The United

Nations and
Contemporary
Global
Governance
Jan Lorenzo Alegado
The Contemporary World
 Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
▪ Define global governance;
▪ Identify the roles and functions of the United Nations;
and
▪ Determine the challenges of global governance in the
twenty-first century.

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World

 Global Governance
▪ The fact that states in an international order continue to
adhere to certain global norms means that there is a
semblance of world order.
▪ Global governance refers to the various intersecting
processes that create this order.
▪ Source of global governance:
▪ Treaties, agreements, and organizations
▪ Non-governmental organizations and transnational corporations

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World

 International Organization
▪ International organizations (IOs) are commonly
used to refer to international intergovernmental
organizations or groups that are primary made up of
member-states.

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World

 International Organization
▪ Fallacy: IOs are merely amalgamations of various
state interests – no more than talk shops
▪ Truth: These IOs can also take lives on their own,
e.g., IMF, World Bank, and WTO
▪ International relations scholars: Michael N. Barnett
and Martha Finnemore enumerated the following
powers of IOs.

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World

 International Organization
1. The power of classification – e.g., UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) defines what
a “refugee” is.
2. The power to fix meanings – e.g., “security” and
“development.” IOs become legitimate sources of
standard definitions.
3. The power to diffuse norms – e.g., spreading IOs
ideas across the world such as the World Bank.

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World

 International Organization
▪ IOs can be sources of great good and great harm.
▪ Great good
- Environmental protection and human rights
▪ Great harm
- They become sealed-off communities that fail to
challenge their beliefs, e.g., “one-size-fits-all” policies.

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World

 The United Nations
▪ After the collapse of the League of Nations at the end
of the 2nd World War, countries that worried about
another global war began to push for the formation of
a more lasting international league.
▪ January 1, 1942 – the name United Nations was
coined by United States President Franklin D.
Roosevelt.

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World & www.un.org
 The United Nations
▪ 1945 – representatives of 50 countries met in San
Francisco at the United Nations Conference on
International Organization to draw up the United
Nations Charter.
▪ June 26, 1945 – the UN Charter was signed.
▪ October 24, 1945 – the UN officially came into
existence.

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World & www.un.org
 Organs of the United Nations
1. The General Assembly
2. The Security Council
3. Economic and Social Council
4. International Court of Justice
5. The Secretariat

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World

 The UN General Assembly
▪ It’s the “main deliberative policymaking and
representative organ.”
▪ Decision on important questions, such as those on
peace and security, admission of new members, and
budgetary matters, require a two-thirds majority of the
GA otherwise, a simple majority is enough.
▪ The GA President is elected annually.

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World

 The UN General Assembly
Carlos P. Romulo Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces
(1949-1950) (2018-Present)

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World

 The UN Security Council
▪ The Security Council is in charged with
maintaining international peace and security.
➢ can resort to the use of force or impose sanctions
▪ It takes the lead in determining the existence of
a threat to the peace or an act of aggression.
➢ states that seek to intervene militarily in another
state need to obtain the approval of the SC

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World

 The UN Security Council
▪ The SC consists of 15 members wherein 10 members
are considered non-permanent and are elected to
two-year terms. The remaining 5 are considered as
permanent and these are:

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World

 The UN Security Council
▪ The other 10 non-permanent members are:
Belgium (2020) Indonesia (2020)
Cote d’Ivoire (2019) Kuwait (2020)
Dominican Republic (2020) Peru (2019)
Equatorial Guinea (2019) Poland (2019)
Germany (2020) South Africa (2020)

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World & www.un.org
 The UN Economic and Social Council
▪ The principal body for coordination, policy
review, policy dialogue, and recommendations
on social and environment issues, as well as
the implementation of the internationally agreed
development goals.
▪ Consists of 54 members elected for three-year
terms.

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World

 The UN International Court of Justice
▪ To settle, in accordance with international law, legal
disputes submitted to it by states and to give advisory
opinions referred to it by authorized United Nations
organs and specialized agencies.
▪ The court cannot try individuals (international criminal
cases are heard by the International Criminal Court,
which is independent of the UN), and its decisions are
binding when states have explicitly agreed to place
themselves before the court’s authority.

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World

 The UN Secretariat
▪ It consists of the Secretary-General and tens of
thousands of international UN staff members who
carry out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated
by the General Assembly and the organization’s other
principal organs.
▪ Mr. Antonio Guterres (Portugal, 2017-present) is the
current UN General-Secretary succeeding Ban Ki-
Moon (South Korea, 2007-2016).

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World

 Challenges of the United Nations
▪ Limits placed upon its various organs and programs
by the need to respect state sovereignty, e.g.,
rapporteurs from the UN Council on Human Rights.
▪ Veto power of the UN Permanent Seats
▪ US wanted to intervene in Kosovo War in the late
1990s.

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World

 Conclusion
▪ International organizations like the U.N. are the most
visible symbols of global governance.
▪ The U.N. in particular, is the closest thing to a world
government (BUT IT IS NOT!!!).
▪ Aside from these IOs, there are groups of sovereign
states with their own motivations.
▪ The many institutions, groups, and ideas help in
holding international and global politics together.

Source: Claudio, L. & P. Abinales (2018). The Contemporary World