A. Today we examine non-state actors = IGOs and INGOs
1. Probably the MOST SIGNIFICANT THING ABOUT IGOs is that states have come to share the world stage more and more the past 50 years—they have become very impt actors in world politics as reflected by the growth in their #s
2. In essence though, IGOs are created to “promote and facilitate cooperation among states and other intl actors,” although clearly states use these orgs to pursue their own ntl interests and sometimes the IGO itself becomes an independent actor in and of itself—see esp. the EU)
B. K&W (p173) hilight their growth:
- 1909 = 37 IGOs; 176 NGOs
- 1960 = 154 IGOs; 1,255 NGOs
- 2008 = 300 IGOs (Ingram, Robinsom and Busch 2008); 40,000 INGOs (Wikipedia)
C. As K&W, also explain, these non-state actors activities span a wide gamut of activities which are often overlapping:
- Trade (WTO—135 members))
- Defense (UN--189; NATO—I think 18)
- Disarmament (Intl Atomic Energy Agency--130)
- economic development (World Bank--181; Intl Fund for Agricul Dvlpmnt--161)
- human rights (UN)
- Health (world health org—191)
- interesting stat: 90+% of all non-state actors are NGOs, while less than 10% are IGOs—however, the 251 IGOs currently functioning are generally considered more impt b/c their members are states
A. IGO (K&W, p173): “institutions created and joined by governments, which gives them authority to make collective decisions to manage particular problem(s) on the global agenda”
1. (e.g., United Nations, European Union)
B. NGO (K&W, p173): “transnational organizations of private citizens maintaining consultative status with the UN that work towards common interests”
1. (e.g., MNCs, Greenpeace, Doctors w/o Borders, Terrorist Groups)
C. IGO Membership
1. the key defining characteristic of IGOs that distinguishes them from other Ios is that IGOs have individual members as members
2. UN (189 members), IMF (182), World Bank (181) have members from all over the world—“universal memberships”—about 36 in all
3. Other IGOs have a more regional scope: EU, OAS, Org African Unity (OAU), Assn SE Asian Nations (ASEAN) are examples of “regional IGOs”
4. Many are based on common interests: example is OPEC—includes such oil producing and exporting states as Indonesia, Nigeria, S Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, and Venezuela
D. IGO Authority
1. Generally they have little independent authority = primarily vehicles for the diplomacy of the member-states
2. Countries of course try to build a coalition of countries w/n the particular IGO in order to garner enuf votes to have it pursue a particular policy
3. Iraq and USA have been vying w/n UN to loosen or retain the UN sanctions imposed on Iraq following the Gulf War
4. Some believe however, that the authority of IGOs is growing to the point that they are exercising authority in their own right
5. example1: WTO has ability to review the laws and policies of all member states to ensure they meet the standards agreed to in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which the WTO adminsters
6. the EU has evolved further than any other IGO toward “supranational authority” (= orgs whose authority supercedes sovereignty of individual members)
a. EU = hi degree of econ integration, including common currency (Euro)
b. EU created a quasi-govt w/limited decision-making authority
c. many Europeans even favor development of EU as a true federal European govt
d. Germany’s chancellor recently said: “we favor the pol unification of Europe”
III. Regional IGOs: Focus on the European Union
A. Prior to WWII, there were NO prominent regional IGOs--Now there are many, including the OAS, OAU, Arab Coop Council, ASEAN and many others
1. Probably the most prominent regional IGO however, is the EU: 15 members, combined GNP = $7T, 6.4% of world’s population, 40% total global trade—according to The Economist, the EU the largest, richest single consumer in world (its total GDP&Pop exceed those of NAFTA); BUT…b/n 1995-2000 US growing at 4.1% avg, EU 2.1%; US unemployment = 4%, EU Unemployment = 9%; huge disparity in GDP p/cap b/n some EU countriesàLuxembourg = $33,700 vs Greece = $13,000…)
Let’s take a closer look
a. Former President of EU Commission (1995-99), Jacques Santer said it best a few months ago about the EU: “there will be no such thing as ‘in countries’ and ‘out countries’; rather there will be ‘ins’ and ‘pre-ins’”
b. W/n 10-20 years, perhaps ALL of Europe may well be “ins”
a. By 1968, ALL tariffs on manufactured goods were eliminated and a common external tariff was set
b. EC also began to bargain w/other countries in trade negotiations
c. EC funded thru a VAT (similar to a sales tax---EU gets a share of each member’s VAT) AND ALL customs duties collected on imports from non-European countries
a. over the last 30 years the integration process in Europe focused on economics. Since 1993, the focus has also been on politics
b. In 1993, the Maastricht Treaty went into effect. There are economic AND political aspects to the treaty
IV. Global INGOs—The Basics
A. Definition
1. INGO (K&W, p202): “[International Non-governmental Organizations] are organizations of private citizens joined together to work toward common goals; they include professional associations, foundations, multinational corporations, or internationally active groups in different states[/countries]”
2. INGO (Rourke, p55): “are organizations that operate internationally, but whose membership, unlike IGOs, is private.”
3. Commonality: institutions whose members are private, NOT states
Facts about INGOs
International Terrorism
A. Definitions
1. Terrorism (K&W, p222): “criminal acts and threats against a targeted actor for the purpose of arousing fear in order to get the target to accept the terrorists’ demands”
2. International Organized Crime (K&W, p222): “organized crime syndicates that use technology to cooperatively network with each other throughout the world”
3. State Sponsored Terrorism (K&W, p225): “formal assistance, training, and arming of foreign terrorists by a state to achieve foreign policy goals”
B. Activities
1. As the K&W text suggests, terrorist groups are another kind of INGO whose activities “exacerbate intl tensions and undermine the state’s authority and power”
2. They are sort of difficult to identity and track b/c they do their work covertly but terrorism is usually about achieving political goals thru the use of violent, bloody means
3. As the K&W text explains, they seek to “extract revenge against those states and majority populations that the terrorist groups perceive as oppressors”
4. In other words, thru the use of fear and violence they seek “the political freedom, privilege, and property they think persecution has denied them”
5. They resort to violence b/c they cannot attain such ends thru the use of regular politics—it has been described thusly as the “weapon of the weak”
Intl Organized Crime (IOC) is another interesting aspect of this topic—as K&W explain, ironically (one of the bad aspects of globalization) our “borderless”, globalized world makes it easier for intl organized criminal syndicates to use technology to expand their operations and their profits, much to the chagrin of many helpless politicians around the world
A. IOC is such a problem that former Un Sec General Boutras Boutras Ghali has described its growth as an “empire of criminals”
1. Criminal Activities: slavery (in Sudan, Brazil, Russia), weapons trafficking, human organs trafficking, toxic waste trafficking, illegal drug running, nuclear materials trafficking, global gambling and prostitution rings, etc
2. The Economist (Aug, 2003) says profits from this IOC activity approaches “$500B to $1.5T (5% gross world product) yearly”
a. A final, but NON-INGO aspect to intl terrorism is the idea of state-sponsored terrorism which is still a major intl problem
b. Most experts for example believe that Syria, Iraq, and Libya were all involved in helping the terrorists who were involved in blowing up the PanAm plane that went down in 1988 over Lockerbie, Scotland and that Iran and Syria continue to fund, support, and train such terrorist groups as the HAMAS, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad groups
Multi-National Corporations (MNCs)
A. Definition: MNC (K&W, p226): “private businesses headquartered in one state that invest and operate extensively in other states”
B. Size and Scope
1. MNCs economic power gives them a substantial role in intl affairs
2. MNC Size: According to the UN, 53,000 and 450,000 foreign affiliates w/global assets in the $13T range and global sales (2000) of more than $9.5T---accounts for more than 1/5 global economic growth and 1/3 of global exports
3. According to the Economist, the top 100 MNCs own about $2T of assets outside their home countries, employ more than 73M people
a. Nike, for ex employs about 9000 people on its core staff, but subcontracts about 75,000 more jobs in the developing areas (China and India esp)
b. Reality: Their size and scope gives them leverage and power.
c. MNCs make decisions over which ntl politicians have little control—they are after market share and profit usually regardless of the costs to the home country…allegiance is to the stockholders and board of directors, not necessarily to workers and politicians back home
d. Outsourcing has been an MNC reality for decades: that is, MNCs ship production (outsource) production from industrially advanced home countries to industrially backward countries b/c labor is cheap, environmental laws are nonexistent, and unions are weak or nonexistent
e. This often causes unemployment or a weakening of labor’s position back home, but so be it…the game is about market share and profit…