Lesson 4 Contemporary Global Governance

Lesson Objectives

After this lesson, you should be able to:

1. Understand the concept of global governance;

2. Understand the role of the state amidst globalization;
3. Determine the challenges of global governance in the 21st century; and
4. Identity the roles and functions of the United Nations (UN).

Definition of Term

Global governance - collective efforts to identify, understand, and address

worldwide problems that go beyond the problem-solving capacities of
states (Weiss, 2010)

Global Governance

Global governance is the capacity within the international system, at any

given moment, to provide government-like services and public goods in the
absence of a world government. It is the combination of informal and formal ideas,
values, rules, norms, procedures, practices, policies, and organizations that help
all actors-states, IGOs, civil society and NGOS, TNCS, and individuals-identify,
understand, and address transboundary problems. At its simplest, global
governance is a set of questions that enable us to work out how the world is, was,
and could be governed, and how changes in grand and not-so-grand patterns of
governance occurred, are occurring, and ought to occur (Weiss, 2013).Today, a
gross disconnect is apparent between the nature of a growing number of
contested global problems (i.e., climate change, the proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction, terrorism, mass atrocities, financial volatilities, cyber threats,
transnational crime, and pandemics) and the political structures for international
problem-solving and decision-making. This is because of the traditional and age-
old political structures which have been in existence for centuries.

The Uncertainty of the Sovereign Territorial State or Nation-state

Since the end of the Cold War, the world is heading toward a less
centralized form of governance. As the United States is facing serious setbacks in
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, many emerging powers such as China, Russia,
and Brazil have formed regional alliances to create a multipolar and anti-
hegemonic order. This development is being referred to as the beginning of "the
post-American world" in which the United States retreats and the rest of the world
advances in economic power and political influence (Zakaria, 2008).

This is in unambiguous contrast to the kind of political entity which

determined our lives: the sovereign territorial state or "nation-state." In fact, most
Western countries have lived under this kind of state since the late 18th century or
possibly earlier. This kind of state has become the universal framework of social
development.

However, after centuries of serving as an example to most, if not all

sovereign countries, this kind of state is entering a phase of uncertainty. As a
review, the notion of "nation-state" has the following elements:

a. Continuous and broken territory (preferred)

b. Sovereign territory
c. The state has the monopoly both of law and of the powers of coercion.
d. The national state rules its citizens or subjects directly and not through
intermediate authorities.
e. Direct government and administration of inhabitants by the central
authorities of the "nation-state"
f. The state is considered to represent the people and the people serves as a
source of sovereignty or at least give the state legitimacy.
g. The citizenry was or ought to form a homogenous population (Hobst,
1996).

However, the rigidity interposed by this age-old kind of setup has been
disregarded several times in worldwide events: disintegration of the Soviet Union,
rise of transnational entities within states, global problems requiring global action,
Nowadays, the state's powers and functions have been undermined by
Supranational and infra-national forces, as well as what can be described as the
withdrawal of its inhabitants from citizenship. These supranational forces have
weakened the state in three ways:

1. The creation of a supranational economy wherein the transactions are

largely uncontrolled by states, resulting to the restriction of states to direct
national economies.
2. Rise of regional or global institutions, such as European Union, ASEAN,
UN to which individual countries defer either because they are too small to
engage in erective competition international competition or because their
economies are so weak.
3. Territorial borders had been made largely irrelevant by technological
revolution in transport and communications.

The Rise of Non-State Actors

 A huge rise of non-state actors resulted from the occurrence above
mentioned. These international organizations in the public and private sectors are
set with higher objectives and goals to participate in global governance and
improving lives. This rise also created a new landscape and new architectures of
global governance wherein multi-sector partnerships are present, such as
transnational businesses. Further, the loose structures of these organizations
allow more efficient courses of action than the bureaucracies of nations or states
can attain. The growth of non-state actors has meant more diversity in potential
players and partners. The proliferation of actors that are legitimately representing
stakeholders and contributing concretely to contemporary global problem-solving
means that we have come a long way from the state-centric model of traditional
international relations. The proliferation of non-state actors has ushered in an age
of global partnerships between private and public bodies on specific issue (Welss,
2015).

The United Nations

One important example of a non-state actor, an international government

organization (IGO) playing a vital role in the world's affairs, is the United Nations
(UN). The United Nations is an IG0 designed to make the enforcement of
international law, security, human rights, economic development, and social
progress easier for countries around the world.

The UN today is divided into five branches:

1. The UN General Assembly-is the main decision-making and

representative assembly and is responsible for upholding the principles of
the UN through its policies and recommendations. It is composed of all
member states and headed by a president elected by the member states.
2. The UN Security Council can authorize the deployment of UN member
states militaries, can mandate a cease-fire during conflicts, and can enforce
penalties on countries if they do not comply with given mandates. It is
composed of five permanent members and 10 rotating members.
3. The International Court of Justice can settle, according to international
law, legal disputes between States and give opinions, mostly advisory, on
legal questions brought to it by UN organs and agencies.
4. The Economic and Social Council-assists the UN General Assembly in
promoting economic and social development, as well as cooperation of
member States
5. The Secretariat- headed by the 5ecretary-General, provides studies,
information, and other dates when needed by other UN branches for their
meetings.
The G20+ and a New Framework for Global Cooperation

As reiterated above, in a globally integrated world economy, the need for

global collective action and stability is almost universally recognized. They
proposed new framework for global economic cooperation, with competent and
accountable coordination body (the G20+) and connected to a representative
global system (the UN), aims to preserve global economic stability and to ensure
that the global economy continues to grow inclusively to benefit all nations and
peoples equitably. The core functions, structure, membership, and ties to the UN
of the G20+ within the wider new framework for global economic cooperation
includes the following integral functions:

1. Facilitate multi-stakeholder, cross-disciplinary dialogue and policy solutions

2. Promote inclusive economic reform
3. Enable global economic crisis response