The United Nations and Contemporary Global Governance
The United Nations and Contemporary Global Governance
The United Nations and Contemporary Global Governance
There are many sources of global governance. States sign treaties and form organizations in the
process legislating public international law. International non- governmental organizations (NGOs )
though not having formal state power , can lobby individual state to behave in a certain way. Powerful
transnational corporations can likewise have tremendous effects on global labor laws, environmental
legislation, trade policy and many more. Even ideas such as the need for “global democracy” or the
clamor for “good governance “ can influence the ways international actors behave.
Groups like UN or institutions like the IMF and the World Bank are usually called as International
Organization. In 1960’s and 19970’s, many scholars believed that IOs were just venues where the
contradicting, but sometimes intersecting, agendas of countries were discussed. However in the recent
years, IOs showed that this IOs can take on lives of their own. IOs thus become influential as
independent organizations. IOs can also be sources of great good and great harm. The most visible
symbols of global governance.
Powers of IOs
Power of classification -----because they can invent and apply categories, they create powerful
global standards.
Power to fix meanings-------- legitimate sources of information
Power to diffuse norms
All member states ( 193) have seats in the GA. Carlos Romulo was elected GA president from 1949 –
1950. GA is the most representative organization in the UN.
5. The Secratariat
Consists of Secretary- General and tens of thousands of International UN staff members
Day to day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly
They serve as UN employees and not as state representative.