International Organisations - NCERT

1 OVERVIEWIn this chapter we shall discussthe role of internationalorganisations after the collapse ofthe Soviet Union. We shallexamine how, in this emergingworld, there were calls for therestructuring of internationalorganisations to cope with variousnew challenges including the riseof US power. The potential reformof the United Nations SecurityCouncil is an interesting case ofthe reform process and itsdifficulties. We then turn to India sinvolvement in the UN and its viewof Security Council reforms. Thechapter closes by asking if the UNcan play any role in dealing witha world dominated by onesuperpower. In this chapter wealso look at some other trans-national Organisations that areplaying a crucial 6 International OrganisationsThis is the United Nations logo.

2 The emblem has a world mapwith olive branches around it, signifying world : world Politics82 WHY INTERNATIONALORGANISATIONS?Read the two cartoons on thispage. Both the cartoons commenton the ineffectiveness of theUnited Nations Organisation,usually referred to as the UN, inthe Lebanon crisis in 2006. Boththe cartoons represent the kind ofopinions that we often hear aboutthe the other hand, we alsofind that the UN is generallyregarded as the most importantinternational organisation intoday s world . In the eyes of manypeople all over the world , it isindispensable and represents thegreat hope of humanity for peaceand progress.

3 Why do we thenneed Organisations like the UN?Let us hear two insiders: The United Nations was notcreated to take humanity toheaven, but to save it from hell. Dag Hammarskjold, the UN ssecond Secretary-General. Talking shop? Yes, there area lot of speeches and meetings atthe , especially during theannual sessions of the GeneralAssembly. But as Churchill put it,jaw-jaw is better than t it better to have one placewhere countries in the worldcan get together, bore each othersometimes with their words ratherthan bore holes into each other onthe battlefield? Shashi Tharoor,the former UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications andPublic two quotes suggestsomething important.

4 Internationalorganisations are not the answerto everything, but they areimportant. International organi-sations help with matters of warand peace. They also helpcountries cooperate to makebetter living conditions for us have conflicts anddifferences with each other. Thatdoes not necessarily mean theymust go to war to deal with theirThat s what they sayabout theparliament too a talking shop. Doesit mean that weneed talking shops?During June 2006, Israel attacked Lebanon, saying that it was necessary to control the militant group called numbers of civilians were killed and many public buildings and even residential areas came under Israelibombardment.

5 The UN passed a resolution on this only in August and the Israel army withdrew from the region only inOctober. Both these cartoons comment on the role of the UN and its Secretary-General in this episode. Harry Harrison, Cagle Cartoons Inc. Petar Pismestrovic, Cagle Cartoons Organisations83antagonisms. They can, instead,discuss contentious issues andfind peaceful solutions; indeed,even though this is rarely noticed,most conflicts and differences areresolved without going to war. Therole of an internationalorganisation can be important inthis context. An internationalorganisation is not a super-statewith authority over its is created by and responds tostates.

6 It comes into being whenstates agree to its creation. Oncecreated, it can help member statesresolve their problems Organisations arehelpful in another way. Nationscan usually see that there are somethings they must do are issues that are sochallenging that they can only bedealt with when everyone workstogether. Disease is an diseases can only beeradicated if everyone in the worldcooperates in inoculating orvaccinating their populations. Ortake global warming andits effects. As temperatures risebecause of the increase ingreenhouse gases in theatmosphere, there is a danger thatsea levels will also rise, therebysubmerging many coastal areas ofthe world including huge cities.

7 Ofcourse, each country can try tofind its own solution to the effectsof global warming. But in the enda more effective approach is to stopthe warming itself. This requires atleast all of the major industrialpowers to , recognising theneed for cooperation and actuallycooperating are two differentthings. Nations can recognise theneed to cooperate but cannotalways agree on how best to do so,how to share the costs ofcooperating, how to make surethat the benefits of cooperating arejustly divided, and how to ensurethat others do not break their endof the bargain and cheat on anagreement. An internationalorganisation can help produceinformation and ideas about howto cooperate.

8 It can providemechanisms, rules and abureaucracy, to help members havemore confidence that costs will beshared properly, that the benefitsMake a list of issues orproblems (other than theones mentioned in thetext) that cannot behandled by any onecountry and require aninternational International Monetary Fund(IMF) is an International organ-isation that oversees thosefinancial institutions and regula-tions that act at the internationallevel. The IMF has 189 membercountries (as on 12 April 2016) but they do notenjoy an equal say. The G-7 membersUS ( ), Japan ( ), Germany ( ),France ( ), UK ( ), Italy ( ) andCanada ( ) have of the ( ), India ( ), Russia ( )Brazil ( ) and Saudi Arabia ( ) are theother major world Politics84will be fairly divided, and that oncea member joins an agreement itwill honour the terms andconditions of the the end of the Cold War,we can see that the UN may havea slightly different role.

9 As theUnited states and its alliesemerged victorious, there wasconcern amongst manygovernments and peoples that theWestern countries led by the USwould be so powerful that therewould be no check against theirwishes and desires. Can the UNserve to promote dialogue anddiscussion with the US inparticular, and could it limit thepower of the Americangovernment? We shall try toanswer this question at the end ofthe OF THE UNThe First world War encouragedthe world to invest in aninternational organisation to dealwith conflict. Many believed thatsuch an organisation would helpthe world to avoid war. As a result,the League of Nations was , despite its initialsuccess, it could not prevent theSecond world War (1939-45).

10 Many more people died and werewounded in this war than UN was founded as asuccessor to the League ofNations. It was established in1945 immediately after the1941 August: Signing of the Atlantic Charter by the US PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt and British PM Winston S. Churchill1942 January: 26 Allied nations fighting against the AxisPowers meet in Washington, , to support the AtlanticCharter and sign the Declaration by United Nations 1943 December: Tehran Conference Declaration of theThree Powers (US, Britain and Soviet Union)1945 February: Yalta Conference of the Big Three (Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin) decides to organise a UnitedNations conference on the proposed world organisationApril-May: The 2-month long United Nations Conference onInternational Organisation at San Francisco1945 June 26: Signing of the UN Charter by 50 nations(Poland signed on October 15.)