OBJECTIVES

1. Understand the structure and dynamics of the Interstate

system;
2. Explain the challenges of global governance in the
twenty-first century;
3. Identify possible solutions to the problems in the United
Nations structure and dynamics.
Global Interstate System
It is the whole system of human interactions. The modern
world system is structured politically as an interstate
system- a system of competing and allying states. Political
scientists commonly call this the international system and
this is the focal point of the field of international relations.
• World- Systems are defined by the existence of a division
of labor. The modern-world system has a multi-state
political structure ( the interstate system) and therefore its
division labor is international division of labor.

• The division of labor is consists of three zones according to

the prevalence of profitable industries or activities: core,
semi-periphery, and periphery.
Global Governance
Global Governance is sometimes referred to as “world
governance.” Global is a movement towards political cooperation
among transnational actors, negotiating responses to problems
that affect more than one state or region. “Global Governance
may mean the process of designating laws, rules, or regulations
intended for a global scale.
• United Nations as the primary venue and
formal arrangement for global governance
involving states and non-state actors.
• In sum, global governance is defined as
“the formal and informal arrangements
that produce a degree of order and
collective action above the state in the
absence of a global government,” that
involve coordination among state and non-
state actors (Young, 1999).
• However, governance in an anarchic setting
has been challenged by the self-interest of
major states and has exposed the
limitations.
 THE UNITED NATIONS
• The United Nations (UN) serve as the
primary organization for international
cooperation, peace, and security.
• It is the only international organization
that can authorize the use of force against
an aggressor.
• Its primary concern is collective military
security through the facilitation of
peaceful settlement of disputes among
member-state or by[commanding
allegiance of the entire UN membership;
sanctions].
• Primary Objective: to ensure peace and
order.
• The UN as an organization can be conflict
actor in itself or an instrument for action
driven by the interests of particular states.
• It must be emphasized that “UN is a
membership-directed organization and the
members are all states. This strongly affects
what it can do” (Wallensteen, 2012).
• The UN Charter established six principal
organs in 1945. These organs are Economic
and Social Economic, Trusteeship Council,
and the International Court of Justice,
General Assembly, Security Council, and
the Secretariat.
The Economic and Social Council
• Primary Objective: is to advance the
economic, social and environmental
dimensions of sustainable development.
• It serves as a gateway of the UN
partnership with the rest of the world for
the coordination, policy review, dialogue,
recommendations, and implementation of
international development goals.
• The organ is composed of 54 elected
members by the General Assembly for
overlapping three-year terms.
www.un.org>ecosoc>content>m...
• The IMF and WB are specialized
agencies and independent organizations
that are affiliated with UN.
• UN has little authority over these
institutions, and a significant reason to
this is that they do not seek for UN funds
(Cohn, 2011).
• Developed countries channel funding to
these institutions because of the weighted
voting system of the IMF and WB,
contrary to the one-nation, one-vote
system found in the UN (Cohn, 2011).
Trusteeship Council
The Trusteeship Council was established as a
main organ of the UN
• to provide international supervision of Trust
Territories that are under the administration of
seven member-states.
• To ensure that adequate steps are being made
to prepare the peoples of Trust Territories for
self-governance.
• All 11 Trust Territories achieved independence
in 1994.
• The council’s operation was suspended and will
meet whenever an occasion necessitates it.

https://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/United-
Nations/Independence-of-Colonial-Peoples-
TRUST-TERRITORIES.html
The International Court of Justice
• This is the UN’s principal judicial
organ.
• Its role is to settle legal disputes
between states ( contentious cases)
• To provide advisory opinions on legal
questions referred by the UN organs
and specialized agencies, in
accordance to international law
(International Court of Justice, 2018).
Example of Contentious cases
• Appeal Relating to the Jurisdiction of the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) Council under Article 84 of the Convention on
International Civil Aviation (Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and United
Arab Emirates v. Qatar) 2018-2020

• Appeal Relating to the Jurisdiction of the International Civil Aviation

Organization ( ICAO) Council under Article II, Section 2, of the 1944
International Air Services Transit Agreement (Bahrain, Egypt and United
Arab Emirates v. Qatar) 2018-2020

• https://www.icj-cij.org/en/list-of-all-cases
The Security Council

• Is the most potent organ with the

power to make legally binding
resolutions.
• It is comprised of the strongest
military states and is a concrete
manifestation of the reality of power
dynamics.
• The council is composed of 15
members, among them would be the
five states which are granted
permanent seats by the UN Charter.
 The Five Permanent members known as the
Permanent Five or P-5
• China
• France
• Great Britain
• Russia
• United States
all of which are allies in the
Second World War and are nuclear
states.
• The remaining seats are for the ten elected • PERMANENT AND NON-
non-permanent members (NPM) elected PERMANENT MEMBERS
by the General Assembly (GA) for
overlapping two-year terms. • The Council is composed of 15
• The ten non-permanent seats are divided Members:
among regions: • Five permanent members: China,
• Five states from African and Asian France, Russian Federation, the
states. United Kingdom, and the United
• One seat from the Eastern European States, and ten non-permanent
States members elected for two-year terms
• Two states from Latin American states by the General Assembly (with end
and
of term year):
• Last two from Western European and
• Albania Gabon Malta United Arab Emirates
other States (UNGA Resolution 1991
• Brazil Ghana Mozambique
of 17 December 1963).
• Ecuador Japan Switzerland
• To maintain peace and order, the SC
adopts a s et of instruments such as
sanctions, peacekeeping, and peace
enforcement.
• Sanctions can take in forms of non-
military measures of economic, trade or
diplomatic sanctions, and targeted
measures on groups or particular
individuals such as travel bans, financial
and diplomatic restrictions.
• These are enforcement tools applied
when diplomatic relations have been
fruitless, and the threat to international
security persists, and if deemed
inadequate, military sanctions may be
taken.
• Aside from sanctions, peacekeeping
is also a useful tool employed by
the UN to assist host countries
struggling from armed conflict.
• UN peacekeepers are deployed to
provide security to populations and
political and peacebuilding support
to countries transition from conflict
to peace.
• The current state of UN
peacekeeping is marred with
concerns over the legitimacy of the
military interventions.
• More than one million men and women have
served under the UN flag since 1948. UN
Peacekeepers can be military, police and
civilians. Tragically, more than 3,500 have
lost their lives in the cause of peace.
• Peacekeepers are civilian, military and police
personnel all working together. The roles and
responsibilities of peacekeepers are evolving
as peacekeeping mandates become more
complex and multidimensional. Peacekeeping
operations have developed from simply
monitoring ceasefires to protecting civilians,
disarming ex-combatants, protecting human
rights, promoting the rule of law, supporting
free and fair elections, minimizing the risk of
land-mines and much more.
 The General Assembly
• Is the only UN organ with universal
representation, with all 193 member states
represented in the body.
• The GA decides on essential questions
with a simple majority.
• Concerns related to peace and security,
budgetary matters, and new membership
admissions require a two-thirds majority.
• Yearly, the GA meets for the annual
General Assembly Session and general
debate participated by several heads of
state.
• The assembly may discuss questions
relating to international peace and
security, it can only make
recommendations when a dispute is
already being discussed by the SC.
• In reality, the SC remains to be the
primary decision-maker of the UN in all
matters of international peace and
security.
• Collective action in times of crises may
be coursed through the Security Council
and the General Assembly, as well as the
Office of the Secretary-General.
• The Secretary-General is the chief
administrative officer of the United
nations Secretariat
Antonio Guterres

https://www.amun.org/specialized-agencies/
Members of the United Nations
Assigned Topics:
Group 1- How UN addressed the Covid-19 Pandemic
Group 2- Look for Issues/Articles handled by the Security Council
1. Who are directly affected?
2. What is the impact of the global issue to the economy.
Group 3- Look for Issues/Articles by the General assembly
1. Who are directly affected?
2. What is the impact of the global issue to the economy.
Group 4- Look for Issues/Article handled by the Economic and Social Council
1. Who are directly affected?
2. What is the impact of the global issue to the economy
Group 5- Research about Reforming the United Nations