1. Rise of international organization

The earliest embryonic international organizations were created after the Napoleonic Wars. These included the Congress of Vienna (1814-15), which established the Concert of Europe which continued until WWI. The number and membership of such organizations gradually increased during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, 49 of them being in existence in 1914. Following the end of WWI, just as after the Napoleonic Wars, there was a surge in new international organizations. By 1929 and the onset of the world economic crisis, their number had reached an inter-war peak of 83. The end of WWII marked a new boom, with the number of international organizations soaring to 123 by 1949, with new organizations including the United Nations and the institutions of the Bretton Woods system. This reflected not only an awareness of growing interdependencies amongst states, linked to concerns over power politics, economic crises, human rights violations, developmental disparities and environmental degradation, but also the emerg¬ing hegemonic role of the USA, which saw the pursuit of US national interests and the promotion of international cooperation as mutually sustaining goals. By the mid-1980s, the total number of international organizations had reached 378, with the average membership per organization standing at over 40 (compared with 18.6 in 1945 and 22.7 in 1964). Although their number subsequently declined, largely due to the dissolution of Soviet bloc organizations at the end of the Cold War, this masks a substantial growth in international agencies and other institutions, as the number of bodies spawned by international organiza¬tions themselves has continued to grow. However, international organizations take a wide variety of forms. The most common bases for categorizing interna¬tional organizations are the following:

• Membership - whether they have a restricted or universal membership.

• Competence - whether their responsibilities are issue-specific or compre-hensive.

• Function - whether they are programme organizations or operational organizations.

• Decision-making authority - whether they are examples of intergovernmentalism or supranationalism.

The significance of the phenomenon of international organization has never¬theless been hotly disputed. For instance, while some see international organiza¬tions as little more than mechanisms for pursuing traditional power politics by other means, others claim (or warn) that they contain the seeds of supranational or world government. The relationship between international organ¬ization and global governance has also been the subject of debate. Although the rise of international organization is sometimes seen as evidence of the emergence of a global governance system, global governance is a wider and more extensive phenomenon than international organization. In particular, global governance encompasses a range of informal as well as formal processes and also involves a wider array of actors, including national governments, non-governmental organizations, citizens’ movements, transnational corporations (TNCs) and global markets. Nevertheless, international organizations are often a key, if not the key element in global governance arrangements, in that the process of cooperative problem-solving that lies at the heart of global governance is usually facilitated by international organizations. In that sense, international organizations are the vital formal or institutional face of global governance.

2. THE ORIGINS OF IGOs

IGOs are primarily a modern phenomenon. Nearly all of them were created in the last 50 years or so. Yet the origins of IGOs extend far back in history to three main sources.

Belief in a Community of Humankind

The origins of IGOs are rooted in part in a universalistic concept of humankind that extends back to 300 B.C. and the Stoics, as discussed in chapter 7. Philosophers such as William Penn (1644-1718) and Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) argued that the way to create a community of humankind was through general international organizations. The first example of an IGO based on this goal was The Hague system, named for the 1899 and 1907 peace conferences held at that city in the Netherlands. The 1907 conference was more comprehensive, with 44 European, North American, and Latin American states participating. Organizationally, the Hague system included a rudimentary general assembly and a judicial system. The conferences also adopted a series of standards to limit the conduct of war.

The next step on the path was the creation of the League of Nations after World War I. The League had a more developed organizational structure than that of the Hague system. It was intended mainly as a peacekeeping organization, although it did have some elements aimed at social and economic cooperation. Unfortunately, the League could not survive the turbulent post-World War era that included the Great Depression and the rise of militant fascism. After only two decades of frustrated existence, the League died in the rubble of World War II.

The United Nations (UN) is the latest, and most advanced, developmental stage of universal concern with the human condition. Like the League of Nations, the UN was established mainly to maintain peace. Nevertheless, it has increasingly become involved in a broad range of issues that encompasses almost all the world’s concerns. In addition, the UN and its predecessor, the League, represent the coming together of all the root systems of international organizations. They are more properly seen as the emergent saplings of extensive cooperation and integration.

Big-Power Peacekeeping

IGOs also evolved from the idea that powerful countries have a special responsibility to cooperate and preserve peace. Hugo Grotius, the "father of international law," suggested as early as 1625 in his classic On the Law of War and Peace that the major Christian powers cooperate to mediate or arbitrate the disputes of others or even, if required, to compel warring parties to accept an equitable peace.

This idea first took on substance with the Concert of Europe. This informal coa¬lition of the major European powers and the following balance-of-(big)-power diplomacy managed generally to keep the peace for the century between the fall of Napoleon in 1815 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

The philosophy of big-power responsibility (and authority) carried over to the Council of the League of Nations. It had authority to deal "with any matter within the sphere of activity of the League or affecting the peace of the world." Significantly, five of the nine seats on the council were permanently assigned to the principal victors of World War I. The council was thus a continuation of the Concert of Europe concept.

When the United Nations succeeded the League of Nations, the special status and responsibilities of the big powers in the League were transferred to the UN Security Council (UNSC). Like the Council in the League, the UNSC is the main peacekeeping organ and includes permanent membership for five major powers (China, France, Great Britain, Russia, and the United States), an arrangement that is a conceptual descendant of the Concert of Europe.

Pragmatic Cooperation

Sheer necessity has also driven the evolution of IGOs. An increasingly complex and intertwined world has necessitated the creation of specialized agencies to deal with specific economic and social problems. The six-member Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine, established in 1815, is the oldest surviving 1GO, and the International Telegraphic (now Telecommunications) Union (1865) is the oldest surviving IGO with global membership. As detailed below, the growth of specialized IGOs and NGOs has been phenomenal. This aspect of international activity is also reflected in the UN through the 20 specialized agencies associated with the world body.