International Relations and International Security

1
International Relations and International Security

• Lecture 4
• International Organisations as
• Providers of Collective Security

2
Overview

• Conceptualizing International Organisations
• Characteristics
• Basis of Membership
• IOs as Instruments, Arenas and Actors
• Collective Security
• Collective Security vs. Collective Defence
• Examples
• United Nations
• UN and Collective Security
• UN vs. Regional Organizations
• UN Security Governance
• Conclusions
• Successes and Failures of International
  Organisations
  
• Future Relevance of International Organisations

3
Conceptualizing International Organisations

• Characteristics (Yearbook of International
  Organizations)
  
• Based on a formal instrument of agreement between
  the governments of nation states
  
• Including three or more nation states as parties
  to the agreement
  
• Possessing a common purpose
• Having a permanent secretariat performing ongoing
  tasks
  
• Global, intercontinental, regional membership
  organisations
  
• Geographic basis AU, ASEAN, OAS
• Functional basis NATO, WTO, CoE, OSCE
• Mixed basis EU, ECOWAS

4
International Organisations as Instruments

• Realist/neo-realist perspective
• IOs are set up by states, receive their mandates
  from states, are funded by states
  
• They are tools for carrying out state interests
• Their policies will be shaped by the interests of
  the most powerful member states
  
• Leaders of IOs depend on powerful states
• UN SG Boutros-Boutros Ghali was forced out by US
  in 1996
  
• US and EU have tacit agreement on World Bank and
  IMF leadership
  
• States engage or disengage with IOs according to
  their interests
  
• At times they seek influence within IOs to
  achieve their goals
  
• At other times they seek autonomy from IOs to
  achieve their goals

5
International Organisations as Arenas

• Liberal institutionalist perspective
• IOs provide forums or meeting places for states
• Allow for the exchange of information,
  networking, increased transparency
  
• Provide rules, procedures and formats for
  meetings on substantive issues (and thus
  structure outcomes)
  
• Provide a setting for iterated interaction over
  time
  
• A stage on which states can
• Air policy views
• Seek status
• Build consensus on joint action

6
International Organisations as Actors

• Constructivist perspective
• IOs are autonomous agents in world politics
  because they have a stable and coherent
  decision-making machinery
  
• Have effects in the international system that are
  independent of their member states
  
• Can affect the interests and policy choices of
  states (impose constraints/offer opportunities)
  
• Can reconstitute the structures of states
• Can promote norms to which member states adhere
  in their domestic and international conduct

7
Instruments, Arenas or Actors?

• No sovereignty
• Mandates depend on member state consensus
• Limited budgets ? limited tools of influence
• Resource dependency on member states
• Yet, empirically there are independent effects in
  international politics
  
• NATO and security sector reform in Central and
  Eastern Europe
  
• EU and membership conditionality
• OSCE and UN state-building
• WTO and trade rules

8
Collective Security

• Coalition building strategy
• States agree not to attack each other
• States agree to defend each other against an
  attack from one of the others
  
• an attack against one, is an attack against
  all
  
• Encourages international cooperation
• Examples UN, OSCE
• Distinct from collective defence
• States agree to defend their coalition against
  outside attack
  
• Likely to lead to competition and potentially
  conflict between rival coalitions
  
• Often means never ending arms races (security
  dilemma)
  
• Examples NATO, Warsaw Treaty Organisation

9
Examples of Collective Security Institutions

• Concert of Europe
• 1815 Congress of Vienna
• Great Powers (Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia)
  make decisions by unanimous vote (until approx.
  1848)
  
• League of Nations
• 1919 Paris Peace Conference
• Council of four great powers (United Kingdom,
  France, Italy and JapanUS never officially
  joined) and four other states (selected by the
  Assembly) adopt resolutions with unanimous
  consent (until 1939)

10
Examples of Collective Security Institutions

• United Nations
• 1945 United Nations Conference on International
  Organisations in San Francisco50 participating
  states
  
• Five permanent Security Council members with veto
  rights (US, GB, USSR, France, China), and, since
  1965, ten non-permanent members
  
• OSCE
• Established in 1973 as the Conference for
  Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE)
  
• 1975 Helsinki Final Act 33 European states US
  Canada
  
• Renamed in 1993, now 55 member states
• Permanent Council in Vienna for regular political
  consultation and decision-making

11
The United Nations and Collective Security

• United Nations Charter
• Chapter VI (Peaceful Settlement of Disputes)
• Chapter VII (Security Council deals with Threats
  to Peace, including authorizing use of force)
  
• Security Council has primary responsibility of
  dealing with threats to international peace
  General Assembly has secondary role
  
• Decision-making procedures
• 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year
  terms on regional quotas
  
• Passage of resolutions requires 9 out of 15
  votes, including no vetoes of Permanent Five
  
• Members of UN are obliged to comply with
  decisions of the Security Council
  
• Amendments to the UN Charter require 2/3 General
  Assembly and support of Permanent Five

12
United Nations vs. Regional Security Institutions

• Increased Division of Labour with Delegation to
  Regional Organizations
  
• NATO/OSCE/EU pillars in Kosovo since 1999
• Organization of American States (OAS) supported
  peace processes in Nicaragua, Haiti, Guatemala
  
• African Union has been active in Burundi (2003),
  Darfur (since 2004)
  
• Variation Across Regions
• Size OSCEASEAN
• Resources EUAU
• Mandates OASECOWAS

13
United Nations vs. Regional Security Institutions
OSCE
Belgium Czech Republic Denmark Es
tonia France Germany Hungary Italy Latvia Au
stria
Finland Cyprus Malta
Lithuania Luxemb. Netherl. Poland
Slovakia Slovenia Spain UK Ireland Swed
en
Monaco Holy Sea
Canada US Bulgaria Iceland Norway Roman
ia
Turkey
Tajikistan Turkm. Uzbekistan
EAPC/PfP
Andorra BiH Liechtenst. San Marino SM
Belarus Kazakhst. Kyrgyzstan Albania Armenia
Azerbaijan Croatia Macedonia Georgia Moldova

Russia Switzerl. Ukraine
NATO
CoE
EU
14
UN Security Governance

• UN security functions have expanded over time
• Peacekeeping activities (not officially in UN
  Charter still ad hoc and voluntary, but moves
  towards Peacebuilding Commission)
  
• UN High Commissioner for Refugees staff of
  5,000 currently assisting 20 million people
  
• UN Development Programme (post-conflict
  reconstruction)
  
• UNICEF (child soldiers)
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

15
UN Security Governance

• United Nations High Level Panel Report A More
  Secure World Our Shared Responsibility (2004)
  
• Expanded view of collective security
• Economic and social threats poverty, disease,
  environmental degradation
  
• Interstate conflict
• Internal conflict, civil war and genocide
• WMD
• Terrorism
• Transnational Organized Crime
• Shift from state-centric collective security
  institution to security governance institution?
  
• Institutionalisation/bureaucratisation of
  security functions
  
• BUT foundation of UN remains its member states

16
Successes and Failures of International
Organisations

• Successes
• NATO and EU
• Security Communitiesarmed conflict between
  members becomes unthinkable
  
• No armed conflict comparable to WWI (between 15
  and 65 million deaths) or WWII (approximately 57
  million deaths) since 1945
  
• Peaceful end of Cold War, no nuclear exchange,
  peaceful enlargement of NATO
  
• Promotion of global norms of human rights and
  development
  

17
Successes and Failures of International
Organisations

• Failures
• Lack of Agreement on Criteria for Use of Force
• Cambodia, Rwanda, Balkans and other cases of
  internal conflict/genocide
  
• Kosovo, Iraq and unauthorized use of force
• Continued relevance of power configurations
• Cold War (1950s-1980s)
• US Unilateralism (present)
• Multi-polarity (future)?
• Gap between legitimacy, capabilities and will

18
Future Relevance of International Organisations

• Unilateralism vs. Multilateralism
• Divergence of attitudes towards security
  institutions and international law
  
• Power differences
• Experience and history
• Cultural attitudes
• OR
• Convergence on a model of strengthened security
  institutions
  
• UN Reform
• Increased capacity
• Focus on governance issues

19
International Relations and International Security

• Lecture 4
• International Organisations as
• Providers of Collective Security