is organized on a global
scale; and (3) networked, in that productivity is generated through global networks of interaction. The Post-World War II Economic System
Space, Time and Globalization Bretton Woods Conference
● Idea/s: conceptual essence of globalization is 'time-space distanciation' (Anthonny Giddens) ● Also known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference.
● Argument: social relations are 'lifted out from local contexts of interaction and restructured ● When: July 1944
across time and space (1990: 64). ● Where: Bretton Woods New Hampshire, United States
● Concept: globalization represents a new burst of 'time-space compression' produced by the very ● Who: Delegates from 44 countries
dynamics of capitalist development. ● Why: To address the problems that occurred during the interwar period, trade protectionism and
● System: Glocalization - where home, locality and community have been extensively spread exchange of controls, which led to the Great Depression and World War II.
around the world in recent years, so that the local has been globalized. Significance of the local ● How: Created New Economic Framework through economic organizations: International
or the communal can be viewed as one ingredient of the overall globalization process Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. The two organizations are also known as Bretton Woods
Transnationality and Transnationalism Institutions.
● Idea/s: an umbrella concept encompassing a wide variety of transformative processes, practices
and developments that take place simultaneously at the local level and global level Bretton Woods Institutions
● Argument: multiple ties and interactions -economic, political, social and cultural - that link ● Also known as the Keystone International Economic Organizations (KIEOs) due to their role in
people, communities and institutions across the borders of nation-states. trade, development, and monetary relations (Cohn, 2011; Jacobson and Oksenberg, 1990).
● Concept: Transnational ties among recent immigrants are more intense than those of their International Monetary Fund
historical counterparts due to the speed and relatively inexpensive character of travel and ● When: 1945
communications ● Why: Promote global monetary cooperation and international financial stability.
● System: Migration Pattern ● How: Designed to monitor the system of pegged of fixed exchange rates. Official exchange
rates of currencies were related to gold and U.S. Dollars.
UNIT 2: GLOBAL ECONOMY AND MARKET INTEGRATION ● Prevent trade wars due to competitive devaluations of states of their currencies.
Defining Economic Globalization ○ When states suffer from balance-of-payments deficits (spend more than it takes in),
NAME/SCHOLAR/REFERENCE DEFINITION
they reduce the value of their currencies to boost exports with cheaper products and
decrease imports.
Cohn (2011: 6) broadening and deepening of interdependence among ● It still had the role of providing liquidity but has more focus on countries tied to major currencies
people and states
instead of countries supplying them (Garber, 1993).
Benczes (2014) 1. multidimensional phenomenon compromised of ● The role of the IMF is to provide short-term loans to prevent devaluation and retain the state's
political, economic and cultural features. fixed exchange rate in instances of the temporary balance-of-payment deficit.
2. To dismiss the multifaceted nature of the
globalization would be inappropriate; the same ● Lesage et al. (2013) explain the outcome of the reform negotiations as a trade-off between
goes as to how it would be incorrect to dismiss money and power.
the essential and crucial role that economic
dimension plays in as much as it as a driving
force of globalization International Bank for Reconstruction and the Development or World Bank
3. emphasizes that interpretation of the current
trends in the world economy must be understood
● Also known as International Bank for Reconstruction and the Development
in the global context of an integrated world ● Purpose: Grant long-term loans for the economic development of less developed countries
economy and the reconstruction of war-torn countries in Europe.
Szentes (2003) "a process making the world economy an "organic system" ● Two institutions of WB: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) (lending
by extending transnational economic processes and to middle-income and creditworthy low income countries), & the International Development
economic relations to more and more countries and by
deepening the economic interdependencies among them"
Association (IDA) (grants credits and loans to lowest income countries.
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) ● Problem: Failed to facilitate free convertibility of currencies to gold resulting to collapse in 1931
● Informal Entity created in 1947.
● Purpose: avoid trade wars by raising protectionist barriers as witnessed during the interwar
1929 The 1930s Economic Problem
period. ● First symptoms: Great Crash or the Wall Street Crash
○ Created after Bretton Woods due to the refusal of the U.S. to sign the Havana Charter ● Why: Stock market prices delivered a wave of bankruptcies, decrease in trade and production, and
that would create an International Trade Organization (ITO). unemployment in US, also hitting hard cities around the world.
● How: The period of 1930s interwar period would increase intensity beggar-thy-neighbor policies, trade
■ Agricultural Sector in the US feared for losses that may be brought by the ITO protectionism, competitive devaluation, rigid capital controls among states.
and pressures in the US Congress resulted to the failure of reaching an
agreement resulting to the informal GATT.
● GATT states; “contracting parties” instead of formal members due to the nature of the 1944 The Bretton Woods Conference
agreement ● Dollar-Gold Standard or Gold-Exchange Standard, US Dollar as the only convertible currency to be
considered as good as gold.
○ Provisionary treaty (Cohn, 2011: 23). ○ Emerging hegemon, US, committed itself to purchase and sell gold at $35US dollar/ounce without
WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION restrictions, while other currencies were fixed to the dollar.
○ Stability bounded member states to maintain the narrow limits of their currencies exchange rate
● GATT unable to address the expansion within the +/- 1% range.
○ Trade in services, investment, and intellectual property.
○ Incapable of providing strong and efficient system for dispute settlement
1960 The US began to suffer from its balance-of-payments deficits.
● GATT was superseded by a more formal WTO in 1995 that managed to address these issues. ● Difficult to maintain the stable price of gold – maintaining the fixed gold price in the face of constant price
● Establishment of global economic order was heavily influenced by Western developed increase globally resulted in its reduction of production (Mikita, 2015).
○ International reserve of gold had stagnant growth due to low official price while most of the growth
countries. was seen in foreign-owned US-dollars
● South, compromising of less developed economies creates an alternative economic framework ● Growth encountered problems due to deficits and states started losing confidence in the strength of the
and institutions. dollar and began purchasing gold reserves from the US.
● Interventions: Formation of Gold Pool and the Special Drawing Rights to expand resources and means for
● Less developed economies (South and Soviet Union)gradually became integrated into the payment (Garber, 1993, Mikita, 2015).
liberal economic order at the end of the 20th century. ● Problem: Insufficient in the face of worsening US deficit, currency speculation, and inflation.
● Result: Abandonment of Gold-Exchange Standard and the eventual collapse of the Bretton Woods system in
1973.
International Monetary System ○ States fluctuate their exchange rates to be determined by the market forces.
● A set of general rules, legal norms, instruments, and institutions shaping payment conditions in
foreign trade (international scale) (Mikita, 2015, p. 505). 1973 Abandonment of Gold-Exchange Standard and the eventual collapse of the Bretton Woods system
○ International agreements of trading participants, facilitated by international financial ● States fluctuate their exchange rates to be determined by the market forces.
○ From pegged/fixed system to floating currency system
organizations. ○ Pegged/Fixed: Gold-US standard, Floating Currency System: Market Driven (Supply and
TIMELINE TABLE Demand).
● Pegged-system to a floating one; allowing flexibility among member states to determine their exchange rates
1816 Gold Standard or tie them to major currencies such as dollar or the SDR (basket of five currencies—the US dollar, the euro,
● Adopted by England in 1816, being the first country to industrialize. the Chinese renminbi, the Japanese yen, and the British pound sterling.)
● First International Monetary System ● IMF also allow a manage float system where central banks are allowed to intervene to address fluctuations in
● Later joined by European Countries and the US. the exchange rate by buying and selling currencies.
● It functioned as a fixed exchange rate regime where countries determined the gold content of their national ○ Countries are not allowed to manipulate their currencies to achieve short-term gains at the expense
currencies which would define the fixed exchange rates (Benczes, 2014). of other economies

1922 Gold Bullion Standard

● Where: conference in Genoa
● Why: Attempt to return to the modified gold standard
● How: bank notes were exchangeable for gold bullion of fixed weight.
Table 2.1 The World’s Largest Economies Based on data from the International Monetary Fund, ○ First country to industrialize (1846) during the Repeal of the British Corn Laws
2018 (Benczes, 2014).
○ Not all states embrace free trade during industrialization.
Country Value (In trillions) ● US and Germany initially pursued import substitution industrialization, imposing
tariffs on manufactured goods to protect infant industries.
○ WWI resulted to overturning of free trade regime and the return to
1 United States 20.4 (currency: US Dollar)
protectionism
● US unwilling to take over as hegemon after the decline of British hegemony and
2 China 14 (currency: Chinese Yuan/Reminbi) served as the primary drivers of protectionist policies during the Great
depression.
○ US Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act in 1932
3 Japan 5.1 (currency: Japanese Yen)
■ Freeing Congress from pressure coming from protectionist
interest.
4 Germany 4.2 (currency: Euro)
● The post-World War II trade regime was established in the backdrop of what Ruggie (1983)
calls an “embedded liberal compromise,”
5 United Kingdom 2.94 (currency: British Pounds)
○ An offshoot of Keynesianism economics where the promotion of an open global
economy was accompanied by government safeguards that would protect the domestic
6 France 2.93 economy and social policies.
○ Trade Regime: informal and constitute of multilateral trade agreements,
○ Negotiations guided by the following principles:
7 India 2.85
■ Trade Liberalization via Tariff Reductions, non-discrimination, reciprocity,
safeguards, and development (Cohn, 2011).
8 Italy 2.18 ○ Problem: not been prioritized by major trading powers.
■ GATT unable to fully impose limitations of free trade in exceptional cases
9 Brazil 2.14
concerning essential policy objects such as health, and public moral grounds,
which ought to trump over the market goals (Ala’I, 2011).

10 Canada 1.8 Keynesianism to Liberalism

Keynesianism
From a Unilateral to a Multilateral Trade Order ● Keynesianism: Government Spending as a solution to revive economy through bolstering
aggregate demand through fiscal and monetary policies
● Mercantilist period: 17th and 18th century ● Ideas of John Maynard Keynes (British Economist)
○ European International Trade, Colonial Expansionism and surplus of accumulation of ● The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money
gold stocks in the balance-of-payment: boosted exports and curtailed import (Benczes, ● Argument: Market-generated equilibrium results in unemployment which causes a decrease in
2014). demand.
● Zero-sum game (the loss of the others is the gain of the one): beggar-thy-neighbor policies
resulting in trade wars.
● 19th century: Industrialization advance trade liberalization under the leadership of UK
Keynes' liberal interventionism approach ○ To maintain international peace and order.
● influenced states to invest in big governments and shaped the post-war global economic Global Governance
order that is grounded on the Keynesian compromise of promoting open markets without ● Defined as “The formal and informal arrangements that produce degree of order and collective
undermining the protection of the society and the domestic market. action above the state in the absence of global government”
● Problem: challenge during the economic crisis of stagflation (rising unemployment and inflation). ○ Involves coordination among state and non-state actors (Young, 1922: 2).
Liberalism
● Key neoliberal policies were privatization, deregulation, lesser public spending, and reduced The United Nations (UN)
corporate taxes. ● Primary organization for international cooperation, peace, and security.
Washington Consensus ○ Only organization that can authorize the use of force against an aggressor.
● a set of ten economic policy prescriptions for the recovering and crisis-ridden countries ■ Primary Concern: Collective Military Security (Chapter VII of the UN Charter)
implemented by Washington-based institutions through the facilitation of peaceful settelement of dispute among member states
1. Fiscal discipline (Chapter VI) or by [commanding allegiance of the entire UN memberships;
2. Reordering Public Expenditure Priorities sanctions].
3. Tax Reform ● Primary Objectives: Ensure Peace and Order
4. Liberalizing Interest Rates ○ As an organization can be a conflict actor in itself or an instrument for action driven by
5. A Competitive Exchange Rate the interests of particular states.
6. Trade Liberalization ■ UN membership-directed organization and the members are all states. This
7. Liberalization of Inward Foreign Direct Investment strongly affects what it can do.
8. Privatization
9. Deregulation The Six Principal Council Organs (Article 7, Chapter III)
10. Property Rights ● The UN established six principal council organs in 1945.
○ Economics and Social Council (ECOSOC)
PROBLEMS OF NEOLIBERALISM ○ Trusteeship Council
● Transnational and national resistance due to the widening gap between North and South. ○ International Court of Justice
● Zapatista Movement in Mexico ○ General Assembly
○ Against the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Battle of Seattle during the ○ Security Council
WTO Ministerial Conference in the 1990s were the prominent transnational movements ○ Secretariat
that first sought to challenge against global capitalism and neoliberal globalization.
● Broader collective resistance known as the “global justice movement” Economic and Social Council
● However, global civil society continues to persistently and relentlessly expose the ills of today’s ● ECOSOC’s primary objective is to advance the economic, social, and environmental dimensions
global economic system. of sustainable development.
○ Gateway of the UN’s partnership with the rest of the world for the coordination, policy
UNIT 3: GLOBAL INTERSTATE SYSTEM AND GLOBAL GOVERNANCE review, dialogue, recommendations, and implementation of international development
The Anarchic World goals.
● No overpowering state-like entity imposes rules and order. ■ Composition: 54 elected member by the General Assembly for overlapping
○ Imperative that the Nation state imposes its sovereign power within it domain. three-year term (Chapter X).
○ The state is legitimate user of physical violence (Weber, 1964) through its military and ● The IMF and WB
police apparatus, together with its territorial, fiscal, and ideological monopolies ○ Specialized agencies and independent organizations that are affiliated with UN.
(Wallensteen, 2012). ■ Issue yearly reports to the ECOSOC
● The global system is anarchic, and this necessitates global governance ○ WTO on the other hand is related but not specialized, not required to do the same
 ○ World Summit of 2005 expanded the agenda in crises urging international responsibility
Trusteeship Council to protect exposed populations against mass violation of human rights, ethnic cleansing,
● Main Organ of the UN (Chapter XIII) to provide international supervision of the Trust Territories or genocide
that are under the administration of seven-member states ● The military intervention's legal status remains contested and is considered to be "a failed case
○ To ensure that adequate steps are being made to prepare the people of Trust Territories of international law and R2P since the international community saved Benghazi but lost Libya"
for self-governance. (Teimouri & Subedi, 2018: 31).
○ 11 Trust Territories achieved independence in 1994
● Operation was suspended and will meet whenever an occasion is needed Structural feature of SC
● PMs has the right or power to Veto against a substantive resolution
International Court Of Justice ○ Serves as a measure to protect states from possible threats to independence to ensure
● UN’s principal judicial organ (Chapter XIV) that UN will not be used to serve the interest of particular states.
● Settle legal disputes between states (contentious cases) and to provide advisory opinions on ● Sixth Veto or hidden Veto
legal questions referred by the UN organs and specialized agencies, in accordance with ● At least seven non-permanent members of council to prevent the nine needed votes
international law (advisory proceedings) (International Court of Justice, 2018). from reaching a decision (Wallensteen, 2012).

Security Council ● Ideal Voting System: unity, consensus, and compromise which is not present in League of
● Potent organ with the power to make legally binding resolutions. Nations
○ Compose of the strongest Military States ○ Used instrument by major powers to target Germany, Italy, and Japan.
○ A concrete manifestation of power dynamics. ● the UN Charter was never intended to espouse sovereign equality; the structural feature of the
● Composition: 15 member UN Charter-veto-is a result of an international compromise allied powers of Second World War
○ The Permanent 5 (P-5): Russia, China, Great Britain, France, & US (Carswell, 2013).
○ Granted by the US Charter (Chapter V)
■ These states are allies in WWII and nuclear states. The safeguards to sovereignty
○ The remaining seats are elected non-permanent members (NPM) elected by the ● the veto: also serve as a severe problem. When major powers are directly or indirectly involved
General Assembly (GA) for overlapping 2 years. in a conflict, it renders the also serve as a severe the Syrian armed conflict.
■ 5 states from Africa and Asian States, 1 from Eastern Europe States, 2 States
from Latin American States, 2 from Western Europe and other States. Maintaining Peace and Order
● Sanctions, Peacekeeping, Peace Enforcement.
Article 24 of the UN Charter ○ Sanctions: Non-Military measures of economic, trade or diplomatic sanctions, and
● states that the SC is mandated to act on behalf of the entire UN body to fulfill its primary targeted measures on groups particular individuals such as travel bans, financial and
responsibility for maintaining peace and security. diplomatic restrictions.
○ Functions: investigating any situations that has the potential of creating international ● Peacekeeping is also a useful tool employed by the UN in assist host countries struggling from
tensions; call for military action towards an aggressor or threat; impose economic armed conflict. UN peacekeepers are deployed to provide security to populations and political
sanctions and other measures; determine the existence of a breach of peace and and peace building support to countries transition from conflict to peace
actions be pursued. ● The blurring of lines between peacekeeping has amalgamated UN intervention with war-fighting
Article 39 (Ramsbotham et al., 2016).
● The council has the authority to determine breach in international peace
● Crisis situations can be categorized as a threat to the peace, a breach of the peace' or an act
of aggression
General Assembly
● Universal representation with all 193 member states represented in the body
● GA decides essential questions with a simple majority, while concerns related to peace and
security, budgetary matters, and new memberships admissions require a 2/3 majority.
● GA meets annually: General debates and Session participated bu several heads of the state
○ Elects GA President and 21 Vice Presidents every session for a one-year term
■ Elected according to equitable geographical representations

The Secretariat
● comprise a Secretary General and such staff as the Organization may require. The Secretary-
General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security
Council.

The Collective Actions

● Wallensteen (2012) states that “the three organs of the UN are interrelated in ways which
support the viability of the United Nations” (p.247).
○ UNGA, UN ECOSOC, AND UNSC
● Problem: Since the Cold War, the SC has been paramount when it comes to decision making,
leaving the other organs with little involvement and influence in international issues
(Ramsbotham et. al., 2016; Wallensteen 2012).

Reforming the United Nations

● Reform has only been met once 1963 when the UNGA voted for the expansion of the UNSC
from 11 to 15 member-states (UNGA Resolution of 1963)
● Gould and Rablen (2017): two distinct sets of criticisms relating to the efficiency of the council
and the degree of equity regarding power allocation.
○ overrepresentation of the PM countries; in the regional level, there is lack of
representation for Asia and Africa while Eastern and Western Europe are
overrepresented – an overt manifestation of the North and South divide (Gould and
Rablen, 2016).
● Call for caution in pursuing structural reforms related to expand the UNSC membership.
○ UNSC membership enlargement is no panacea; it permits enhancement of equity in
diminishing returns, at the expense of efficiency at increasing returns
○ Two PM votes to constitute a veto would be more promising, in improving both equity
and efficiency and break the status quo (Gould&Rablen, 2017).
○ Difficulty for the UNSC to include rising powers into the power-sharing arrangement in
the UNSC is due to the absence of the prospects for change.
■ Brought by not only the diverging preferences of the permanent members but
also of structural hurdles in the UN charter locking in the current institutional
arrangement and preventing any reforms from seeping in.