- •Focus on world politics
- •«Focus on World Politics»
- •2. What is global politics?
- •Increased interdependence and interconnectedness
- •5. Globalisation and its implications
- •2. Economic nationalism
- •3. Economic internationalism
- •2. The international and internal
- •2. The changing nature of world power
- •3. Post-cold war global order.
- •4. A multipolar global order. The rise of multipolarity
- •2. From ‘old’ wars to ‘new’ wars
- •3. Justifying war
- •2. Arms control and anti-proliferation strategies
- •2. Rise of new terrorism
- •3. Countering terrorism
- •1. The nature of human rights
- •3. Implications of human rights for global politics
- •4. Protecting human rights
- •5. Rise of humanitarian intervention
- •6. Humanitarian intervention and the ‘new world order’
- •1. Rise of international organization
- •3. The growth of igOs
- •4. Reasons for growth
- •1. The origins and evolution of the european union
- •2. The government of europe: a prototype
- •3. The future of the eu
- •In addition to its nearly universal membership, the United Nations is also a multipurpose organization. As Article 1 of the United Nations Charter states, its objectives are to:
- •1. From the league to the un
- •2. How does the un work
- •3. Future of the un: challenges and reform
- •2. The world bank
- •3. The world trade organization
- •1. Regionalism and its main forms
- •2. Regionalism and globalisation
- •3. Regional integration outside europe
- •2. The diplomatic setting
- •3. Modern diplomacy
3. The growth of igOs
The twentieth century saw rapid growth in the number of all types of IGOs. Just in terms of sheer quantity, the number of well-established IGOs increased sevenfold from 37 in 1909 to 251 in 2000, according to the Union of International Associations. Indeed, about one-third of all major IGOs in 2000 were younger than the average American, whose age in 2000 was 35.
Even more important than the quantitative growth of IGOs is the expanding roles that they play. More and more common governmental functions are being dealt with by IGOs. Indeed, there are now few if any major political issues that are not addressed at the international level by one or more IGOs. In some cases, existing IGOs take up new roles. Just as the U.S. government and other national governments have assumed new areas of responsibility over the years as problems arose, so has the United Nations moved to create units to deal with terrorism, biological warfare, environmental degradation, and a range of issues that were not part of the UN’s realm when it was founded.
At other times, new areas of global concern are dealt with by creating new IGOs. For example, the development of satellites and the ability to communicate through them and the need to coordinate this capability led to the establishment of the International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMMARSAT) in 1979.
Theories of IGO Growth
A first step in analyzing the growth in the number of IGOs and the expansion of their roles is to look at two ideas about how IGOs do and should develop. These two schools of thought are functionalism and neofunctionalism.
Functionalism
The term functionalism presents the idea that the way to global cooperation is through a “bottom-up” evolutionary approach that begins with limited, pragmatic cooperation on narrow, nonpolitical issues. One such issue was how to deliver the mail internationally. To solve that problem, countries cooperated to found the Universal Postal Union in 1874. Each such instance of cooperation serves as a building block to achieve broader cooperation on more and more politically sensitive issues.
Functionalists support their view about how global cooperation has been and is being achieved by pointing to hundreds, even thousands, of IGOs, multilateral treaties, NGOs, and other vehicles that have been pragmatically put in place to deal with specific international concerns. Functionalists further hold that by cooperating in specific, usually nonpolitical areas, countries and people can learn to trust one another. This, in turn, will lead to ever broader and ever higher levels of cooperation on the path to comprehensive cooperation or even global government.
Neofunctionalism
The “top-down” approach to solving world problems is called neofunctionalism. Its advocates are skeptical about the functionalist belief that non-political cooperation can, by itself, lead eventually to full political cooperation and to the elimination of international conflict and self-interested state action. Neofunctionalists also worry that the functionalists’ evolutionary, approach will not move quickly enough to head off many of the world’s looming problems. Therefore, neo-functionalists argue for immediately establishing IGOs and giving them enough independence and resources so that they can address political issues with an eye to fostering even greater cooperation.