global governance and the un- an unfinished journey yazar- thomas george weiss-ramesh chandra thakur

8/6/2019 Global Governance and the UN- An Unfinished Journey Yazar- Thomas George Weiss-Ramesh Chandra Thakur

1/46

a n ' t l h e . U N . A . , . . n . , - u n ' . I . . n i s h ,8dI I . , . J O l u r n e y


2/46

Ind l en a Un i. ,r er si ry Press601 N orth Morton Street

B~'oo;mingron. IN 47404-379t IJSA.

TdcrhO'~le orilers 800-842-6796~Qmm 8]2-855-7931

Or&~j :S ~y~-rIli!'!iliYPQrd!t:r@imliama,ecly 2010 by The United Nations Intellectnal History Pl'Oject

A.Ur.:ighnreser'\ld

CIG.IUNIHP

No p~r~ of~hi;s book. may be, Ile!pooduced or uti]iz:edun any foreu or by iIlnrymealls,electroaic or me.chafliea~,tndllJ.jng pltotoeopying: and. reeQl'ci~n,g,Ctby


3/46

C O N ilE N ITS

list of Boxes" Tables, and Figillr'!:.sSerie s Editors' Foreword,

Louis Emme~'lj,RfchartljoUy, andTh o m , ( l . s G.WdS$

Forewordj ( J h : u c Gerard R~ggie

Acknow le dgmentsList 0f Albbreviarions

ix

xv

xxm

IN IRODUC' l ' I IO~ The P ro hlen lariq ]u e OF Glohal Governance11 Traci]n,g(he Orig~ns of an ]dea and the

UN's Contribution 23

IP AR T1 .' ~nt rnat ionel S'@CIU If~ty2 The Use of Porce: W " a T , . Collective Securi(y,.

and Peace Operations: 553 Arms Control and. Disarmament 904, Terrorism 1.2:.8

5 . Trad e, Aid, and Finance 1556 Susaainable Development 1'997 Savi:ng the EnVlironN!:lenl::The Ozone LayeF

and Chmare Change 227

PAIR1r3. H uman R i i ' g h m s8 Gene rations of Rights9 Protecting against Pandemics10 The Responsibility to Protect

2592863 . 0 . 8


4/46

VI C O N T E N T S

NotesIndexAbout the AuthorsAbout the United Natiuns Intellectual

History Project

341391417


5/46

BOXES , TAl8l IES, AND GRAPH S

Box 2,!, The Difficulty of Reaching Consensus about th.eNature, Causes, and Consequences of M.ajor]1n:ern


6/46


7/46

We begall rhe Untted Nanons Iurellecrual Hisrory Project (UN[HP) tenyears ago to f l U . a surprisangand serious omissaon, the lack of


8/46

x S E R J E S E D I T O R 'S ' F O R E W O R Dthe Secretary-General when the project was launched, and. of many UNstaff. Generous financiel suppon from five foundations and eight gavem-ments has ensuredtotal intellectual and financial Independence, Details'Ofthe project canhe found on ourWe,b site: wwwUNhistory,org,

The work of the UN can be divided into tWD broad. categoriea: eco-nomic and social development, OR the one hand, and. peace and security,on the other. Though UN[HP started by focusing on the former, thepro]-ect grew to encompassthree volumes in the areas of peace and security.A U the volum es have been or are being published in. < l! series by Indi3!.1J;3JUniversityPress, lnadditicn, the project has completed an oral historycollection of seventy-nine interviews of persons who have p layed majorroles in launching and nurturing UN iJ.e~.5-and sometimes in.hinderingthe rnl Extracts from. these interviews were published in 2:{J (lsas UN V oic eS '~The Strugg le for Develop mei~ t and Soda,! j' lolstke. l Authors of the proj ect' svarious volumes, inrhiding this one, have drawn on these interviews tohighlight substantive points made in their texts ..~ull transcripts of the ora]histories ~[e ",]80. available from the UNM-IP secretariat in ele ctronic bookform as a CD-ROM to fi!l!dHtace.work by ocher researchers and tnreresredpersons worldwide.

There isno single WOIY to organize researcb.und that is certainlytrue for such an ambitious project as this one ..This UN history has beenstructured for the most part bytopics, nUlging from trad e . an d . finance tohumanrights, f '[\CHti transnational corpotatio tiS to development assistance,from regionalperspectives to sustainabihty We have selected world-classexperts for eachtopic, and th e presentation. < - l I n c ] argument in ~~11of thevolumes is the responstbiltry of eheauthors whose names appear on thecover ..All have been given freedom and responsibility eo organise their'Own di.gging.analysis ..and presentation, Guid.


9/46

S E R I E S EDiITORS' F O R E I J V O R D X I

m on:i:wd]jLg-in she rt, for g].oba] govero;:mte. Severa] ch apters presentthe mosr (Godse. complete, and up-to-date account ofthe rnosr pressingproblems of our age ..

A.sexplained ail[ the: oueset by Thomas GWdssa:ndRamesh Thakur.the volume has been long in . the makiilg. This in paiI'tis a CO]isequenGe ofthe diifficulitLesand cnmplications of the topic, especially as seen throughthe eyes of internanonal relations scholars. 'Global governance among thisfraterntty and sorority is genera.11ydefined bya critical abseuce-vas globaUgO'vemance without globa] government, Other di:scupHnes have their ownways to avoid the hardest questions, Matl.y economists have long done it'by favoring free market sclunons=global governance without the need.forgovernment action.

The gl.ob;l!~.finand~l and economic CI'lS:lS O F .lOOS-2009-as we]]. asmany less serious previous crises=-underlirre the risks, prublems .and.enormous ecsts of a global economy without g~obangovernment-cthetis, withcuradeqnare international Institutions, democrark decision mak-:ing.and powersto enforce compltance ..Alc~]oughcounmes, especiallythe major powers, may not yet he: ready to accept theneed for some ele-ments of global government and the limitations this would impose ontheir sovereignty thelogic of interdependence and recent developmentswould seem to place g~obal governance more squarely 0]], the iruerna-donal agenda. Indeed, some of us anricipate that over future decades, a.gtadua~ advance of intergQvermne:lHal agreements and powers wUl takeplace along the lines that most countries have see n nation aH y over the lastcentury a nd . a s Burope and some other areas have seen develop regionallysince World War ]I..Elements of globalgcvernmenr willemerge,

Meanwhile. thereare g l l : i . l l things to do in a world of global g'OvematlCewi tho utglo hal govelmmen[ -and Weiss and Thakur provIde a St11Ilulatinga:nlaJysl;sof what is neede d i t l ! key areas. They avoid thecomplacency ofaccepting the status quo by taking: the reader through the acrionsthat arepossible and needed. wfi]] file gaps tn each of the main areas of the presemsystem, AUthis is in line with (he goals. of UI\HHP. which expressly (om-mitred itself to writing i 3 J . future-orienred history (hat draws conclusionsabout the ways the UN syst,em needs to he strengthened.

The need. for improvements in global govermlllc,e remains urgem ..Overthe decade of our work, countries, regions, and often the wholeworldhaveexpertencedmajor cruses, setbacks. and dffficulties that haveshown Qtl1y too clearly the weaknesses of the international system as


10/46

Xii S E R J E S E D I T O R 'S ' F O R E W O R D

i I I : functionsat present. These inadequacies have produced war and COJiJ .~met, weapons of mass deserucnon, narural andhuman disasters, andimcrnational economic and financial Instabilities AU of these have hadconsequences that have spread f~.r lbeyo:~.d nationaliboniers and have haddisastrous effects on globa.l instability and human ptogfiess. OiLI.iI'itojeCIrhasidentified a number of global prcblems=-climate change, growingeconomic mequality economic and financial instability; and the risks ofnuclear destruction, among other problems-which C


11/46

S E R I E S EDiITORS' F O R E I J V O R D xiii

We hope that readiers wiln. enjoy this account, at: once a Journeythrough rime and an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of today'sail:ttillpil:Sto tackle m~ny of the priority issues on the global agenda, Asalways, we welcome comments f["'0111 our readers.

LOU]S ~MMERURICHARD JOLLYTHOMAS G.WE]SSNew Y o r k.D~Df 'mbet 2 , o O B


12/46


13/46

I F0 R J E : W O R I D !

Globa~ governance is generally defined as an iI1S~~U1Ceof governaace inthe absence 'of g'Overnm,e:nt. There is no gove~rnfi1l.ellliat the globallevel:the UN General Assembly isnot a world parli ...menr, and Ban.Ki-moon isnot the world's president, But there is governance=of sons. Moreover, asThomas G,Wdss and Rarnesh Thakur indicate, today's desire ro improvethe; func~ionung of g[obal g9ve;rnance haslittle to do with wanting tOCFe-ate awor ld gover:[[[['len 1 I-dlongh right-wing bloggersa.nd. somep o]iti-dans still try to mobilize their base by fulminating that it cines.

Gov t :! .'t lauce is not the sam e as politlcs, although they are closelyrelated. Pundamentally politics isabout competition in the pursuit ofparticular interests, whereas governance is about producing public goods,This is as true inrernatmnelly as dernesricallj; although the domain of,gavot;[tlan.ceapart from. politics at the international level is fE'


14/46

X V i ,FOREWORD

The modem Westpha]i;were also the s 1 d : , b j e c t s of the decisionsthey made: the rules applied. to theman d , o nly thro ug h 1J1em to other actors, such as Indrviduals, companies ,or armed factions, And states were the e 1 VC T C t : T ; S of the r u l e s they made->-when. th.ey felt Hke (and were capable of) enforcing them ..

Second, in terms of its ~Jlatialc oIlfi.gUl]['o;ID:i.O]]',. this traditional world sawl!1:seJfas comprising territorially distinct and separate economic and politi-cal units that were engaged. in e - x u r n a J traneacrions, The role of whatevergovernarloe arrangements states created was to reduce fricttonsresulringfrom those external transactions, largely by helping to manage thematthe point of emf)' or exit between theunits.

This template was enshrined tn the. post-World War Il institutionsof global g{lVerDl~nce.In the area of peace and securuy forexarnpje,the UN Charter rested on the assumptlon that threars to smMHtywouldcome from acts of exurnal


15/46

FOREWORD xvii

s;i.gni:licamlyover the course of the past few decades-xnorby replacingseates inn by having tts boundaries strercbed to encompass novel issuesandactors, The result is a postmodern and nonterritorial overlay on themodem system of gl.obal gQVenlaRce,

A simple scan of themajor issues and actors that now have a broadlylegitimate place in gJobal govenlaFUce Indicates how far the modem SYSrtern has been stretched law "imeril1i~["and. "universal" directions simnl-taneously UN conferences since the 1970:; have addressed challenges ofthe environment, population, human ri.gh[s, women, children, socialdevelopment, human settlements, food security, racism, andHl'V IAIDS,among others" Until recently when environmental issues were addressedthey tended to be of the "upsrream/downstream" eatemalities variety.whereas dim.;3ile change, rcday'smosr pressing e:~veronmental problem,is ]:0 divisible and universal.

Proliferating human. rights instrurnems address. the most intimateof "internal" political relations, that between < 'I stateand its citizens. Inthelegal realm. there are l1J.OW more than fifty mternauonal courts, tribu-nals, and quasi-judicial bodies, Cl!lbui]n,OilJdngunthe ]ntern


16/46

X V i i l l ,FOREWORD

also participate directly in such "collaborative governance" innovationsas the Kimberley Process to combat trade in conflict diamonds and theExtractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

The universe of transnational corporations now includes roughly77,OOOfiI'rns. and some 800,000 subsidiaries and millions of suppliers and.distributors are connected through globa[ value chains, They have been,a m ajor f'O re:o r the priv atlzation and liberalization o f m a rkets, In. apro-cessthat is less visible tothe casual observer, they have also assumed apartial lnteenaricnal ]egal, personalny, aprIvHege that had been Iimitedhistorically to states and intergcvernmenral organieations, ,POFexample,under the mo re thanZ ,5 00 bilateral investment treaties in . effecr, these,firm s com take ho-st states to binding imernational arbieratio n, not o nlyfor expropnatmnwirhout adequate and . prompt compensation bur alsofot changes ]:ndomestic regulations that adversely aH'ect the investment.The only role of national (,.!OUI"t1;. in. this process is to enforce the ru.Hngsof private mternauonal arbitratio n panels,

AJong with expanded rights for transnational corporations have Gamed em and s [hac t.hey accept greater accountability. A s a rcsult.a corporatesocial responsibility movement has emerged, the instruments of whichare individual comp.my or industry LOdes of conduct, multistakeholderInitiatives, certification schemes, and Idle like, which virtually ]10 majortransnational corporarlon can avoid in somemeasure, if for no ocher rea-son than 1):Otlialiage social Flsks to its brand at business op,eratiQlis" At thesame time, growing number of suchcompaeies arefinding eommercialopportunities hi going "green" or L n'" 'bo ttom of the pyramidbasinessstrategies. These new riskand opportunity factors, illruru, can alter theself-interest calculation of companies in relation 1:.0 public policy issues atthe l1aJt]Ol1aJ] andinternational levels, as Ulllstral:ed !b y business coalitionsthat fav orc lirn ete c han ge policies, H]V/A[DS p lI'e vem : i.o nand ! treatment,the Millennium Development Goa]s, and similar social challenges,

tn sum" a postrnodern overlay on the modern territorial system ofg!.obal governance has emerged. It is characterized by an extensive traes-naticnalaaation of issues, transaction flows, and actors that cuts acrossf


17/46

FOREWORD

Arrhe same time, there is a widespread and gm)wlE'lgsense that globalgovernance is not workingwell or even poses atbreae. Here are but a fewsigns,

Elements 'Of uncivil" society have ;;IJS'o g'One transnatle nal, mo st nota-bly c[imi:t1a~networlcs and, of ceurse, terroristnetworks, Cooperation isnecessary to dean with the challenges they pose, but itis a form of mop-cration that tends to trtgger the consolidation or strengthening of stateal!lthodty in order to protect aga:i.~]:5t outside intrusion,

]1 1 0 3 ! wide ran.ge of areas from nuclear nonprohferetion to reformof the UN Security CORtI!dt everyone acknowledges that the currentarrangcmencs are deeply flawed, However, each state's desire for rela-live gains prevents the collectivity from changing them, We have not y.etlearned how to conduct global. governance effectively In accordance withaccountability to broaderpublics. In the European Union conrext, this iscalle d the "demo cratic deflcit."

Because of theasymmetries and inequaltnes thatareassocieted withg]obalizaUon, particularistic identi.typoHtics is on the rise, organizedaround religion, eth[!idty, or economic grievances,

.Atthe normative level, liberal internationalism, of which the UnitedStates has beena leacling champion, rradirionally has served as an animat-ing vision for global governance, But this source of normative capita] wasseriously eroded by the polldes of the George W Bush admtniserarion.gven dmu.gh American policy w m ch


18/46

,FOREWORD

.Never has a serious book on the United Nations and g~ObH.lgover-nance been more timely. Thomas G. Weiss and Ramesh Thakur take anadmirably comprehensiveapproach, identifying gaps with resp~c~ ro therole of dIe United. Nations in managing knowledge, d.evdopill.g norms,fDrmulati:ng:i1ecoififI1endatioIls, and. in.s:ritutiofilaJizin.g ideas ..Theirs is anempirical assessment, not a normative argument, and it is intended toimprove the functloning of this global governance mechanism. 'TakenserIously; it will do SQ,

JOHN GE.RARD RUGCIEHa r va .r d Un iv .e rsityD eumbler " '( ) O t l


19/46

ACKINOWLIE D G 1 M E IN lS

Boeh of usnorm ally write qukk1y, but . we 11(l:V eeen srrugghngwtth thisbook foroverhalf a decade ..Because "g~ob


20/46

A C K rN O W L E ID G M E N T 'S

and. came back to us'with much -neede dcntical comments, The b00k i s : afarberter producrbeca use of fb i elr unstinring and, caring professionalism,Third, we would like to express our warm thanks wan expanding corp:)'O f research assistants over several yeaTSwho respondedto requests forassistance with. good humor and efficiency: Breanne Caner, Anne-MarieSanchez, and Brodie Ross H . I I : ,ClGI inWaterloo, Ontario: and alI:he RalphBunche Instltute in New York, Nomvuyo Nolutshungu, who helped withdtatiorn.s, but most espedaUy co Annelies Kamran, who worked long andhard at the outset whelp usaccumulateenough Informattonte fonma-latea framework of analysis that is ROW reflected in these pages" Flounh,D anie lle Za.ch.Kalb acher once again applied her rem arks ble ed itorial skills;'It d1l.finishing stages, an d this boo k simply wo uld not have been as re a d -able or accurate without her cS!l',ehd attenrion to the final subnnsston.Finally; we


21/46

ABI8REV I~AT~ONS

AIDSARVE weCCDCPCCHRClA.CITESco,COP

CSDC TB TCTCCTEDCTUFeweDPK.oDRCECAECLAECOSOCECOWASRepsEPTAEDG-7

acquired immune deficiencysyndromeantiretroviralBiological Weo:.p0118ConventionCelsiusConference on Disarmamentc hlo roflu o ro c arb o nCommission OH Human RightsCentra] Intelligence Agency (US)Co nvenrion on Internanonal Trade in En dangere d . Speciescarb QIl dioxideConference of the Parties to the Climate ChangeCo nventionCommission OIl Sustaina hle DevelopmentComprehensive Test Ball TJreai :yCounrer- Terrorism CommitteeCounter- Ten 0rism Committee Executive DirectorateCounter- Terr 0rism Implementation Task ForceChemical \Veapons ConventionDepaetrneru of Pe


22/46

G-8G-ZQG-77GATTGJDPGHGGNPHDRHIVBIte[ABA[CC[CISS

[C)rene[CSU[DA[DP

[GO[LO[M F[OS[pee[TO[TU[weMeAMDGNAMNATONFWZ

ABBREVIATIONS

G[10UP of 8Group of :wGroupofnGeneral Agreement on Tariff's and Tradegross domestic productgreenh ouse gasgro sSr.u


23/46

NCONIElONPTNWSOCHAaOAOFJCF~ROPCWOp~,Cp,jppbppmPS.~.R1PSARSSAL]'STARTUNAIDSUNCEDUNCTADUNiDPUNEPUNESCOUN~CCCUNHCRUNICEF

A B B R E V I A T I I O N S

nongovernmenral otg,l:oiza tionNew Iruernarional Econemic OrderNuclear Nonproliferation Treatynuclear we apons slatesOffice for the Coordination of Humanitarian AffaLli.'sofficial development aSSLS(;3JnCeOffiee of the High Comrnissioner for' I~[uman RighrsOl"gJ!.l1!lzatiolI f : O rthe Pr.ohilb ition of Chemical We a:p on$:Org:


24/46

UPUWHO'WIDER\VIPO\VMDWMOWSSD\VTO

ABBREVIATIONS

Universal Postal UnionWorld Health Organization.World Institute for Development Economics ResearchWorld Intellectual Property Organizationwe3ipon of mass destructionWorld, Meteorologh:al Organization\Vorld, Summit eu Sustainable DeveloprneetWorld, Tr03JdeOrganization


25/46

I G l O I B A I L IiD r V I E R I N A . N C E : AN I I T i l E liN


26/46


27/46

I INTR.ODIUClI10N

.. (~~Qbal (iov@nllance: A.Sketch

.. F ive Gaps ~111 e i ; I0 ba~GC)V!l l l"rI a iiice

.. The Tsu na m lend G ilolb a I G ove rn a nee The Book

There is no governm enr for the world. Yet on ~mygiven d.ay;mailis deliv-ered a J c r O S B borders; people travel from o n e country to another via av ariety o f tra'l1S J?OE'iImodes; goods and services are:freighted across land .air; sea,


28/46

2 GLO HAL G OVER N AN CE AN D T IH E UN

again inrhe eariy199()s as wen as a crisis in long-term capital managementin 1998. Asia underwent a major financial crisis in li99i'-li99EL Now thespectacular subprime housing loans ana, banking and financial crisis thatbegan ]n the United! States in September-Octobet 2008 isUkely to con-tinue for sever aJ years. Where the Asian financial crisis proved the perilsof crony capitalism, the 2008 crisis on Wall Street shows the. pitfalls ofunbridled capitalism. Governments may be falltbla.burmarkcts roo areimperfect. Both the Asian crisis of a decade ago and the u . s . . market (0]-lapse in 2DO8 demonstra te the need. fo r effi.d.eFiit, effective., and transp arenrregulatory and surveillance instruments and institutions. The. state has anessential role to p ] ; a y . Those countries where the state has not abandonedthe market to its own supposedly self-regulating devices are seeminglybetterplaced to weather the current . c l ' U s : U s ofconfidence in C:3ipitaJUsm.Inother words, these ate crises of governance in terms of the properrole of gmremmem:s and market institutions as well as the appropriare bal-ance in.the relauonshtp between them. These are also crises of domesticgQ I;rn an ce, T he c au ses o f th e: c rises H .ein im perfe c t d om e stk govern.ance,and. the solutions email responses fromboth domesecgoveramenrs andthe market, The role of g].oba~.goverllam::e institutionsis restricted toC01]-mining the contegion ..This insight will be a recurring refrain : 1 : 1 1 1 . om story:g lo b al g :o verna]1c e canplay a f.u::i.i:l:taive and c onstrainiag role, b ut it rarelyplays a d etermln ant and pre domiu~ut role, The am.h.ority and c~p~dly forthe latter is vested almost exclusively in. domestic public authormes,

The expectations are greater for g~.obal governance on the peace andsecurity side of the: ledger, yet here 1:00 they may !be false or exagger-ated. As financial crises periodically occur, armed conflict occasionallybreaks OUt: even intbe midst of general peace and order. just in the llastdecade, we have wi tnesse d large-scale violen oe and co nHkn: in the Balkans,Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (ORC), the Horn. ofAfrica, Iraq. Afghanbi;tatli, and. GeQ!lgia.

No!: all emergencies and crises are human-made. The worldwtderesponse to the 1004 Indian Ocean tsunami=-which kUkci. lSO,OOO people-'pr'Ovi.des 1!lS with glolbaUgovemance in microcosm, an illustratlon ofhow an enormous transhorder problem is addressed in a decentraliaedwor ld ..W hil c il: ~ s trite ItO remark that there is no world . go 'Vl .': :l .nm~ ntwtake charge of tnternetlonal responses, tt 1 S less commonly understood.wh!.ysuch remarkableassistance was effectively provtded to tsunami vic-tims without a:ny central authority,


29/46

I N T R O I D ucno NOn 26 December : : W C I 4 , an earthquake that registered < J i magnitude

of 9.0 on the Richter scale occurred off the west coast of the Jndonesianisland of Sumatra. The earthquakeand the resulting tsunami spread, mind-boggling devastation across the Indian Ocean, affec:th~.grw-elvecountries,some < I i . S far away as the Hom of Africa ..Public opinion was transfixe d ]bythe image of waves swallowing islands and cities whole, crearing scenes ofapocalyptic destruction, The most frequently used adjectives to describethe tragedy were "biblical" and "nuclear,"

The glolbalize.u.ngeffect of innovaticns in transportation and . communi-cations were hi evidence, Thousands of tourists from the West and fromaroundshe region were vacationing with video cameras ill WW, Theirhomemade footage beganto appear on internationalrelevision news pro-g:r;lms and on the Irnernet, ~~]Qwfng the. scope of the disaster to becomedear" The revolution :i:ninformarionreclmology made global communi-cations instantanecus ..]it also made it possible to mobilize humanitarianassistance for rescue, relief.assistance, and reconstruction in rea] time" Inthe first week after the disaster, experts esumaredthatas many peoplewould die of disease as were kH1edby the waves themselves. In fact, he1pwas so effective that the number was close: to zero,

Why was rbe regpons.e to one of the worst natural disasters tn recentmemory as impressive

Global Governance : .A SketchAs the number of lnternarlonal actors and the. frequency andintensity

of their Interactions have growl1, the need forinsdtudonalized coopera-tion among them bas; increased. States arelikely to remainthe primary


30/46

4 GLO HAL G OVER N AN CE AN D T IH E UNactors in world afTairs for the foreseeable future, and. state sovereignty isthe bedrock principle on which their relations are based and organized.At:the same time, mternaticnal orgarnzanons help stares to (0operate inthe pursuit of shared gO .=lJsnd . manage competition and dva]ry in orderto avoid. conflict and violence. In spite of this reality, seemingly countlessthreats face the ih.mtlatlJ spedes>-folI' example. climate change, We


31/46

I N T R O I D ucno N 5Economic: governance is, fo], Rarden Wilkinson. "rhemost advanced

and comprehensive dimension of emerging global governance."! Ye~,asin . [he securiry seCW1", tbere Asa "growing: gap between the distnbution ofaliithor.u.tywithtnedstlnginrernattcnal ].nsdwdorI!S and the internationaldistributinn of economic pow~r.='There are two verities with. respect to the world's financial system.Pirst, while not 80 long ago finance essentially flowed from corpora Hom:basedin states with some transnarion al bOlls, to day It Is essenrially g].ohalwith some local eharacterisries. Second,finilnce is not self-governing.Instead, "stability in finsncial markets requires the judicious exercise ofpublic authority:" Inreresting cxperim em:s (e.g., the European CentralBank) cannot disguise the reality that. (as is the case for securityjnothingappro:aches a global authonty in the economic arena, eventhough theprovision of such a global public good could have saved. biU.Jionsin theAsian financial crisis of [997-1'998 OFI!:h.e worldwide recession that wastriggered. by the collapse of housing and credit markets in.2007-2008.

Moreover. maximizingeffidency cannothe (he only goal ofinterna-ticnelfinanclal andeconormc policy ..Questions of legitimacy and di.stdbu-tive justiceare as important as efficacy. currency convertibiliry or capitalmobility Practical answers are in short supply because we are still at thes~ag~of summitt:communiques.blue-ribbon commissions,' and incremen-tal adap rations within exisringimemario nal intergovern illental finan dalinstitutions." This reality is i 1 J . r ' I H . k e ] y to ch.a]].ge despite t h e steady streamof reports with subst an tial p roposals that began Flowing on the -O((.;31:51-0nof the UN;s sixtiethanniversary .. Somerhinggers accomplished (althoughobservers discuss whether the results are palliarive O~actuallyamellora-live), and. inrergovernmental org~nizariotls (IGO:;) matter in such activi-ties, as do a host of for-profit and not-for-prof it ][1stitutlons" Nonetheless .rmthingrernorelyresembles an overarching aurhoriryfor global financialgovernance to help facilitate stabiljty 0 1 : reduce the social costs of comem-por : ll !1"Y economic developments and downturns,

At the same time, we repeat our pllzz]e,why are therenonethelesselements of predictalnlity; s e a . b U L l y . and order d.espite the. absence of aworld. govemmem? This book exammes not only the theory of g~obal_governance 'OlIU the practice and (more especia]1y) the UN's intellectualand operational ccntrlbunons.It would he useful to begin with some definitions, "Governal1(';e" is

the S1!lIn.of laws, norms, policies, and institutions that define, constitute,


32/46


and. mediate relations among cirlzens society, marker, and the state-d],ewielders and, objects of the.exercise of public power.

"Good governance" incorporates peoples' participatien and empowermenrwith respect to publlcpolicies, chokes, and offices; the rule oflawand an independem judiciary to which the executive and legislativebranches of government are subject, as are citiaens and. other actorsand , entities; and. standards of probity and incorruptibility, transparency;accountability; and responsibility It also includes the institutions in whichthese principles and V03J]uesind ongoing expression. Good. govern:;lincethus can be considered a normative cnncepr-c-enncerned with standardsthat most would agree are laudable,

"Global governance" -which can be good, bad, 001' indifferene=refersto exu:s tingco l lecnve ~ITange~ : l!1enlso solve problems," Adapting our' defi-nition of governance, owgloba] governance" is the sum of laws, norms, poll-des, and. institutions that define, constitute, and mediate relations among.citizens, society markets.and the state in the internarionalarena-cthewielders and objects of m ternarjonal public pow er. Even in the absenceof an overarching centr and private sector entities), Through such mechanisms andana:ngemems, collective interests are articulatedcrights and. obligationsare established, and differences are mediated

\ithill the context of the United Narlons Inrellectual History Project(UNIHP) and in this volume, the focus is on the rise of [po]icym.aki:ngattaJlgeniem:s andthe iruellectual and analytical fum eworks behind them


33/46

I N T R O I D ucno N 7at the internarionaland g-[oba~levels, Both :formal


34/46


that existbetween the nature of many currem global problems and. thefeeble nature of the soluuons d1:a!.fre currentlyavailable.Wtthm eachchapter, we emphasize the UN's special intellectual role, It is worth spell-ing out our conceptualizations of these gaps, as they pwvirle the overallintdlectuaJ framework. fo,r chapters 2-10.

Kn(Jwh~'dge GapsThe first gap],$ the knowledge gap. Oftenlittle or :no consensus exists

about (h e nature, causes, grarvity, and m.agn:utu.de of 0 3 ! problem, eitherabout empitlcal information 0][' theoretical explanations. And. there isoften disagreement over the best remedies and sclutlonsto these prob-lems. Two good examplesare global warming and nuclear weapons, nei-ther of which was know:~ when [he UN Charter was si.gned.W:h;ilt is thebest "mix-and-march' strategy for combating die threat of global warm-ing? Given that the severity and causes of climate change :5l:i11remain in.pclitical if not scientific dispute, which strategy will minimise disruptionwhHealso Jninhniz:~ng futurensks and darn age? SbmH ~ : n " U y .wha v ; is the beststrateg y fo r p rev em t ng the proltterauon of nuc lear weapons whMe a lsotrying to encourage the di.miuatlon of existing stockpiles and avoidingrhetr use in the meant lme] Another exam ple of a know led ge g:i!ips m.RS-trared hi!the debate over trade versus aid for developing countrles.Disputed knowledge has dtrect relevance to tnternanonal pub-lie policy This ]5 ap'p


35/46

I N T R O I D ucno N '9issue is the role of the state in development, I--Iow usefol are additionalempirical dam and. theoretical explanationsin the face of dominant worldviews or entrenched ideologies? Can new informationand experiencesguide policymakers, OF'are they ]a:rgely~n:ene'!la.rlt!'

Second, issues such as poplLda t io fi in . the 1970s or global warmingin the li99Qs appear 0]1 the agenda because of a previously unknown orunderestimatedthreatabcut which we do not have sufficient informa-tion to make i[lfo:rmed decisions Corwe have conflictinginformarion).Thisconsr i rures ;3 J different type of kno'i.~,dedgegap for decLsk. lTI i .makersbut presumably one for which new information canmore easily have allimpact than it does 1 1 1 1 the face of rigid ideologies.

Air.[east part1i.aJlyfilling th e knowledge gap isessenual for d ealing w iththe other gaps in glob~Jgovernance-norm:3idve, poltcy lnstltutionalrandcompliance. I f we can recognize. that ther-e.is a problem and agree on itsapproximate dimensions, thenwe can take steps to solve it. While ill afew cases the UN's role has generated new knowledge, more often it hasprovided an arena where ,exist~r!g:inlfonn.at~.on can be collated and col-lec ted . a host of Interpretattons can "be vetted,


36/46


37/46

I N T R O I D ucno Nroutine, requiring no furrherjusriflcaeion. lS The United Nations: providesan organiaauonal platform fo:!.'ad vocacy in the first :stage as w ell as thepreferred forum for cascade in the second and fer seeking affirmation.reaffirmation, and hopefully compliance in the third and final stage,

ln the Ottawa Treaty that bannedlandmines, for example, norm ge:n~eration by western middle powers was underpinned by norm advocacyfrom . .NGOs . Itwas aha reinforced by no rm - prom otin g stand ard -settinghy the UN Secretary-Genetal whenheendorsed the Onawa processandthe co nventien that resuhed 1:'o.[nit,"

Inthe third and flna] stage, once a norm is internalised by most mem-'ben of imernational sotiety, it becomes the prevailing standard againstwhich state behavior is measured and . against. which new norms mustarise and. s:trw~glefor support. Und~.that happens, however; gover:nmentsand civJil society can appeal to prevailinginrernarional norms within thecontext ofdomestic policy debates in order to batrress their normativepreferences, lnfact, many in ternational norm s beginas d om estic normsand areinrernarionalized through dle dldi.he[~ne a C d O I 1 J . S of n o r m entre-preneurs, Supporting women's 1ighrs is a good example of a domestic:norm tb at b ecame an Ji:nte:r.n


38/46

1 1 2 GLO HAL G OVER N AN CE AN D T IH E UN

action aga:i:nst a white-mine tit)' regime in South Africauntil the i99(Isreflected mainly refusals fromthe United States and the United Klngdomto agre:cw resolutions, which they backed bytheir vetoes in the SecurityCOlmdLWu.d.espre


39/46

I N T R O I D ucno Nparalysis over the crisis in DarfuiI ' the result of a policy gap rather than an.illustration of weak po litical will among key member star,ts? The sourceof ideas that can fill policy gaps is likely to be governmems and intergov-ernmental organizations ..Wh.e]lpo]ky is made fn the absence of insti-tutions, li t takes on an ad. hoc character. Such an apptoach can lead tofrag;m.ented and. incompatjble policies th.arn:an become incoherent overtime. However, is tile UN well suited to determine the goals ofpolicy orto guide the processes by whichn is made?

A policy necessarH.y entails both agency and purposive action,Alithollgih state ac ton are policymakers, they usually dlstinguish publicpolicy from foreign policy, im p lying a bound ary-b ased separation betwe endomestic and external activities. A s tWO analysts note, "The polic y-m ake rsand the policy system therefore stand at these junctlenpoints and seekto mediate between the v


40/46


states. And they make these chokes within the governing fJI 'am'ewoJI 'koftheir national foreign policies, under ftnstrUCc~,or!S from their home gov-ernmenrs 011 all important policy issues, Or member states may make thepolicy choicesdlrectly themselves, f o , : [ example at summit conferences.That being the case, Just winat mightbe m.earrtby'''United. Nado ns" policy,policymaking, and policymakersl

Moreover.atthe national level.policy can also be used to r ef er holt s-tka]ly to "the entire packa.ge. of actions andattirudes?" (e,.g:,.,Indian oru.s, policy) as well as to specific poHdeswward this or that statein f C H ' -eign affairs (e.g, Indian or US. policy onIsrael-Palestinian relations, 0]]the Ineernational Criminal COUrt l [ [CC], on nuc lear p ro li fe rauon , etc.) ortoward this or that issue in domestic afi:a.irs (e .g., Indian or US. policy onthe death penaltj, onIntelleetual property, 011 imI1!Tu gra!; lo:n).IPoJicy may also be broken down sequentially into three separatephases; formulation .adoption, and. implementanon. And ]ts object maybe regulanve; for example, W r e g : 1 ! d a t ' services SULk as transpon, relecom-m unications, public ud lili.es,. Its goal m .ay b e d tstribu ttv e: for example, toallocate: public resources such as housing, employment. scholarships.Jrmay be redrsrnhuaive, for example, to redress social inequaliry throughwelfareprograms." The UN is not a federal sysremlike the United States:b ec au se n eith er the member states nor th e constituent organizations ofthe so-called system recognize any hi.ghe:r aurhorlry The UN is also nota sUpr


41/46

I N T R O I D ucno NAfrica was liberared and . an elected. black-majority governm ent form edby ehe ilJric:an National Congress with Nelson Mandela as the first presi-dent replaced. the apartheid regime, Other examples would be GeneralAssembly resolution 1514 (14 DecembeF]9(0),[h.e Declaration on theGranting of Ind epen.d.encew C o]onial Countries


42/46

1 1 6 G L O H A L G O V E R N A N C E A N D T I H E U N

been a.greed upon, what machinery wi1 l put such a.policy into e:ffeCit?Forexample, aid donors may believethat democratic scares are less likely togo to war and. that increasing their numbers would be valuable in terms'O f peace,.i~]el1ce. a po]ky could be armounced to hold. elections as panofpostco]if'[icl: peacebuiM:in.g efforits in war-torn countries. However, this>acti on would have little meaning 11111e:s~snsti nmo lIS were :3I[S:on placesuch as alocal elecrlon commission and outside observers to register vot-ers and to arrange fO':I:oll workers, po]]f:ng stations, ballot printing, ronverificad.on, and. result taJlying.

[I: would be useful at this Juncture 1:0 Introduce the notion of globalpubl ic goods, Inge Kaul distinguishes between private and. public goods;in terms of their tradabihty in markets." Transactions involving privategoods are gove: r.r l! ed by the price mechanism; they C; i I ! [ !J he bought andsold, Private. goods ate therefore excludable and ][iv


43/46

I N T R O I D ucno Nticns would need to be invented :i J they did not exist already as part ofthe UN syslI:em, Many such spcclaltst in:stimtimls were created long beforethe current generation of pOSt:- World W~r II insnmtions. For example"the P:aIlJ American Sanitary Bureau was founded in]90l and was madethe WorldHealth Organi.zadon's Latin American arm in 1948, by thennamed PAHO, the Pan American Health Organiaation. The UniversalPostal Union (UPU) and Imemattonal Telecommunicarlon Union (lTU)areperhaps the oldest; their origins lie inthe mid-ninereenrh century

Gaps InInstitutions oftenexist even when knowledge, norms,a.rldpolicies are in place. We use "insntution" here in tw o senses: as formalorganjzational entities as well as regimes-recurring and stable patternsof behavior around. whichexpectations converge, For example, . 0 : 1 . "coali-lion of the w~mng" is 8 . stable pattern even though the membershtp Isvariable.Tt is easier to identify formal institutions that havetreaties and.budgets.but the info rmal o wmessyand political"varieties arejust


44/46


UN[CBF),. the lTD, and theWorld Health Orgamzadon. (WHO), to namebur four. Positiveexamples rhus should figure in ,comempo:11'ary discus-sions along wtth laments about those that fall short, for example the lareCommission on Human Rights (CHR),

[Jan of the e.xplanad.oi!1for why institutions may work well is b ecansethey focus on :spedfi.c problems and are functioaal. According to David.Mim:my, a function al institution d eals w ith one of the grow ing nurn b er oftechnical issues." These Issues are not seen as ha!vingpo]it:ucal salienee-e-they do not threaten a stare's vltal Iuterests and thus would not lead toconflict. Therefore, these issuescan safely be turned. over to experts forresolution." Topolitical scientists, of course, everything is political, andMitrany's characterization.although it is useful, has obvious limitations,Even techrnca! aCllvides-for fnstance, the ]AEA'smon:~wr.ung of Iran orNorth Korea or the WHO's monitoring of SARS in China or AIDS in.South Africa-impinge on state interests and are contested.

More (o: l1 t ,emporary exper t-g roup approaches in international rela-tions scholarshipinclude Peter l-]",as's work Q1l eptsremic (omrnl!lnitres,3.Peter I....all's on the impact of KeY]1eshu1 tCOnom tsts," and Ernst B.Haas'son knowledge'tas well as Keck and Sikkink's on transnational networksof acdvists." Expert consensus bas been central to efforts to restnu::tl.Uthe UN s.ysltem


45/46

I N T R O I D ucno NdDOS by ineergovernmemal institutions in comparison with past visions. AtBretton Woods ln 1944John May~l,u'dKeynes andthe British delegationproposed a monetary fund equal in value to half of annual world imports,while Harry Dexter-Wbite and the American sidle proposed a smaller fundworth one-sixth ofannual wOitkl imports, As Hans Sitl.ger sardonicellynotes: "Today 's Fund is onEy 2p,e:r cent of annualworld imports ..Perhapsthe difFerences between Keynes's origlnally proposed 50 per cent and theactual 2. pe r cent is a measure 0 f the degree to which our visio 11of interna-tion al economic :m.anagem ent has shrunk,"?" If this is [he case for th e 1MF,which is regl!].lady lambasted inmany development circles for its powerand the conditionalities it imposes, what kind of adjeCltlv,e:sshould be U~H~.d.to describe the disconnecr between demonstrated and supposedly agreed.needs. norms, and poltctes, on the one hand , and the resources ava:U1ableto such institutions asthe Office of the High Cemmisssonerfor HumanRights (OHCHR) or the UN .Bnviromh.eI!J.t Programme (UNEP)~ Howmud. would. the institutionalgaps vis-a-vls human rights or the environ-men[ shrink.lf we appliedthe expectations of Keynes or even Whhe aboutglobal governance ro these two issues?

].11 our discussion of such gaps, some instirurions f a n between thoserhar seem to work well in many ways, on at lease certain. issuesand thosethat CUl be considered so weak as to consdnne


46/46

420 AIBOUT T IH EUN IT ED N AT ION S IIN iE LLE CT UAL H IST ORY PROJE CT~ The U .N am l G l ob a l P o~.itic tlJ .E ro~wmy : T ra tl e, f in a : '~ .r e , and

Df'w!.opl ' lut! :t~. by John Toye : r s a U u s r i c e ,Reger Normand and. Sarah Zaidi (2:0.01:)

~. Pre'vel'l.f'i 'vt~D tp lomM y a t th e UN~ ' b y Bertran d . G , R amc ha ran (2008)~ . T h,e UN dn d T1'4,wr.ahmtdl: C o r p o n H l , o r u : F m w t l . Cod,e o f Condt. tct fO

a!o .~a l Compaa , . b y Tagi Sagafl-nejad incollaborarion withjohnDminitlg (200.9)

The U ,N and ,Deve.wl~me'Rt~'F rom i\ld t { J C,al(Jpefiatio'~L~by Olav Stokke(21009)

j UN r i i , e a s ' nwt C:~lI . 'H;geti i nc -Wor ld , by RichardjoHy, Louis Emmerij,and Thomas G. Weiss (2009)

~ G !obal G O V i . " 1 ' 1 w . m : e aJtd dw UN: Ail Urifil'lislu'djmmtry; by Tho!11~SG.Weiss and Ramcsh Thakur {2uHO)

Forthcomjng Ildesi6 D e v e ! O r m e i ~ t witho" j , t~Dest~'Uct io ' i : ' n t e U N a H a G . l o b t l J R e S ( I ' U ' l c [ , e

Ma;nagnt:tEnt, hy Nice SchrijverThe project also collaborated e m , T l t, e Ox ford r':Iandboo.k on rhe United.

Nations, edited by Thomas G ..W eiss and Sam D aw s, published by OxfordUniversfty Press in. 2007.

UN lnrellecmalHisrery ProjectThe CUNY Graduate Center365 FHlh Avcnuc, Suite 5203New York, New York]0016-43092 : 12-,8[ 7-192,0 ' T e J212-.817-1565 Fax

global governance and the un- an unfinished journey yazar- thomas george weiss-ramesh chandra thakur

Documents