TOPIC I:DEFINITION, NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICSOF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

DEFINING INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONSHere are some definitions:By C. Archer: "An international organization can be defined

as a formal, continuous structure established by agreementbetween members (governmental and/or non-governmental) from twoor more sovereign states with the aim of pursuing the commoninterests of the membership."

By M. Virally : "IO can be defined as an association ofstates, established by agreement among its members and possessinga permanent system or set of organs, who task is to pursueobjectives of common interest by means of co-operation among itsmembers."

By P. Gerbet: "The idea of an international organization isthe outcome of [state or any other actors] objectives to bringorder into international relations by establishing lasting bondsacross frontiers between governments or social groups wishing todefend their common interests within the context of permanentbodies, distinct from national institutions, having their ownindividual characteristics, capable of expressing their own willand whose role is to perform certain functions of internationalimportance." (in C. Archer, s.34).

As seen in C. Archer's book International Organizations(pp.33-34) there can be given more definitions. However, we cansummarize these definitions by extracting the common features asfollows:

In this and any other definition of internationalorganization, the terms "international" and "organization" havetheir own separate meanings. The term "internationalogranization(IO)" is made up of the terms "international" and"organization". So to understand the IO, we need the focus onthese terms first. What does the term "international" mean? Andwhat does the term "organization" mean?

The term international is actually a misnomer, for it assumesonly one dimension of the interactions among the international

actors, that is the relations between the nation-states. Inreality, when looked at the evolving processes of internationalrelations, there can be seen at least three dimensions ofinteractions in the world arena.

The first is the interactions between the states, that iscalled the interstate, or between the governments of thesovereign states, that is called the intergovernmental relations.The term "interstate relations" refers to the relations betweenthe formal officials of the sovereign states such as diplomacy,international agreement or treaty, war etc.. Indeed, theseinterstate relations are generally conduced by the governmentrepresentatives such as between the prime ministers and theforeign ministries. Then it is called the intergovernmentalrelations. In general, interstate and intergovernmental relationsare the same. But in same cases, they can be different. Forexample, for some countries the rule of the state can havedifferent realm from the rule of the government. The state, as anabstract institution, can have some institutions and principleswhich are not controlled by the government. In such cases, e.g.British royalty has its own identity and relations with otherinstitutions, the elected governments have no involvement. Exceptfor some such cases, however, the intergovernmental relations areat least assumed to be interstate relations.

The second dimension is the transgovernmental relations.Transgovernmental relations can also be seen as formal relationsbetween the sovereign states. But the difference is that they areconducted by the branches or the departments of the governments,for example between the defense ministers, or between the tradeministers, and sometimes between the different branches of thedifferent governments, e.g. between a defense minister of a stateand a interior ministry of another state The problem with theserelations is that they can be out of the sate and the governmentcontrol. So there can emerge such cases in which the relationsbetween any two states go uncontrolled and unexpected becausethese relations do not go through the normal foreign policymaking channels.

Still more problematic is the transnational relations, thethird dimension of the term international relations.Transnational relations include those relations between thenational control and even the sovereignty of the formal stateofficials. Although these relations are conducted within the

borders and territories of the sovereign states, they can dealwith such issues which might challenge the decision making powersof the government officials. Well-known examples are therelations between the multinational organizations, civil societygroups, and the individuals.

All these separations are important because each dimensionhas its own organizational form.

Those created by interstate relations are called IGOs, suchas NATO, UN, and so on.

Those created by the transgovernmental organizations are alsocalled IGOs such as Interpol.

Those created by the transnational groups are called theINGOs, such as MNOs, IBM, Shell, Mobil, Toyota etc. And of coursethe IGOs are very different from the INGOs in every aspect ofinternational organizations, i.e. membership, objective,structure, activities, voting mechanisms (decision-makingprocedures).

The term organization is defined as"a group, society, club,or business, especially a large one that has particular aims,e.g. student organizations, ... the World Health Organization"(Collins Cobuild English language Dictionary (London:HarperCollins Publisher, 1987), s.1015) The term organizationhave two different, though interconnected, definitions.

Organization as a process refers to the variety ofinteractions between the actors in certain fields of humanactions such as diplomacy, trade, commerce, peace conferences,etc. Thus, actors come together to bring harmony, to findsolutions to the problems, and to arrange and thus organize theirrelations into a set of agreed rules, principles for theirobjectives. In international relations, we can see severalexamples of these processes in diplomacy, trade, commerce, warwhere there are rules, customs, structures and so. Insociological meaning, they are the normal interactions processesamong the units that may not manifest themselves in formalorganizations of bricks and mortar, headed paper. But some ofthese international processes are organized in the form ofinstitutions.

In this regard, an important example is the theory ofinternational organizations. An international regime is a set ofprocedures, rules, norms, and institutions for certain kinds of

activity, e.g. trade, money, sea, air, technology, etc. (Keohaneand Nye, Power and Interdependence, s.5). So, the institution isthe part of international regimes. But there can be aninternational activity with some norms, rules, and procedures,but not an institution. Or over time, as the process takes achanging form, the institution may also change the rules andprocedures. For example, IMF. The second depends on the former.

Organization as institution refers to "a formal technical andmaterial organization with constitution, local chapters, physicalequipment, machines, emblems, letterhead stationary, a staff,administrative hierarchy, and so forth." Internationalinstitutions are the representative aspects of the phase processthat has been reached at a given time. The institutionalframework for the already existing international interactionsadds "stability, durability and cohesiveness" to individualrelationships which otherwise might be "sporadic, ephemeral, andunstable" (Archer in p.2, citing Duverger, 1972, s.68). At theinternational level this is shaped up by the practice ofdiplomatic method or adherence to the tenets of international lawor by regular trading, as well as by the activities of suchinternational organizations as NATO, WHO and so on.

To recap, international organizations represent the apex of apyramid of multinational diplomacy. At the base are the issuessuitable for negotiation, then comes the agreed rules and norms,and then comes appropriate international organizations orinstitutions.

We are concerned with the organizations as institutions, notwith the broader notions of international organization. Whereasthe second dimension is the topic of international theory andpolitics in general; the first part, though not less important,focuses on the formal and concrete organizations or institutions.Meanwhile, whereas the first dimension is called internationalorganization in singular form, the second dimension is named asinternational organizations in plural.

So international organizations are the institutionalizedproducts of the international interactions. If there wasn't anyinternational interactions, there would not be internationalorganizations. There can be shown more preconditions for theemergence of international organizations. Before that we willhave a definition of the international organization:

1. The existence of a number of independent states. Thus, itis obvious to conclude that international organizations emergedafter the Westphalia Treaty in the modern period. Although thereare different views on the minimum number required forestablishing and international organization, most writersaccepted that there must be at leas two "qualified members of theinternational system." Thus it can be bilateral or multilateral.But the organization must be open for the voluntary membership ofthe other eligible states.

International organizations can be setup by two differentactor types. States and non-state actors. Those set up by thestates are called IGOs; those set up by the non-governmentalorganization are called INGOs. We deal with the first type.

2. There must e a substantial measure of internationalcontact between them. Thus, there were not any inter-Atlanticinternational organizations in the 18th century in which theAmerican and European states were involved.

Once international organization is set up, it must havepermanent activities involved by the members. So the organizationmust hold more or less regular plenary sessions at certainintervals.

3. There need to be an awareness of problems that arise fromstate's co-existence. The states must recognize that the creationof international devices and systemic methods for regulatingtheir relations with each other is useful. (Archer, s.4).

There can be shown three reasons for the states to establishan international organization:

1. Functional cooperation for common needs and problems: WTO,IMF, WHO,

2. Regional cooperation for dialogue, peace, etc. EU, OAS,ASEAN,

3. Security: Collective security and collective defenseorganizations: UN, NATO, Warshaw Pact.

4. International Organizations are set up by a formalconstitution, which is generally an agreement or treaty among themember states. The legal document lay down the formal status ofthe organization, showing the aims, rules, conditions, organs,and so on. In a way, the foundation paper is a constitution ofthe organization.

5. The organization should have a permanent secretariat andheadquarters, based on a fixed capital. But organs of theorganization can be scattered around the members so that everymember has a feeling of belonging to the organization. And theofficers of the organization must be recruited from the membercountries. So there is an international staff running theorganization.

6. Thus, international organization is an internationalentity having its own individual characteristics, capable ofexpressing its own will and whose role is to perform certainfunctions of international importance.

The last point, that is the independence and the capabilityof the international organization, is very debatable. Althoughthe others are more or less feasible and possible o achieve, thelast one is controversial. Can the international organizationshave an independent personality in international relations? Howpowerful are they in achieving their objectives? Are thecomplementary or rival to the states? All these questions areabout the nature of the international organizations in theinternational system.

2. NATURE OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONSOnce set up, there emerges a new international body. The

international organizations gain an independent personality(status) to act i international relations. They are free anddistinct from the members. Since they are created for achievingthe common goals of the member states, they are expected to beactive in the organization of international relations for findingcommon solutions to the common problems, for opening newopportunities for its founders at least. However, the question isthat: are they capable of doing these activities in internationalrelations? and most importantly, how much independence andauthority do they have to conduct these relations on behalf ofits members. To answer these questions, one need do deal withtheir position in international system, level of autonomy ininternational activities vis a vis the state sovereignty, andtheir capacities.

1. The position of the international organizations ininternational system.

The international system consists of nation-states, theirinteractions, international organizations and the interactions of

the private groups organized or not. Thus the internationalorganizations are only one part of the inter-state system,actually as the product of these inter-state relations.

It is widely believed that the international organizationsare proper and recognized members of the international system,thus actors of international relations, similar to the states.Because, they are recognized by the members of the organization,if not by all the states in the international system. Thus, asinternational actors, they participate in international relationsby making their own decisions, by doing their own political,economic, social, technical and even military activities; and asresult the can be very influential in the process ofinternational relations.

2. The level of autonomy and the state sovereigntyHowever, that does not mean they can be as autonomous as the

nation states because their sphere of influence was limited bythe sovereignty and independence of states. As the "children" ofthe sovereign states, they are shaped by the inter-staterelationships and by their objectives, more than they shape thestate policies. So in general they have a minor role andinfluence over the states and the world politics in general.Basically the international organizations do not rule over thestate sovereignty, and are expected not to interfere into theinternal affairs of the states, be they members or not.

However, over the last decades, in the wake of newdevelopments in technology, information and political-socialissues, their power has increased. As the need for internationalcooperation between the states has increased, their role andimportance has increased.

3. The capacities of the international organizations are alsonot very promising. Most of them do not have their own armies,independent budgets, strong facilities such as equipment, arms,etc. But, their capacities are mostly donated by the membersstates. So if they fail to contribute to the organization, thelatter cannot fulfil its activities efficiently and continuously.

Indeed, the high level of contribution by one member state isgood. But on the other hand, the greater the contribution by onestate, the greater the risk that that state wants to control theorganization for its own objectives. So this is a dilemma for theinternational organizations.

4. National interests vis a vis the common interests.The international organizations are established for the

common objectives of all the members. However, this rule isgenerally challenged by the national interests of the members.Some states may wish to use the organization as an instrument fortheir own national interests. In these cases, there can be seenclash of interests, and thus conflict within the organization. Asa result, the organization cannot function properly.

3.CHARACTERISTICS OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONSAlthough there are a great variety of international

organizations in the international system, with differentobjectives, sizes, regions etc., all can be categorized into astandard criteria with some common characteristics. These are theessential and irreducible characteristics:

1. Membership: all draw in membership from two or moresovereign states, be they official or private depending on thetype of the international organization.

2. Aim : The organizations are established with the aim ofpursuing the common interests of the members. At least on paper,it should not have the express aim of the pursuit of theinterests of only one member, regardless of the desires of theothers.

3. Structure : The organizations should have their own formalstructures of a continuous nature astablished by an agreementsuch as treaty or constituent document. The nature of the formalstructure may vary from organization to organization but itshould be separate from the continued control of one member. Itis this autonomous structure that differentiates a number ofinternational organizations from a series of conferences orcongresses. Furthermore, the organizations generally have anassembly for all the members to participate and have a vote, anexecutive organ for running the organization, and a secretariatfor implementing the decisions. Some organizations also havetheir own courts to resolve the problems among the members.

International organization must have a fair voting system sothat no one state can control the organization, and one or moreare not excluded from the system. In general there are threedifferent voting systems: a. Simple majority, b. Qualifiedmajority, c. Consensus

4. Activity: The organizations should have an internationalactivity, that is, those activities beyond the internal politicsof the members or any other states. And their level and type ofactivities are determined by the consent of the qualified numberof the members, not by only one member of the organization.

Activities can be categorized into two groups such as profit-making, and non-profit activities. In this regard, the IGOs arenon-profit organizations; whereas most of the INGOS (TNCs inparticular) are profit-making organizations.TOPIC 2:THE EMERGENCE AND THE GROWTH OF INTERNATIONALORGANIZATIONS:HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

As Jacopson put it perfectly, the contemporary web ofinternational organisations began to emerge in the early years ofthe 19th century, developed steadily in the latter half of thecentury and the first half of the 20 the century, and mashroomedsince the end of the Second World War. Thus, the emergence andthe growth of the modern international organisations is processof two centuries, if not to include the period before thenineteen century, and thus can be divided into four periods.

1. The period before the 19th century up until the ViennaCongress

2. The period from the Vienna Congress until the First WorldWar

3. The period from the First World War to the Second WorldWar

4. The period from the end of the Second World War to-dayAs we have already indicated in the first topic to define

international organisations, international organisation asprocess has always existed since the emergence of the moderninternational system after the Westphalia Treaty of 1648. Butthese processes did not yield to an international organisation asinstitution until the time that the states faced great problemsand realised that they had to create some permanent institutionto deal with these problems.

1. The Pre – 19th Century Period

Indeed, before the 19th century, there were several views andproposals in European continent for instituting peace and orderin the continent. As Jacopson indicates six of these peace plansare noteworthy. The "peace plans" proposed by those intellectualssuch as Pierre Dubious (1255-1312), George Podebard (1420-1471),Due de sully (1559-1641), Emeric Cruce (1968-1743), William Penn(1644-1718), and Abbe de Saint-Pierre (1658-1743), and J.J.Rousseau, Jeremy Bentham, I Kant and others in the followingcentury, all had the same, objective, that was to prevent war andpreserve peace in Europe by an organisation of Europeancountries. But their methods of having this objective weredifferent. Some proposed an organisation for the spread ofChristianity in other parts of Europe; some for the fulfilment ofcrusades against the infidels; some for the protection of theEurope from outside attacks especially by the Turks; and some forpeace and order within the European countries.

But all of these proposals had some seeds in the emergence ofinternational organisation as institution. First of all, Most ofthem did not envisage a universal organisation their membershipwere limited to the European states only. Some included Russia,some the Ottomans.

2. The Congress of Vienna and the aftermathFirst international organisations as institution started to

emerge after the two historic events in Europe. They were theFrench revolution and the industrial revolution.

1. The first quasi-international organisation was theCongress of Vienna, which convened after the war between Franceand the status quo powers Australia, Prussia, Russia and England.The Congress of Vienna was an organisation as process, but not aorganisation as institution. However, it was very important andeven seminal meeting of the states. It made fundamentalarrangements, rules, principles and developed crucial habits foran international order in Europe. Although the main preoccupationof the Congress was political-security, that is the nature ofnational boundaries and regimes throughout Europe, it dealt withsoem economic and social issues. Inded, the first internationalorganisation as institution was created by the Congress ofVienna, the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Phine.

But the Congress of Vienna was actually oriented to thepolitical and security order in Europe. The Congress itselfintroduced some novel techniques and habits for the later

international organisations. Some of them can be categorised asfollows:

The most important novelty was the agreement by the greatpowers to make regular consultations on the issues of war andpeace in Europe at "fixed intervals. So there developed a habitthat the states would convene conferences at peace time regularlyto discuss the war-peace problems, and try to find political,legal solutions for these problems.

This agreement among Austria, Prussia, Russia and England,and France was called the "Concert of Europe". The Concert ofEurope was based on the Treaty of Chaumont signed by Austria,Prussia, Russia and England, or so-called the Quadruple Alliance.Its main objective was to preserve the balance of power andstatus quo in Europe, which had been devastated by France. TheConcert of Europe countries would act together to prevent Frenchattempts to change the balance of power and status quo in Europe.So for this objective, they convened at certain periods toconsult on these matters. Aix-la-Chapelle (1818). Troppau (1820),Laibach (1821), Verona (1822). But, as the French treat toEuropean peace and security was eliminated and as disagreementsbetween England and others on the maintainence of status quoincreased the Alliance and the meeting were terminated. In otherwords, the powers returned to the habit of convening after aninternational war such in the Congress of Paris (1856) after theCrimean War, The Congress of Berlin (1878) after the Russian-Ottoman War.

Meanwhile, there developed a kind of secretariat to make theorganisation of these meetings.

2.Another development in the 19th century was the expansionof international system to include not only the European powers,but also the United State, the Ottoman Empire, Japan, China andLatin American countries. As new actors entered to the system,new type of organisations developed to make arrangements on war-peace issues concerning not only Europe but whole world. And thuscame the Hague Conferences on legal, security and politicalissues. The first Hague Conference in 1899, dealing withdisarmament, was participated by 27 states including Europeans,the United States, China, Japan, Mexico. The second Hagueconference was convened in 1907 with the participation of 44counties. In the Hague conferences, A Panel of Arbitrators wasestablished to settle disputes through international

negotiations. Moreover, there emerged the Permanent Court ofInternational Justice and the International Court of Justiceafter the Conferences.

3. Another important factor in the development ofinternational organisations in the 19th century was the growinginternational trade and commercial relations not only in Europebut also in Europe. The innovations in communication, travel andtransportation as well as the spread of the industrial revolutionmade a positive impact on the relations between individuals,groups and states. For example, they came to use the rivers, openseas and oceans, and techniques of telegraph, posting in the 19th

century. All these growing relations necessitated to makearrangements for a better and efficient communication, travel andtransportation and trade and commerce. In this regard, the firstinternational arrangement was the Central Commission for theNavigation of the Rhine (1815), created at the Congress of Vienawith a permanent secretariat, central building and rules. Itsoriginal members were the riparian states of the Rhine, France,the Netherlands, five German states, and Prussia. And theEuropean Commission for the Control of the Danube, created afterthe Congress of Paris in 1856 for the same purpose. Two moreinternational organisation were created in 1865. TheInternational Telegraph Union (which exists today as a specialagency of the UN with the name International TelecommunicationUnion and the International Commission for the Cape Spartel Lightin Tangier.

Some of these organisations were intergovernmental, sometransgovernmental and some mixed membership. But it can be saidthat they were inter-effective. That is, some were initiated bythe private groups and taken on by the state representatives; andsome were crated by the state representatives and purely IGO.

4. In the latter half of the 19th century, the rise of thepublic international unions was mirrored by that of the privateinternational associations. National humanitarian, social,economic, religious, educational, scientific, and politicalorganisations arranged international meetings. The first suchgathering was the World Anti-Slavery Convention of 1840. It wasthis sort of association that spawned permanent organisationswith the machinery of secretariat, boards and assemblies.

In statistical perspective, the emergence and the growth ofthe international organisations can be analysed as follows:

As a result, according to the Union of InternationalAssociations, number of IGOs rose from 7 in the 1870-4 period to37 in 1909; and the number of the INGOs had already reached 176by the later ate.

Most of the international organisations were Europe-originated, i.e. regional, and specific purpose. But towards theend of the 19th century, both the number and the members of theInternational Organisations increased.

3. The First World War and the AftermathThe First World War gave first to truly international

oganisation, the League of Nations. The League was acomprehensive organisation which aimed to make arrangements notonly on political-security issues, but also to some extend oneconomic-social issues. But all were to organise a newinternational order.

Thus, the number of the IGOs increased rapidly. 32 neworganisations were in the five years after 1919 and 44 in thefive years after 1945. That means that the two great warsconvinced the states to make new arrangements to prevent war andto preserve peace.

The League of Nations was the first great internationalorganisation the world had ever known. In short, the League was aproduct of many novelties as far as the development ofinternational organisations.

It was the first universal organisation, theoreticallyopen to all states in the world.

It had a multipurpose, ranging from political-securityissues to the conditions of labours.

It had a permanent structure: with the Council as thegoverning body, the Assembly as the decision-making body,and the secretariat as the implementing body located inGeneva.

4. The Second World War and the AftermathIn the period after the Second World War, international

organisations, be it IGOs or INGOs spawned. This can beattributed to several factors, but most important of them are:

- Decolonization : As the number of sovereign statesincreased rapidly through the decolonization after the 1950s, thenumber of the international organisations also increased.

- Technological and scientific development necessitated thecreation of new international organisations: such as theOrganisation for International Aviation. International MaritimeOrganisation etc.

- The IGOs bgetting IGOs. As a new phenomena, in this period,the IGOs created new IGOs. For example, The UN has createdseveral new international organisations under its structure,although each has its own structure, objectives etc.

In the post-Second World War period, new kinds ofinternational organisations emerged. Indeed, they wereinnovations in the development of international organisations.Some of these innovations are:

There emerged international governmental organisation tomanage the affairs of the peacetime military alliances,such as NATO, WTO, Baghdad Pact etc. They were"specialisation on security matters".

Supranational organisations such as the ECSC and later theEU.

In conclusion, by the 1980s, many different types of IGOs hadbeen established, and many different factors played a role intheir creation. In 1980, there were 621 IGOs; and 4265 INGOs Ithe world.

TOPIC 3:EMERGENCE AND GROWTH OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE

International Organisations are products not only of ahistorical evolution of international politics but also of atheoretical construction of international politics. Like in otherdimensions of international politics, there have been severalwriters or intellectuals to have developed views and perspectivesabout the nature, role and function and importance ofinternational organisations. These views can be seen as thecomments on the international organisations, but also as theguides for the political activists or statesmen.

In the light of our study of international relations theoryin the last term, and of the plan of the "Chapter 3: Writings onInternational Organisations" in Clive Archer's book InternationalOrganisations, we can categorise theories about the internationalorganisations into four groups.

1. Traditional theories: Idealists and Realists2. Pluralist (or "Revisionists" in Archer) theories3. Marxists theories4. Third-World theoriesAll these theories have very deep and comprehensive roots and

background. We will not go into details of these roots andbackground as we have already learned them. But suffice it to saythat these roots and backgrounds have close connections withtheir understanding of international organisations. Therefore, ifnecessary, we will touch on the fundamental tenets of thetheories.

1. TRADITIONAL THEORIESThe common characteristic of the traditional theories is the

point that they adopt a classical state-centric approach tointernational organisations. Otherwise, these two theories.Idealist and Realist, have different views on most aspects ofinternational relations, indeed on international organisations.Thus, despite their state-centric approach they have ratherdiffering views on the nature, role and function and importanceof international organisations in world politics.

1.1. Idealist TheoriesAs we know, idealism is political philosophy whose roots go

back to the nineteenth century enlightment and liberalism. Itsbasic view is based the primacy of moral, legal and organisedprocess of international relations for the establishment ofpermanent peace and order in the world, and for eradicating thewar-conflict problem from the human society. In other words, toidealists, international law and international organisation isinseparable forces and factors for this objective.

As we know, idealists were very active and loud during theinter-war period where there were an attempt to construct aninternational collective security system in the world under theLeague of Nations. Thus, many writers in this period such as L.Morimer. A. Zimmerman, H. Lauterpacht, L. Woolf focused primarilyon the League of Nations in the perspective of international law.They primarily delta with the international organisations inpractice, with their legal personality, constitutions (theConvenant), and their organisation problems etc. Indeed, idealistin general viewed international organisations as the instrumentsto resolve international disputes and conflicts by means ofinternational law for peaceful international order.

In the inter-war period and later, some idealists saw them asinstitutions for an international government. They viewed them as"authority over the states and their foreign actions." InEngland, for example, the Fabian Society, headed by L. Woolf,proposed in 1916 the establishment of an international governmentto stop war and restore peace in the world, and argued that "ifwar is to be prevented, states must submit to some internationalcontrol and government in their political and administrativerelations. Their views were influential in the creation of theLeague of Nations. They believed that under such a government,legal problems could be submitted to international court or to asimilar tribunal, and political problems to an internationalcouncil of states.

Idealist view slowed down in the wake of the failure of theLeague of Nations in the period, but this tradition never diedoff. Indeed, even after the Second World War in the UnitedNations era, there were some idealist views advocating thesupremacy of international law to be implemented by theCollective Security mechanism of the United Nations. We alwaysencounter such views in international wars, disputes and

conflicts, as in the cases of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, theBosına War, the Israeli invasion of the Palestinian territories.

But, international organisations are successful in somecases, not so much in others. Why? The answer to that question isgiven by the opponent view of the traditional views.

1.2. Realist TheoriesThe Realist Views as the dominant paradigm of the post-Second

World War was very loud and active in stressing the failure ofthe idealist views. Those writers such as E.H. Carr, GeorgSchwarzenberger, Reinhold Niebuhr, Hans J. Morgenthau blamedspirit of the League of Nations for the break up of the secondWorld War. And they named these views as "utopians" and showedalternative views on the basis of "reality". They claimed thatinternational organisations are products of the internationalreality. So what are these realities.

There is no world community who abide by the common rule oflaw of international organisations, but an international anarchyin the sense of a lack of a government at the internationallevel. So there is no common community interest. This is thebasic reason for the failure of the international organisations.Because of the lack of an international community, there cannotbe a common authority above and over the sovereign state.

On the contrary, in international politics, there is powerpolitics, national interests and sovereignty. There realitiesaffect the operation and performance of internationalorganisations. The idealist views of the supremacy of "morality"and "law" in the operation of international organisations do notrepresent the reality and are not very influencial. Instead, theconcerns of national interest, power struggle and sovereigntyplay primary role.

Thus, international organisations are mere instruments ofstates for their pursuit of the above. They are simply and purelyinterstate institutions which are important in so far as they areused in the search for power or in solving the problem of peace,as Morgenthau argued. Therefore, international organisations playonly marginal role in international relations. They can bepowerful and effective, and trivial and ineffective, depending onthe foreign policy of the members.

Then, one should not underestimate their role and importanceif the states wish to put them into practice as an actor of

international politics. If so, they can have a significant placein the maintainance of peace and order. If not, they can be toolsof the power politics of the states.

Finally, the Realists do not attach any importance andattention to the INGOs as begin neglectible actors. Just likethey do not attach importance to so called low politics issues,they do not see these organisations very important. 2. PLURALIST (OR "REVISIONISTS") THEORIES

Pluralists here means the non-state centric approach to thephenomena of international organisations. They believe that thenumber and variety of international organisations speedilyincreased in the last 50 years mainly because of the greatchanges in the non-state actors in the world politics. Therefore,they advocate hat to understand the phenomena one must payattention the activities of these forces and their internationalorganisations. They believe that as international relations hasbeen getting multi-lavered, involved by transactional groups, thecharacteristics of international organisations have changed.Thus, they view the world different from the traditionaltheories, not as set of sovereign states but as a set of pluralactors in various colours.

This perspective includes different sub-groups, which can bedivided into five: functionalists, neo-functionalists,transactionists, interdependence, and globalists.

2.1. FunctionalistsFunctionalist advocate world-wide internationally active,

functional organisations. The pioneering writer of this school isDavid Mitrany. He claimed hat there should be functionalinternational organisations for the establishment of a peacefulinternational order. Functionalism is based on the opinion thatas a result of increasing material and technical instruments,there is more need to have co-operation on "technical-functionalissues" across borders among those concerned non-state actors. Insuch areas as transportation, health care, communications,agriculture, industrial development, scientific development, andso on, there is a need for international co-operation becausethey are no longer carried on within the borders of the sovereignstates, but are undertaken across the frontiers on a regional,continental or universal bases. These activities would be

overseen by international arrangements which would be more likeboards of management.

The functional agencies of the UN- ILO, WHO, FAO etc.- aswell as some INGOs – League of Cross societies, World ScoutMovement, etc.- are examples of this type of arrangements.

Functionalism globally active international organisations,not considering regional functional groupings.

According to Mitrany, these arrangements would be free ofpolitical interference. So political conflicts would be lessened,and war problem be resolved. He actually underestimated the powerof the political forces in functional cooperation andorganisations.

He presumed that welfare would prevent the warfare. Howeverthat was not case all the time. Indeed, the pursuit for welfaremay also cause warfare.

He claims that functional approach circumvents ideologicaland racial divisions, as it does the traditional boundaries. Butit is not the case. For example, there is ideological rifts inthe ILO, UNESCO, WHO etc.

2.2. Neo-Functionalists:It is indeed the application and adaptation of the functional

theory into European and Atlantic institutions, esp, to theEuropean Community in the 1960s and 1970s.

Indeed, the ECSC and the EEC were based on the functionalapproach but on the European continent. They aimed to have asupranational authority over the member states, under which theinterest groups would co-operate on the Community rather than onthe national basis.

This experiences were studied by the so-called neo-functionalist writers such E.Haass, L.Lindberg, J.Nye. Itsdifference from the functionalism are two:

They limit their functional approach to the regionalbasis,

On the issue of political decisions, they claim thatfunctional co-operation would spill-over into new areasand into the political decision-making level, leading tofull integration.

2.3. Transactionits:

The more transactions, the more chance and need forinternational organisations. K. Deutch's "amalgamatedcommunities" (like the USA), and the "security communities".

2.4. Interdependence-TransnationalistsAs a result of increased transnational activities since the

end of the Second World War, the world is getting moreinterdependent. Interdependence motivated states to establishinternational organisations to manage the issues ofinterdependence. Keohane and Nye's "Power and Interdependence"gave international organisations an important role in the complexinterdependent world.International organisations are the bases of internationalregimes.2.5. Globalists

It is "whole world approach", viewing the world as a singleunified entity. It does not limit itself to functional orgeographic differences. It focuses on the well-being of theecosystem, the planet earth. Its is concerned with the survivalof the planet. Nuclear escalation, pollutions, communicationrevolution etc. are all global phenomena. Those world-wide issuesor problems beg for global solutions based on the institutionsthat can take a global perspective.

For example, John Burton's work "World Society" is a kind ofthis approach.3. MARXIST THEORIES

Markist-Leninst theories have a different view ofinternational relations, viewing it as a class struggle, astruggle between the capitalist world and the socialist world.Due to their antagonizm to the capitalist world, they don'toriginally want establis relations with them. But this view laterchanged. Especially, starting from the end of Stalin era, theSoviet Union involved in many international organisations. Thesoviets' approach to international organisations were determinedby their involvement in three different internationalorganisations. The first is the UN. The Soviet participation inthe UN; The Soviet-Eastern Europe organisations, and the SovietUnion vis a vis the Third World.

4. THIRD WORLD VIEWSMany Asian, African and Latin American writers on

international organisations have adopted a Marxist approach tointernational organisations. Their views can be categorised intotwo groups. Some viewed them as tools of exploitation of theThird World by the capitalist countries; others as agents ofliberation and development. The first group is generallycategorised as "dependency school"; the second as"developmentalists- modernists".

4.1. Dependency SchoolAdvocating a neo-colonialism, they believe that the

international organisations, especially the INGOs are instrumentsof the neo-colonialism. Samir Amin, Cordosa, Dos Santos are well-known advocators of this view. They are so pessimistic that thereis no hope for the colonized countries to be benefiting partnersof the international organisation.

4.2. Developmentalists-Modernists:This group is more optimistic about the relations between the

Third World and the capitalist world. They view the internationalorganisation as an instrument for development. Paul Prebish isthe pioneer of this view, and at the same time actively playedrole in the formation of the UN's ECLA (Economic Commission forLatin America), and the UNCTAD. He was the president of theUNCTAD.

TOPIC 4:CLASSIFICATION OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

There are hundreds of IGOs and thousands of INGOS ininternational system. Thus it is difficult, indeed, impossible tostudy and know each of them in detail. But we as the students ofinternational relations need to have a general view of them asthe participants in international relations in different levelsand influence. How can we do that?

The best way is to have a broad classification of theinternational organisations, trying to have a general pattern sothat one can easily understand their characteristics andoperations in international relations. When looked at theinternational organisations in general, it can be seen that theyhave more or less similar features and characteristics, whichhave been developed over the years. All of them can be classifiedunder three criteria.

1. By membership,2. By aims and activities,3. By structure.

1. BY MEMBERSHIPInternational organisations are set up by more than two or

more international actors. Thus they are made up of those memberseach of which may have different characteristics. The membershipof the international organisations can be analysed from twoperspectives. 1. The type of the members; 2. The Scope of theMembership: Regional or Universal1.1. Type of Membership:

Depending on the type of their members, internationalorganisations can be classified into three types:

1. Those set up by sovereign states or governments only,called IGOs,

2. Those set up by non-state or non-governmental entities,called INGOs,

3. Those set up by states or non-states, but with mixedmembership such as the ILO.

1. IGOs: Intergovernmental Organisations (IGOs) areestablished by two more states or governments. These

international organisations are established on the basisof the principle of sovereignty, which has three importantelements:

Only sovereign states are subjects of international law. Sovereign states are equal actors in their standing in

international law. No external body or norm can have the right to intervene

into the domestic affairs of their governments.The principle has consequences for the international

organisations. First, they are established by the sovereignauthorities of the states. Thus, they are deemed to beintergovernmental. Second, all the states are believed to haveequality in the formation and operation of the organisation. But,in reality, that is not the case. Indeed, in some IGOs somemembers have more rights and powers than the others, as will beseen below. Third, international organisation or its members areexpected not to interfere into the domestic jurisdiction of themember states. The UN article 2.7 is about this principle.

However, in practice all these principles are not respectedfully. As for the first principle, some non-state actorsparticipate in the IGOs. For example, the Palestinian LiberationOrganisation (PLO) participates in the meetings of manyinternational organisations such as the UN, the ICO, so on. Inthese cases, there can be some states behind the non-statemembers to support their participation. As for the equality, inprinciple, they are assumed to have one member-one vote. But inreality, they can have unequal voting power, e.g. the UN SecurityCouncil, and in the EU Council of Ministers. As for the non-interference, this is the most sensitive one. No state can bebound by an agreement or a decision to which it is not a party.That is, sovereign states can not be forced to follow the IGOdecisions if they abstain from, or refuse, it.

b. INGOs: These are the international organisations which areset up by non-state or non-governmental organisations. To havedifference see Archer pp. 39 and 40.

In the literature, there are there sorts of internationalorganisations:

1. The Genuine INGOs: These are set up by non-governmentalorganisations only. So they do not include any

representatives form the states. For example,international Olympic Committee, The World Council ofChurches, etc.

2. The hybrid INGOs: they may be set up by the governmentalor non-governmental actors, but having mixed membership.

3. TGOs: Transgovernmental Organisations: set up by localauthorities or some departments of governments. Thus theydo not include the central, formal members. Such asinterpol, interparliamentary union, inter-partyorganisations such as Socialist International, and so on.

4. MNOs-MNCs or TNCs: These are private internationalorganisations. For example, IBM, Mobil, Toyota etc.

1.2. The Scope of Membership: Regionalism versus UniversalismMembership of the organisations is selective depending on the

aim of the organisation. Some are regional: and some areuniversal. Regional organisations are limited to those stateswhich are within the scope of the region. And universalorganisations are open to all states in the world, at least intheory.

Here, the problem is the definition and delineation of theregion, and thus the limits of regional internationalorganisations. What are the criteria for being a region, so thatthe members can be selected? Which member is the region, whichare out?

For the definition of regions, there have been developedseveral criteria. Some focused on the geographical borders, someon the level of interactions among the states in a geographicregion, some on other. Bruce Russet (in 1967) focused on fiveaspects to tackle the problem of regionalism. These are thecriteria for defining a region:

social and cultural homogeneity, sharing similar attitudes and external behaviour political interdependence, geographical proximity.On the basis of his analysis, Russet delineated the regions

into four major groups whose members shared much in common,although there were "core members" and "periphery members".

1. Eastern Europe with the USSR, Poland, Rumenia, Bulgaria,etc.

2. Latin America3. The Western Community, including the Europeans, the USA

Canada, Japan4. Asia, including the Arab and African states.However, it can be seen that all these definition and

delineation of regions and international organisations havechanged in the post Cold War era. As a result, as the definitionand delineation of the regions have changed, the memberships ofthe international organisations have started to change, like theEU and NATO.2. BY AIMS AND ACTIVITIES

International organisations are established for some aims,and perform some activities to achieve these aims. All these aimsand the scope of activities are enshrined in their basicdocuments by which they have been established. The documentproclaim the aims and the intended activities. The proclaimed aimis the most apparent statement of the intentions behind theexistence of an organisation. The activities are the fulfilmentof the proclaimed aims. These aims and activities can becategorised into two groups:

1. General purpose : This general purpose does not mean thatit can do everything. But, it aims a general peace andorder of the international relations. So the organisationis structured and institutionalised in the view of thisgeneral aim. Example are: the League of Nations, theUnited Nations, and the European Union.

2. Specific Purpose : The specific purpose does not mean onlyone aim or activity. It can range from only one to more,but not so many. Specific purpose can be contained withina specific area, for example security-military; political,economic-trade, social-cultural, scientific-technological,and so on.

Cantori and Spiegel grouped the aims into three:1. Organisations that aim at encouraging "co-operative

relations" between the members.

2. Organisations that intend to decrease the level ofconflict between the members by means of conflictmanagement,

3. Organisations that aim to produce a confrontation betweenmembers of differing opinions or between members of theorganisation and non-members.

3. BY STRUCTUREBy structure we mean the institutional formation or break-

down of the organisation into constituent organs and departments.It shows the division of labour in the decision-making mechanismof the organisation. Who does what? Who has how much power androle? How is the power distributed among the members as well asbetween the organisation and the members? for an institution tomake its own decisions and run its activities effectively andpermanently, there need to be institutional arrangements.Institutional arrangements determine not only the distribution ofpower among the members, but also the division of labour withinthe organisation.

When looked at the development of the structure ofinternational organisations, we can see that there have been fourbasic organs in general: These are : 1. Assembly, sometimescalled as Parliament and so on. 2. Executive, decision-makingbody, generally called as the Council. 3. Secretariat, doing theday-to-day running of the organisation. 4.Judicial organ, dealingwith the legal issues or problems among the members.

Institutional Power of MembersThe structure shows how power is distributed in the operation

of the organisation. And it can have two dimensions. First,institutional structure differentiate between one member andanother. Not all the members have the same power within theorganisations. For example, in the League of Nations and in theUN there was, and is, permanent membership status in theCouncils. Second, this discrepancy in the powers are reflected inthe voting mechanisms of the organisations. There are differentvoting mechanisms. 1. Unanimity, 2. Weighted voting, 3. Majorityvoting by simple majority or qualified majority, and 4. Vetorights for some members.

Running the Institutions: The Secretariat

This is about how the international organisations will bepermanently run. As known, international organisations have legalpersonality. So they have permanent operations. To achieve theseoperations, they need permanent organs and staff, calledsecretariat, to fulfil the day-to-day runnig of the organisation.So there developed the secretariat branches, that is aninternational civil servant staff with a loyalty to theorganisation rather than to their own original home country. TheUN Charter Article 100 is about this. But the secretariat and thehead of the secretariat is not so powerful to run theorganisation irrespective of the interests of the members.Because they are influenced by the member state

TOPIC 5:ROLES AND FUNCTIONS OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

There is no doubt that international organisations have beenan indispensable part of international system and internationalrelations, especially since the end of the Second World War.Today we can come across several of them in every part of theworld, whose importance, scope of area and activities range fromthe simple and small ones to very great and universal one such asthe United Nations. And most of them are in the agenda of worldpolitics as well as in the world public opinion. We hear and seetheir names, activities, good or bed reputations in the media. Wehear that the NATO air forces launched military operation inKosova; the European Union created a money called "euroe"; theUnited Nations Secretary General went to Palestine to talk to theleaders of Israel and the PLO and so on.

Why are the international organisations so active andoccupying our agenda? Why do the member states, as theirfounders, give so much permission to represent them ininternational system? And how do the international organisationsinfluence the process of international relations?

All these questions relate with their role and function ininternational relations. By role it is meant how they serve theinterests and aims of its founders and other states, and how theyhelp the states establish relations, solve their problems. Byfunction, we mean how they can affect the working of

international relations, that is the process of internationalsystem.

ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONSThey are created to serve the interests of states, in the

case of the IGOs, and of the civil society groups, in the case ofthe INGOs. In this regard, there play three important roles.

1. As instruments2. As arenas,3. As actors

1. As InstrumentsAs the former Executive Secretary of the UN's Economic

Commission for Europe, Gunnar Myrdal said that "...internationalorganisations are nothing else than instruments for the policiesof the individual governments, mans for the diplomacy of a numberof disparate and sovereign national states... The organisationbecomes important for the pursuance of national policiesprecisely to the extent that such a multilateral co-ordination isthe real and continuous aim of national governments." (Archers.131)

So international organisations are one of the foreign policyinstruments of the states. They can be used as means forestablishing diplomatic relations and struggle with other states.Sometime, they can be used as political influence over the othersor political means for co-operation and co-ordinations, sometimesas a legal force for international relations. In short, thestates can use them as for their diplomatic, political, economic,trade, military and even propaganda objectives over other statesor actors.

But which member country can achieve this? Actually, each hasits own objectives towards the others, and thus want to use forthis or that end. But most of time it is not possible for theorganisation to be helpful for all of them especially if theyhave rather different interests. In these cases, the mostpowerful member can use it for its interests, maybe with theconsent of the majority of the other members.

Sometimes, if there are more than powerful state competingover the organisation, then the organisation fail to run becauseeach side struggle to prevent the other side from controlling the

organisation. As a result, there emerges a deadlock, thus nodecision is taken, no activity is undertaken by the organisation.

Indeed when we look at the history of the United Nations, forexample, we can see that at the beginning the USA was able to usethe UN as an instrument for its objective in the Cold Wararrangements. Thus the USA could able to manipulate the UNtowards making pro-USA decisions in the case of the Korean War,in the creation of Israel and Indonesia, in blocking China frombeing a member of the UN, and so. Because at that time, most ofthe UN General Asssemble members were pro-SU, and the SovietUnion was out of the Security Council in protest to the SUobjection to China's membership to the UN. But after the mid-1950s, as the Soviets realised its mistake to abstain from the UNSecurity Council and as the General Assembly was having newmembers most of which were pro-Soviet Union, the SU manipulationof the UN slowed down. As a result, from the 1960s onwards the UNcould not play an effective role in the resolution ofinternational problems, especially those security and peaceissues. The UN could not stop, or resolve, many problems in theworld.

Members try to use it by using several tactics, such as:- By manipulating the decision making process of the

organisations. The manipulation occurs by influencing over theothers concerned or effective in the decision-making. Thisinfluence can be through persuasion, bribes, threats, or carrot-stick tactics. Thus they draw the others into their own sides.

- By having a secretariat who favours its policies. Thus, astate lobbies for those officials who will support its policies,or at least not to support the others.

- By controlling the budget of the organisations. As happenseverywhere, if a state makes high contribution to the operationsof the organisation, it wants to control it, and expects from theorganisation to pay the price.

2. As ArenasAs arenas, they can act as a forum or platform within which

action takes place. In this case, the organisation becomes ameeting place for the members to come together to discuses,argue, debate issues and find solutions to their own or coonconcerns. Arenas can be used for a play, a circus, or a fight.

International organisation provide their members withopportunity of advocating their own policies, view-points andsuggestions in more open and public forum than that provided bybilateral diplomacy.

They act as arenas in various ways: During the formal meetings of the organs as they make

decisions, During the adhoc meetings, During the informal, off-the record and face-to-face

encounters in the coffee breaks, luncheons, dinners,parties etc. All these informal meeting sometimes can bemore important than the formal meetings. Because the staterepresentatives can make very interesting, off-the recordtalks.

3. As ActorsThey can play as actors of international relations. In some

cases, they can act as dominant as the member states, playing asautonom, if not as independent, actors free form the control ofits founders. Autonomy means "having a stable and coherentdecision-making machinery within its boundaries."

As actors, they affect the course of world events. By itsdecisions, sometimes called as resolution, commendation,communication, etc., they can compel some or all the membergovernments to act differently form the way in which they wouldotherwise act. By these actions, it gains an "actor status" inthe eyes of the world public opinion.

Actually, they are legal personality created by its members,but once they come into operation, they gain an institutionalpower which may be more than the totality of its members. In thisway they can become autonomous actors. That is, they make theirown decision, can act contrary to the preferences of its members,and can effect the actions of other members. In this way, theycan also affect the operation of international system. How dothey affect the operation of the international system? This is aquestion concerned with the functions of internationalorganisations.

FUNCTIONS OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONSInternational organisations function in the following ways:

1. Articulation and aggregation2. Norms creation3. Recruitment4. Socialisation5. Rule-making6. Rule-application7. Rule-adjudication8. Information9. Operations

1. Articulation and AggregationInternational organisations can function for the aggregation

and articulation of the national interests of its members intothe international system. Thus, they bring the interested statesinto the same framework to articulate their interests into theworld society. Just like interests groups in the national systemsarticulate and aggregate their common interests by forminginstitutions, associations, and interest-groups such as unionsfor better wages and working conditions, or green peace forcleaner environment, states do the same by articulating andaggregating their common interests onto the internationalpolitical system through the international organisations. Toachieve this, they form coalition, co-operation, alliance. Forexample, OPEC is a organisation for the aggregation andarticulation of the oil exporting countries, to raise the oilprices, or to increase their power by using oil as a weapon.UNCTAD is sub-organ of the UN to articulate the interests of thedeveloping countries, and to augment their voice in the system.On the other hand, there are some INGOs for the same objective,such as World Zionist Organisation, International Chamber ofShipping, etc.

2. NormsThey can function as the makers of norms and law for the

operation of international relations. In other words, they makelaw for the states to follow. Their activities are grouped intothree groups:

On political issues: They produced several documents ortreaties in improving human rights, for example 1948 UN UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights, 1982 Law of Sea,

On economic issues, they make arrangements to improve tradeand economic relations among the nations. For example, GATTdeveloped important norms for free international trade andcommerce by lowering the custom tariffs and bringing somestandards for the running of the world trade.

On security issues, the UN and other regional organisationsdeveloped some norms in the filed of disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, ban the use of force, de-legitimisation ofcolonaialization, etc.

3. RecruitmentThey function as the forces to recruit new actors into the

international system. Especially the U encouraged the colonialpowers to free their colonies, and the colonies to join into theinternational system by joining the organisation. So in the 1950-60s, many new states became members to the UN. As a result, thenumber of the UN members sharply increased from to 50s to the100s.

4. SocialisationThey adapt the states into the international system by

socialising them. Just like in the national system there areinstitutions such as military, schools, foundations to socialisethe citizens into the national system, internationalorganisations educate and train them in such a way. It takesplace at two levels:

By direct means, any organisations provide educational,social, psyhcological environment to the citizens of themember countries. Thus they create a "community sprit" Inthat some INGOs play a great role by affecting the peoplein different ways.

By formal and diplomatic ways, state representatives ordiplomats can be "socialised" to act in certain ways thatis acceptable to the rest of the "internationalcommunity". They learn new thinking and alternative waysof living. As a result they are persuaded in a way in linewith the general norms of international system.

5. Rule-MakingThey make rules for the arrangements of relations between its

members. Rules can take form of a decision, a resolution, arecommendation, a conference declaration, or a treaty or

agreement. For example, the EU makes rule for its member states,civil groups or citizens to follow. The UN takes resolutions orrecommendations on different issues. But in most cases, theserule should be taken by the consensus of the members to beeffective.

6. Rule-ApplicationRule – application means putting the rule into effect In most

cases, the rules are expected to be put into effect by the membergovernments because the international organisations may not havethe resource or means to put them into effect. But for the rulesto be applied widely, they should be accepted by the membersstates as useful for their interests. Otherwise, they can remainas papers.

For example, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions toseveral aggressors, but only a few of them were put intopractice, such against Iraq, but not against Israel.

7. Rule - AdjudicationRule – adjudication means the legal solution of the problems

by the judicial courts. In nation-states, the rule-adjudicationis carried out by the judiciary- law courts, arbitration panels,tribunals, an so on. In international level, this is done by someinstitutions such as International Court of Justice inn the caseof the UN, and the Permanent Court of International Justice inthe case of the League of Nations, or the European Court ofJustice in the Case of the European Union.

But the decisions of these courts are boundary only for thosewho accept its authority.

8. InformationThey collect, keep, and disseminate information to the states

which need them. For example, the WHO, WMO, FAO, and many otherfunctional international organisations have wide array ofinformation in their own special field. And states uses their owninterests.

9. OperationsTheir operations vary depending on the field of the

international organisation. Thus some deal with providing credit(IMF-World Bank), some with helping refugees (UNHCR), some withhealth problems (WHO) and so on.

TOPIC: 6THE UNITED NATIONS :THE ROOTS

The United Nations was established after the Second WorldWar, in 24 October 1945. But, its roots both as objectives andstructure go back to the beginning of the First World War and theaftermath. In other words, the United Nations is a successor ofthe previous international organisation called the league ofNations. So before the United Nations, one must look at theemergence, structure and development of the League of Nations.

1. THE LEAGUE OF NATIONSThe League of Nations was created after the First World War

in the Paris Conference of 1919-1920. In that the United States,The Great Britain and France played the main role. Even duringthe First World War, there were several private groups andinstitutions who put forward plans or projects for theestablishment of an international organisation to stop war andmaintain peace in the world. Then, SU President Wilson, in theview of these proposals, issued his famous 14 points, the last ofwhich was proposing to create an international organisation.

So The League of Nations was created by the victors of theFirst World War, the USA, Great Britain, France, as well as Japanand Italy. Thus, when the victors met in Paris Conference to makesettlements with the defeated powers, Germany, Ottomans, Austria,Hungary, Bulgaria, they imposed treaties to them. Meanwhile toput them into practice as well as to prevent another war bymaking global arrangements, Wilson worked hard to set the rulesfor an international organisation.

Thus, the founding document of the league of Nations, calledthe Convenant, was approved by the plenary session of the ParisConference on April 28. 1919, but coming into effect on January20, 1920.

And the Convenat was annexed to all the treaties imposed onthe defeated powers. That shows the fact that the League ofNations was an instrument for the victors to achieve their endover the defeated powers. The League was rather restrictive onseveral points.

Some Characteristics of the League of NationsIt was the first universal organisation, at least in theory.

It was based on the sovereignty principle.AIMS OF THE LEAGUE OF THE NATIONSAs states in the preamble of the Convenant (Misak), its main

objective is to "prevent war, and to promote peace and co-operation." The convenant incled 26 articles, divided as follows:

Articles 1-7: on membership and structure Articles 8-17 : on instruments and measures to prevent war

and to promote peace Articles 17-20 : on international treaties Articles 21 : on the establishment of international

organisations Articles 22-25 : on international co-operation and

administration Article 26 : on modification of the Convenant articles.So the achieve its objectives, The League of Nations had

those instruments and institutions: No secret agreements are allowed. Every agreement were to

be registered to the League. Mandate regimes were institute for those territories which

were carved form the defeated countries. Peaceful settlement of disputes, either by the mediation

of the League, or other ways Sanctions against the aggressors (that is the Collective

Security System), in Article 16 Disarmament encouraged War, although war was not totally outlawed by the

Convenat, it suggested alternative ways to refrain fromgoing to war, either by peaceful settlement or bysanctions. But under some conditions the states werepermitted to go war.

AND, international economic and social cooperation wasencouraged. So some organs were created such the ILO,Health Organisation, See. Bennet, s.27.

MEMBERSHIP45 states signed the Convenant. But there were two categories

of membership, it accepted an universal membership, though.

1. Orginal members: a signatories, b. invited members2. Elected members (those admitted to the League later) Members could withdraw the League with two years notice, Members could be expelled from the league.At the beginning, there were 45 original members; ater 21

members were admitted in its number reached to 60 in 1934. 17left; and 1 (Soviet Union) was expelled.

Indeed all the great powers left or were expelled: The USAnever became a member; Germany was admitted in 1926, but left in1933; Soviet Union was admitted in 1934, but expelled in 1939;Japan left in 1933; and Italy in 1937. So only France and GreatBritain were the stable members in the history of the league.STRUCTURE

The League of Nations was structured in accordance with thebalance of power in international politics at the time. So itreflected the balance of power in reality.

The League of the Nations had three main organs:1. The Assembly, 2. The Council, 3. The Secretariat, 4. And

sub organisations and committees.THE ASSEMBLY:Each member was represented in the Assembly, with one vote,

by maximum 3 representatives.Meetings were irregular, but at least once a year.6 permanent committeesVoting: in principle, decisions were made by the unanimity of

the members. But in some ways, there were majority voting.THE COUNCIL:Composed of two categories, permanent and elected.Permanent members were: Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan.Temporary members were to be elected: 4 countries by the

Assembly. But the initial temporary members were Belgium, Brazil,Spain, Greece.

But the number and the name of these members changed severaltimes during the 1930s, once reaching to 15.

THE SECTERARTIAT:

The first international secretariat, with permanent,administrative, and neutral position in world history.

The first Secretary General was Sir Eric Drummand (British).THE OTHER ORGANS:On economic and social cooperationHealth Organisations, Organisation of Communications and

TreansitTHE PERMANENT COURT OF INTERNATIONAL JUSTICEIt was not a part of the League of Nations. But worked in

close contact especialTHE SUCCESS AND FAILURE OF THE LEAGUEIt was established to prevent wars and promote peace in

international relations.In the early years, there were some success in settling

disputes. But these were between the small powers.But after the 1930s, as the great powers created problems,

themselves being aggressors, the league could no take effectivereaction, failing to implement the Collective Security. Theinstruments could not be put into force effectively.

For example, in 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria of China, andthe League failed to stop that.

In 1935, when Italy invaded Etiopii, the League imposedsanctions against Italy, but it was not implemented decisivily byBritain and France.

And it could not stop Germany's invasion of Checkslovakia in1938, but Britian and France "appeased" Germany.

Nor could it prevent armaments in Europe.By 1940, another World War had started, and the League was

not there.WHY DID IT FAIL?- Because the Collective Security could nor be activated.

That is, as the great powers became aggressors, the greatmajority of great powers could not act decisively and effectivelyagainst the aggressor. Because of their national interestcalculations. This is the heart of the international

organisations, that is to reconcile the common interests with thenational interests.2. STEPS TOWARDS THE UNITED NATIONS

The failure of the League of Nations to prevent the secondWorld War was also the end of its life. Bu that does not meantthat it was the end of the international organisations. Indeed,even before putting an official end to the life of the League ofNations, from the early stages of the Second World War, theAllies led by the United States again started to work on a newinternational organisation. There were geld several meetingsamong the Allies during the war. In these meetings, thepreparations were made for a new international organisation. Sothe steps to create the United Nations were as follows:

- Like in the case of the creation of the league of Nations,there were many private groups and institutions with ideas andplans for an international organisation.

- The Atlantic Charter, on 14 August 1941, in Newfoundland inthe Atlantic Ocean, when SU President Roosevelt and British PrimeMinister Churchill discussed not only how to win the war againstGermany and Italy, but also on how to disarm these nations, sothat wars would be prevented. On that date the United States wasout of the war.

- The United Nations Declaration, 26 states fighting againstthe Axis powers met in Washington on 1 January 1942, to sign thedeclaration. In that declaration, which was the first to "UnitedNations" they gave their support to the SU war strategy againstthe Axis and subscribed to the principles o fteh AtlanticCharter.

- The Moscow Declaration, by the four powers, the USA. TheeUK, The Soviet Union, and China on 30 October 1943. They pledgedtheir efforts for the establishment of a general internationalorganisation after the war. One month later, in Teheran meetingthey reiterated their willing. Thus, the Soviet Union and Chinawere also included in to the US-UK design.

- The Dumbarton Oaks Conversations, in Washington D.C., 21August-7 October 1944. This was the main conference in which thedetails of the United Nations Charter were discussed. Thoseissues such as the membership, voting procedure, the aim andscope of the organisation, and many other issues.

- The Yalta Confeence, in 4-11 February 1944, meeting ofRoosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. In that meeting the votingprocedure in the Security Council was decided, and the membershipof Ukraine and Byelorussia was accepted.

- The San Francisco Conference, 25 April-26 June 1945. 50countries, with 282 official delegates alongside 1400 advisorsand staff member, participated in the Conference. They werecountries which had adhered to the United Nations Declaration andthat had declared war on one or more of the Axis power. Theysigned the UN Charter whose details had been prepared by the SU,the UK, the Soviet Union, and China to lesser extend.

- The Charter came into effect on 24 October 1945, after therequired number of ratifications were made.

From that, we can conclude, that just like the League ofNations, the United Nations were pionereed by the US and the UK,except France who was occupied at that time. Thus, it was to bedominated by the victors. That was reflected in the Charter, evenmore clearly than the one in the League because now only fivepowers were give the right to veto.

TOPIC 7 :THE UNITED NATIONS: AIMS, MEMBERSHIP, AND STRUCTURE

The best way to know about the aim, membership, and structureis to look at the basic document of the organisation concerned.So, to see the structure of the UN, we should look at the UNCharter.

The UN Structure in the CharterThe Preamble, starting with the "We the peoples...", is a

general preface about the UN objectiveChapter I: Purposes and Principles, listing the purposes and

principles.Charter II : Membership, explaining the admission,

termination and suspension of membership.Chapter III: organs. After that each organ is dealt with in a

separate chapter as follows:Chapter IV : The General Assembly,Chapter V: The Security Council. The following 3 chapters

(VI-VIII) explains in more detail the functions of the SecurityCouncil to promote peace and security in international relations.

Chapter VI : Pacific Settlement of Disputes,Chapter VII : Action with Respect to Threats of Peace,

Breaches of the Peace and Acts of AggressionChapter VIII : Regional Requirements,Chapter IX : International Economic and Social Cooperation.

This chapter look at another dimension of internationalcommunity, and

Chapter X : The Economic and Social Council. This chapterfocuses on the UN organ regarding the previous chapter,

Chapter XI : Declaration Regarding Non-Self GoverningTerritories. This chapter deals with a rather outdated issue oftrusteeship, and

Chapter XII : International Trusteeship System, dealing withhow the system should work, and

Chapter XIII : The Trusteeship Council, dealing with themanagement of the previous function,

Chapter XIV : The International Court of Justice, the fifthorgan of the UN.

Chapter XV : The Secretariat.And so on...Basic Aims of the UNArticle 1 describes the UN aims:1. To maintain international peace and security, and to take

necessary measures and steps to achieve this objective.2. To develop friendly relations among member nations, and to

take other appropriate measures to strengthen universalpeace.

3. To achieve international cooperation in solving social,cultural, economic, humanitarian problems.

4. To provide an arena for harmonising the actions of nationsin the attainment of these common ends.

And when achieving its objectives, the UN will take intoconsideration the following principles:

Basic Principles of the UNArticle 2 depicts the UN principles that the members adhered

to, and are obliged to respect and abide by. These are the mostfundamental basis of the UN system.

1. Sovereign equality of al the UN members. This is mainly alegal perspective. By international law, every member state hasgot equal treatment within the UN system. This principle is wellapplied in the General Assembly in which each member has got onevote, regardless of power or size or wealth.

However, from political perspective, members are not acceptedas equal because as seen in the Security Council, some greatpowers have more rights and weight in decision making process:five permanent members have got "veto" rights in the securityCouncil.

Another implication of the sovereignty principle is that theUN is not an organisation or entity over the member states, so itcannot impose a policy or decision over the members. The UNdecisions can be implemented only by the consent of the memberstates. If one of more do not want to abide by, it cannot beforced to do so by any means.

But, there is one exception to the above rule: if theSecurity Council makes a decision on international peace andsecurity, every member is obliged to abide by it. Nevertheless,even this can be very disputable, and some members may resist toit. Then, the force is used by the great powers. But whether theuse of force is lawful is a controversial point.

2. The members are obliged to fulfil in good faith all theirobligations assumed by them in the Charter. Because they promisedto do so at the outset.

3. The members shall settle their international disputes bypeaceful means as stated in the Charter.

4. The members shall refrain from making threats or use offorce in any manner inconsistent with the UN purposes.

5. The members are obliged to support the enforcementmeasures and actions of the UN, and to refrain form givingassistance to those states that are the objects of the UNpreventive or enforcement actions.

6. Non-members are also expected to conform to the collectivesecurity measures of the UN for the maintenance of peace andsecurity.

7. The UN itself or its members should not interfere into thedomestic jurisdiction of the member states under no condition,except for the Security Council enforcement actions under ChapterVII.

The MembershipThe UN has achieved to be a universal organisation because of

its universal membership in practice The number of UN membersincreased from 51 at the San Francisco Conference in 1945 to 178in the 1990s and to 200s today. The main cause of the increase inthe number is the introduction of several new states intointernational system over time. But, the biggest increaseoccurred in the 1960s after the decolanization, and in the 1990safter the end of the Soviet Union.

Only the sovereign entities (states) are eligible to be amember of the UN. But, there are a few exceptions: i.e. the PLOparticipates in the UN General Assembly sessions as an observer.

And the only criteria for the states to gain membership is tobe a "peace-loving" state. But, the decision about this can bedisputable. Indeed, it was so during the early years of the

Union. Then, the US and the USSR blocked the admission of somecountries due to ideological and political preoccupations. Theirmain opposition was based on this "peace-loving" criteria. But inthe 1960s, they come to a "gentlemen's agreement" that everycountry would be admitted to the UN without any resistance anddelay. That is why there was a flood of new countries into the UNin the 1960s.

Admission to the UN is jointly made by the General Assemblyand by the Security Council: Candidate members are nominated bythe Security Council, and elected by the General Assembly by 2/3majority.

Suspension and dismissal form the UN is also made in the sameway as in the admission.

There were some membership problems in the UN history:- Unlike the league of Nations, the UN has always included

the great powers from the beginning, except for the Chinesemembership. In that, China was represented by the NationalistGovernment in Taiwan form 1949 to 1971. During that time Beijingdid not have a seat in the UN organs, because the US blocked itsmembership in the UN. Mainland Chine, Beijing, became theofficial member of the UN only after te US withdrew its vetoafter the rapproacement between the two countries in 1971.

- The position of the divided states were problematic. Forexample,

Both sides of Germany (West and East) could not become UNmember due to the superpowers' competition and conflict overthese states. They became UN members only in 1973 on the sameday. After unification in 1990, their membership was reduced toone seat and one vote. Similarly, North and South Vietnams becamemember in 1977 after their unification. Similarly, North andSouth Koreans became member in 1991 after their unification.

Switzerland remained out of the UN throughout due to herinternational neutrality. In 1986 the Swiss people rejected theUN membership in a referendum by 1/3. However, Switzerland hasalways been supportive of the UN resolutions, and participated inseveral UN activities.

The Structure- Organs

By structure, we mean distribution of power among the membersand the organs of international organisations. The structure alsoshows the decision making mechanism and procedures.

The UN has six organs, each of which has different functions,roles and decision making procedures: the General Assembly, TheSecurity Council, The Economic and Social Council, theTrusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and theSecretariat.

1. The General AssemblyThe General Assembly is the largest platform in which all the

UN members have one seat and equality by law. So it is the mostrepresentative and central organ. Theoretically if not inpractice it has got the biggest power, many responsibilities,influential functions and roles in world politics.

It is an open forum and arena for the international communityto express any problems, ideas, policies etc. Every member hasgot the right to raise any issue concerning internationalrelations. So any issue can be debated and discussed. Some see itas a "talking shop".

Sessions: The General Assembly can be such a platform in twoways. First, during the regular annual sessions form the thirdTuesday of September to the end of that year in the UNHeadquarters in New York. So during this regular sessions, everymember state participates in the Assembly and talks to theinternational community representatives. Generally, high levelrepresentatives such as heads of the state or government orforeign ministers attend the regular sessions, so that they canvoice their views at the highest level.

Second type of the Asssembly meetings is special session. TheUN members can meet any time in any part of the world. So unlikethe regular sessions, special sessions have no fixed time orplace. It ca meet upon a call form majority of the UN membersthrough the Secretary General on an issue concerning theinternational community. For example in the past, the GeneralAssembly had several special sessions on different internationalissues in different parts of the world: On Palestine in 1947 and1948, on Financial and budgetary Problems in 1963, on Disarmamentin 1978 and 1982, on International Economic Cooperation in 1980,and so on.

Some of special sessions can be held in the form of WorldConferences on different issues. On Human Environment inStockholm in 1972, on the Law of sea in Caracas, Geneva and NewYork between 1973-1982, on Employment in Geneva in 1976, onPopulation in Mexico City in 1984, on Women in Nairobi in 1985,on Disarmament and Development in New York in 1987, and so on.

Sometimes, the General Assembly can hold "emergency specialsessions" under the General Assembly's 'Uniting for PeaceResolution' on an issue threatening international peace andsecurity. But to hold such a session, the Security Council shouldbe inactive or at stalemate.

Working Procedure : The General Assembly works in such a waythat the issues are discussed in one of seven UN committees, anddecided in the plenary session according to the procedure shownin the Charter. The UN committees are 1. Political and securityCommittee, 2. Economic and Financial Committee, 3. Social,Humanitarian and Cultural Committee, 4. Trusteeship Committee, 5.Administrative and budgetary Committee, 6. Legal Committee, 7.Special Political Committee.

As a product of several years of work and organisation overthe years, the General Assembly has created several subsidiaryinternational organisations such as UNCTAD (United NationsConference on Trade and Development), UNICEF (UN Children'sFund), UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees), WFP (World FoodProgram), UNEP (UN Environment Program), HABITAT (UN Centre forHumanitarian Settlement), and so on.

Furthermore, all UN specialised organisations (such as IMF,WTO, FAO, UNESCO etc.) are indirectly connected to the GeneralAssembly system through the Economic and Social Council. However,these organisations have their own independent operationprocedures.

Functions: The General Assembly's functions can becategorised into five groups:

1. Under Article 10, discussing and making recommendationsabout international issues. It has almost unlimited mandate todiscuss any international issue that it deems important. It mayrange from security and peace issues, to economic, social,cultural, technical issues. There is only one exception this torule: That is, under Article 12 the General Assembly cannotdiscuss an international security issue which is already on the

Security Council's agenda. However, if the security Council failsto make a decision for the resolution of an internationalproblem, in this case the General Assembly under the famous'Uniting for Peace Resolution', which was taken at the time ofthe Korean crisis in 1950.

The G.A. can make there types of decisions on theinternational issues:

a. Declarations. Broad statements of general principles andnorms. For example, the Universal Declaration of Human rights in1948. It is a kind of recommendation to the states for improvingtheir human rights conditions. Thus it is not legally binding,but may only be politically influencial over the government.

b. Resolutions: They are the decisions on particular issuesor for particular country(ies). The General Assembly recommendsit or them to take necessary measures on the problem. But itcannot force. So they are also not binding.

c. Conventions: multilateral treaties or agreements agreed bythe UN members. For example the 1982 UN Law of Sea. They arebinding for those countries which signed the treaty or agreement,and not binding for the others.

2. Under Article 15, supervising and reviewing all the UNactivities. It can perform this by receiving and examining annualreports of the UN organs, both main and subsidiary organs.

3. Under Article 17, financial functions: the GeneralAssembly approves the UN budget, and also distribute the expensesamong the members.

4. Under Article 18, elective functions: It elects newmembers to the UN, members to the other UN organs by itself ortogether with the Security Council. It can also dismiss a member,and suspend the membership of a country, which never happened sofar. It decides by 2/3 majority in these important issues.

5. Under Article 108, amending and revising the UN Charter.All the amendments must be approved by the security Council.

Voting: Each member has one vote. There are two kinds ofvoting procedures: On important issues as shown in Article 18Paragraph 2, decisions are made by 2/3 majority of the memberspresent and voting. On other ordinary issues, decisions are madeby a majority of the members present and voting.

2. The Security Council

The security Council is the most powerful organ of the UNbecause it reflects the balance of power in the world, and it isthe most effective body to deal with international security andpeace issues. The Security Council is responsible for theachievement of the main aim of the UN organisation, that is,promoting peace and security and preventing war. In other words,the main aim of the UN hinged on the shoulders of the SecurityCouncil. Whether it has been successful on this mission is acontroversial point. Mostly, it was not. The main reason behindthis failure is also to do with its structure and composition andthe balance of power and interests among the permanent members ofthe body.

The security Council has fifteen members divided into twotypes: a. Five permanent members the USA, the soviet Union (nowRussia), China, France, the United Kingdom. B. Ten non-permanentmembers (whose number was six at the beginning), elected by theSecurity Council and the General Assembly for two-years term. Thenon-permanent members are elected form different parts of world,distributed, though not mentioned in the Charter but by aconsensus among the permanent members, as follows: 5 from Africaand Asia, 2 form Latin America, 3 from Europe.

Sessions : Under Article 28, the Security Council metescontinuously and regularly throughout the year by theparticipation of the permanent diplomats of the member countries.It can also have emergency meetings occasionally when thereemerges an urgent international security and peace issue.Moreover, it can have special meetings in other places other thanin New York headquarters. It elects a chairman for its sessionsby rotation every month.

Functions: The Security Council's functions can becategorised into four groups:

1. Under Article 24, maintaining peace and security andresolving conflicts and wars by using the UN instruments shown inChapters VI and VII mainly, and in other articles (VIII and XII)of the Chapter.

2. Under Article 26, organising conferences and making rulesfor disarmament in the world.

3. Under various articles, election of members to the UN andto the other organs. It shares this function with the GeneralAssembly.

4. Under Article 83 Paragraph 3, it shall supervise theTrusteeship Council and the trust territories.

Voting : Similar to the voting in the general Assembly, eachmember, permanent and non-permanent has one vote in the decisionmaking process. But, there two different decision making types:On procedural and ordinary issues, decisions are made by nineaffirmative votes of any members. In other words, all votes havesimilar weight. On important issues, decisions are also made bynine affirmative votes of members including the five permanentmembers. Here is the crux of the matter: This means that each ofthe five permanent members have got "veto" power on importantissues. This also shows that non-permanent members of the Councildo not have equal voting power in such matters.

Interested and disputant countries can participate in theCouncil sessions as observer with no voting right.

Finally, the Security Council can form subsidiary organs orcommittees to achieve its objectives. For example, it createdseveral peace-keeping forces for different crisis points such asCyprus, Palestine, Lebanon, Pakistan, Kosova, Serbia, so on. Oneof its sub-organs is the military Staff Committee, which was setup for the organisation of the military forces contributed by themember countries for the resolution of international problems.But, this Committee has never been operational because ofdisagreements and lack of common objectives among the fivepermanent members. it worked in no case.

3. The SecretariatThe secretariat is made up of a Secretary General and a

number of international staff for the running of the UNoperations. The Secretary General is the executive head of theUN. Therefore it can play a very important role both in theoperation of the UN and in the management of internationalaffairs. Because if its important, this post is very competitive.

The Secretary General is appointed by the General Assembly's2/3 majority upon a nomination by the Security Council for five-years term. Because of the importance of the post, there emergessome dispute among the permanent members during the nominationprocess. To overcome this problem, the Secretary General ischosen from the neutral countries, such as, in the past, fromAustria, Peru, Egypt, Kenya.

The Secretary General, as the chief administrator of the UN,can participate in the meetings of all the organs. He appointsthe staff from member countries in the view of their financialcontributions.

The Secretary General shall not receive any instructions andorders form his own state or any member states. He should beneutral. Similarly, the UN staff should abide by the sameprinciples. This is arranged in Article 100.

Functions:1. to act as a chief administer of the UN in international

relations,2. to participate in the meetings of the UN organs for

oversceing their activities,3. to perform roles and duties assigned to him by the General

Assembly and the Security Council,4. to prepare annual reports for the General Assembly about

the work of the UN, 5. to appoint the staff under the regulations established by

the General Assembly,6. Under Article 99, to bring to the attention of the

Security Council any matter that in his opinion threatensinternational peace and security.

4. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)The ECOSOC is the body to deal with social and economic

problems in the world. To achieve this objective, it hasrelations with all the subsidiary organisations.

The ECOSOC is made up of 54 members all elected by theGeneral Assembly upon nomination of the Security Council for fiveyears. Small and underdeveloped countries have the majority. Itmeets twice a year, one in Spring in New York, and one in Summerin Geneva.

Functions1. Making deliberations and recommendations on maters related

to economic and social problems, human rights, welfare,education, health, food, trade, transportation, population,drugs, and so on. They are not binding.

2. Making research and writing reports on the world problems.For example, World Economic Survey, UN Statistical Yearbook, UNYearbook on Human Rights etc.

3. Coordinating activities among the member countriesinterested. But his is not very effective and conclusive most oftime.

5. The International Court of JusticeThe International Court of Justice is an integral part of the

UN framework, unlike the case of the Permanent Court ofInternational Justice which was not formally part of the Leagueof Nations. All the UN members are automatically members of theCourt, but that doesn't meant that it can have authority overthem. Similar to the status of the UN itself, the Court caninvolve in inter-state disputes or problems only by their consentand remission. Thus the Court's decisions cannot be binding onthe members unless they desires. So, it is not like nationalcourts' position over the individuals and national institutions.

The Court is situated in the Heague in the Netherlands. It iscomposed of 15 judges who are elected by the General Assembly andthe security Council in the same way. Each judge is elected formdifferent member country for nine years. Re-election is possible.Decisions are made by majority of the judges. Nine judgesconstitute a quorum. As stated above, the Court can deal with theproblems only upon a demand form the member countries. And themembers are not obliged to submit their problems to the Court.But once a state submits a problem to the Court, it must abide byits decision.

Functions1. acting as a court for hearing and decisions,2. giving "advisory opinions" on legal questions, which are

not binding,6. The Trusteeship Council

It is a version of the mandate regime of the league ofNations. The Council supervises the colony territories on behalfof international community.

But today there are only a few colony territories in theworld. Therefore, the Council's function is almost out of date.

TOPIC 8:THE UNITED NATIONS:METHODS TO ACHIEVE ITS AIMS

The most important aim of the UN, like that of itspredecessor League of Nations, is to improve security, peace,cooperation and welfare in the world. This was formulated simplyas the prevention of wars and conflicts and promotion of peaceand security. But the question is how to achieve this highlysignificant aim, what methods o ways are there to achieve it.

The UN system has developed three methods for attaining itsaims:

1. Under Chapter VI, Peaceful Settlement of Disputes (legal,peaceful method).This method requires the use of legal instruments to

prevent a dispute form escalating into a level of conflict orwar. So this is a pre-war measure.

2. Under Chapter VII, Collective Security Mechanism (in theCharter it is stated as "Action with respect to threats tothe peace, breaches of the peace, and acts of aggression"(partly peaceful and partly coercive method).This is a rather comprehensive approach to end a war or

aggression so that international peace is restored. So this isused after the aggression, or start of a fighting and war.

3. Under Chapter IX, International Economic and SocialCooperation (functionalist method).This is a method to prevent wars and conflicts by using

functionalist cooperation among the states, by improving economicand social interdependence among the peoples. It is believed thatif the countries enhance economic interdependence, they fighteach other less likely.Now, let's seen in greater detail how these methods work:

1. Peaceful Settlement of DisputesThis method is generally used before the outbreak of

conflict, confrontation, fighting or war between two or more

countries. It is for preventing the outbreak of fihting or war,and thus maintaining peace and security. It asks the memberstates to resolve their disputes by peaceful means, dialogue,conciliation, rather than by resorting to arms. In an age inwhich mass destructive weapons are strung, it is a very prudentapproach because it prevents the catastrophic outcomes.

The UN showed the path for the peaceful settlement ofdisputes. As stated in Chapter VI, in articles form 33-38, itincludes three steps:

1. Step: As indicated in Article 33, if a dispute arisesamong states, the parties should seek a solution to their disputeby using one or more of the following diplomatic means:negotiation, inquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration,judicial settlement, going to regional agencies or organisations,or other peaceful means of their choice.

Let's see what they mean:1) Negotiation (müzakere): face-to-face discussion between or

among the disputant powers with the objective of reaching anagreement. No third party involves in the negotiaon process.

2) Good office (aracı) (not mentioned in Article 33): theassistance of a third party or state which is outside thedispute. It only offers a channel of communication or providefacilities for the parties to meet and negotiate.

3) Inquiry (soruşturma). A process of fact-finding activityby a neutral team of investigators. They make research andcollect data about the problem, and prepare a report ofconclusions to be resented to a court or institution.

4) Mediation (arabulucu) : when the third part not onlyinvolves but also makes suggestions to the parties for theresolution of the dispute. But it can have this position only bythe consent of the parties.

5) Conciliation (uzlaştırma) : involvement of a commissioneror officer of an international body or organisation. He tries topersuade the parties for an agreement by using diplomatictactics.

6) Arbitration (tahkim, özel hekimlik): submission of thedispute to a panel of judges or arbitrators who use legal sourcesfor the resolution of the dispute. At the start of the process,the parties sign an arbitration agreement called "compromise" in

which the method of selecting the judges to form the panel, thetime, the place of hearing, and the legal sources to be applied,and any other details are shown. All these details are decided bythe parties themselves.

7) Adjudication or judicial settlement (mevcut mahkemelerinkullanılması). Submission of the dispute to an internationalcourt such as the International Court of Justice in the Heague,or European Court of Justice.

2. Step : If the parties cannot resolve their dispute in theabove ways, the Security Council may involve in two ways: eitherby a call form the disputant countries, or by the SecurityCouncil's own initiative. Once the dispute comes to the SecurityCouncil agenda, it is debated by the Council members as well asthe disputant countries. The disputant countries can raise theirviewpoints, but they cannot use vote in the final decisionmaking. There can emerge two alternatives at the end of thenegotiations in the Council:

1. If there is an agreement at the end of the negotiations,the Council issues are solution for the settlement of thedispute. And the parties are obliged to abide by theresolution terms.

2. If there is no agreement, then the Security Council maydecide to transfer the dispute to another internationalbody, be it an international organisation, a commission ofinquiry or conciliation, the General Assembly, and so on.Or, the Council may ask the Secretary General to involveas a mediator.

Indeed, the Secretary General has involved in the peacefulsettlement of the disputes in different parts of the world. Oneof them is the Cyprus dispute for which the Secretary General(s)have been working for a solution for decades.

3. Alternatively, the security Council may retain the item onits agenda for a period of months, even years.

However, if the dispute deteriorates during the SecurityCouncil negotiations and no solution found, then under the famous"Uniting for Peace Resolution" the General Assembly can seize thedispute and try to reach a solution.

3. Step : Involvement by the General Assembly can occur invarious ways: a. by a request form the disputant countries, b. by

a request from the Security Council members, c. by a request formthe General Assembly members.

However, due to its nature and less power capabilities, theGeneral Assembly is less equipped to deal with the disputes. Itcan make recommendations, which are not binding. However, if thedispute is submitted to Assembly by the parties themselves, thenthey are expected to abide by the General Assemblyrecommendations.

4. Step: Submission of the dispute to the UN InternationalCourt of Justice. As stated before, the parties are free tosubmit the dispute to the Court, but once a decision is made bythe Court, the parties must abide by it.

Self-Defence as an interim measureSuppose the dispute could not be resolved by peaceful means,

and one of the disputant parties attacked and invaded the other,thus violated international peace and security and itscommitments shown in the UN Charter. What can happen? As aninterim and emergency step, the victim country can take "self-defence" measures under the Article 51. According to thisarticle, any country or group of countries have the right toself-defence against the aggressor alone or collectively untilthe security Council takes up the problem into its agenda andtakes necessary measures. Thus, while the self-defence measuresare implemented, the victim should inform the Security Council ofthe problem and ask for necessary measures. If the SecurityCouncil involves, then the self-defence measures should end, andthe collective security measures should start, as will beexplained below. But if the Security Council does not act andtake measures, then it is obvious that the victim can continue todefend itself. However, there are three preconditions for theself-defence operations.

1. The aggressor should be "defined and determined" clearly.2. There should be "no time gap" between the aggression and

the self-defence operation.3. The self-defence should be "proportional" to the

aggression.As stated above, the victim can sell-defence itself alone or

with the help of other states. And within that context, accordingto Article 52, UN members can establish "regional collective

defence" organisations for maintaining peace and security underthe UN regulations. For example NATO is such an organisation.

Moreover, under the same article, the UN Security Council canuse these regional international organisations in its ownoperations. For example, the UN Security Council used NATO inBosnia operations.

Suppose the UN Security Council remained inactive, or couldnot start collective security measures, then the General Assemblycan seize the aggression and take measures under the 'Uniting forPeace Resolution.' It can start the process in an emergencysession of the Assembly.

2. Collective Security MechanismWe know what the collective security means. It is a

collective opposition against an aggressor country for theprotection of both the victim and international peace andsecurity by using international measures ranging from sanctionsto war. In short, it is "one for all, all for one." Thesemeasures or arrangements are stated in the UN Charter, ChapterVII, Articles 39-51. Accordingly, if there is a "threat to thepeace or breach of the peace, and act of aggression", the UNSecurity Council shall involve and take necessary measures stepby step for the restoration of international pace and security.

1. Step: To determine that there is a threat to internationalpeace and security. This is stated by a UN Security Councilresolution. However, making a decision about who violated peaceand security and who is the aggressor is difficult because ofpossible disagreements or conflict of interests among thepermanent members of the Council. During the Cold War, theSecurity Council could not make such decisions for the Iraqiinvasion of Iran, the Soviet invasion of Afganistan, the Americaninvasion of Granada and so on. However, when there is a clearcase and a consensus among the five permanent states in the caseof the Iraqi invasion of Kwait, the security Council could easilymake the Resolution 660 in which the aggressor was asked to endits occupation.

If the aggression is not ended, then the Security Counciltakes further measures in the following steps.

2. Step : If the threat persists despite the warning by theCouncil, then interim or provisional measures are taken to stopthe further deterioration of the situation. Interim measures

include warnings to suspend diplomatic relations, or any othersteps depending on the case.

3. Step : If the interim measures are seen to be not enough,then under Article 41 the Security Council may impose sanctions(embargo) on economic, commercial, financial, diplomatic or another issues, but not any military actions. And it calls upon theinternational community to act o these sanctions. The sanctionsmay take different forms such as cutting-off, suspension, alldepending on the degree of vulnerability of the aggressor.

4. Step : If the Security Council believes after a while thatsanctions are begin violated and so not being effective topersuade the aggressor, it can take additional "militaryenforcement measure." This is not war declaration, but singmilitary tactics on the air, land and sea, to enforce thesanctions and prevent the countries from violating the sanctions.These tactics are blockade, interception of the aircrafts, ships,or trucks in the air, sea and land respectively which attempt toviolate the sanctions. All these measures are implement by theforces under the UN flag, but contributed by the membercountries.

Under Article 43. Member states are asked to contributemilitary forces or any other necessary facilities for theenforcement operations.

According to Article 47. The enforcement operations should bedecided and implemented by the Military Staff Committee, which isa sub-committee of the security Council. The Military StaffCommittee is made up of the Chiefs of Staff of the permanentmembers of the Security Council, and those countries whichcontribute to the operations in some cases. And the militaryoperations will be determined by a collective decision of theparticipant countries.

Peacekeeping forces and operationsA novel instrument used by the security Council for

maintaining peace and security is "peacekeeping forces andoperations." This is not included in the UN Charter, but inventedby the security Council in the 1960s. Peacekeeping forces aretemporary military forces which are contributed by the memberstates for the UN operations on specific international conflicts.They are formed to "keep peace" after a war between states ends.

So they are deployed on the conflict point after the war toprevent the repetition.

The decision on the creation and operation of, andcontributions for the peacekeeping forces are made by theSecurity Council. The Secretary General plays role in theassembly of the forces from the member countries, and in theimplementation of operations under the UN's "blue helmet"commander. Contributions are accepted from those countries whichare neutral to disputant sides. And costs are normally paid bythe contributors themselves. But if a contributor is unable topay the costs, the UN Budget is use for meeting the costs.

The time duration of the peacekeeping forces are also decidedby the Security Council, generally for there to six months, andmay be extended repeatedly.

A more novel development is that there emerged alternativeversions of the peacekeeping forces concept. Observing forces,peacemaking forces, and stabilisation forces.

What are the differences among them? The difference is to dowith the mission, objective, and use of instruments.

- Peacekeeping forces: They can be deployed in hot spots onlyby the permission of the warring sides. If one of them opposes,they cannot be deployed. During their work, they stand betweenthe enemy lines to prevent their contact and renewal of fighting.They just interpose between the warring parties physically andkeep them apart. They should remain neutral between thedisputants. They are not allowed to open fire to neither side atall. Indeed they do not have so much military power to fightagainst any side, because they carry small and light arms for useonly in low level attacks for self-defence. And, this lack ofenough military power can create problems if one of thedisputants uses heavy weapons against the peacekeeping forces, oragainst the enemy side. In these cases, the war may outbreakagain, or the peacekeeping forces may be killed.

- Observing forces : They are established for observing somedevelopment in the crisis areas such as elections, cease-firearrangements, human rights conditions, so on. They don't carryarms or weapons.

- Peacemaking : This is a rather new concept and development.According to this concept, the UN-led forces can "make" peace, byenforcing and imposing solutions on the warring parties.

Peacemaking forces can be deployed before and/or after theoutbreak of the war. Therefore, if it is deployed before theoutbreak of a war, it is called as "preventive force". In eithercase, they can open fire against the aggressor for preventing thewar. However, this can create problems on certain situationsbecause of "subjectivity" allegations.

The best way to prevent war and make peace is to implementadditional measures other than military force, such asdiplomatic, political, economic, financial instruments. Here, wemove to the third method of maintaining peace and security in theworld: that is the Functional Approach.

3. Functional Method for Peace and securityEquipped with a number of functional instruments and

organisations such as the World Trade Organisation, InternationalMonetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Health Organisation andmany others, the UN has the potential to create such aninternational society which have close, friendly, and cooperativeinteractions on a number of "soft and humanitarian" issuesranging from trade, economy, finance, technology, human rights,health, children, transportation and many others. The UNsubsidiary functional organisations can improve interdependenceand harmony of interests among the member countries, so thatproblems, disputes, and conflicts among them can be resolved bypeaceful and soft means. All these functional arrangements bringpeoples together, and improve harmonious relations among them.

This is the idealist view of international politics. And theUN was created by such an idealist philosophy. But, does it work?How far is it successful in achieving this idealist project?

In general, we can safely argue that it does not work as goodas expected and in such a way shown by idealist philosophy. But,we should also accept that it works for some cases, some periodsof time, and for some group of countries. In general, some of theUN functional organisations such WHO, ICAO, WTO, work for thebenefit of the whole international community and for the good ofhumanity, thus contributing to promotion of peace and security.However, some of the UN functional organisations such the IMF,the WTO, the World Bank and so on are not so successful inpromoting harmonious relations. but the problem here is not withthe UN organisations, but with the member countries, big orsmall, donor or receiver. More clearly, reel-politicalconsiderations and manipulations of these organisations by

powerful members, and the failure of small countries to makenecessary adjustments on their national problems for variousreasons are two important obstacles in the operation of thefunctional method.

In short, this is the heart of international relations, andthere are to conflicting theoretical perspectives about thisdebate: Realism and Liberalism. The solution is for you tofind!!!