A Short note on Member States

Because the World Trade Institution (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) both have non-sovereign members, neither organisation refers to them as “member states.” The WTO calls its members “members,” while the IMF calls them “member countries.”The International Telecommunication Union is the oldest worldwide member state-based institution, having joined the United Nations System as a Specialized Agency of the T1088 following the UN’s founding.

Member states of the United Nations

The 193 sovereign states that are members of the United Nations (UN) and have equal representation in the UN General Assembly are known as UN member states. The United Nations is stated as  the largest intergovernmental organisation in the world.

In Chapter II, Article 4 of the UN Charter, the requirements for admitting new members are outlined:

• All peace-loving governments are welcome to join the United Nations if they embrace the Charter’s duties and, in the Organisation’s opinion, are capable and willing to fulfil those commitments.
• A decision by the General Assembly, based on the Security Council’s proposal, will determine if such a state is admitted to the United Nations.

A Security Council recommendation for admission requires affirmative votes from at least nine of the council’s fifteen members, with none of the permanent members exercising their veto authority. The General Assembly must then endorse the Security Council’s decision with a two-thirds majority vote.

Non-member states are invited to become observers at the UN General Assembly in addition to member states, allowing them to participate and speak at General Assembly meetings but not vote. Intergovernmental and multinational organisations, as well as entities whose statehood or sovereignty are not clearly defined, are often considered observers.

Member states of ASEAN

ASEAN is a political and economic union of ten Southeast Asian member states that promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military, educational, and sociocultural integration between its members and other Asian countries.

The major goal of ASEAN was to speed economic growth and, as a result, social and cultural development. A secondary goal was to foster regional peace and stability based on the rule of law and the United Nations charter’s principles.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has ten member countries, one candidate member country, and one observer country as of 2010.

Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand were the founding members of ASEAN on August 8, 1967. The company’s headquarters are in Jakarta.

ASEAN’s objectives have expanded beyond the economic and social sectors, with some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Following in the footsteps of the European Union, ASEAN agreed in 2003 to establish an ASEAN community with three pillars: the ASEAN security community, the ASEAN economic community, and the ASEAN socio-cultural community. The ten stalks of rice in the ASEAN flag and insignia represent the ten Southeast Asian countries united in solidarity.

Member states of the European Union

The European Organisation (EU) is a political and economic union made up of 27 member states that have signed the union’s founding treaties and thereby share the benefits and responsibilities of membership. They have consented, through treaties, to share certain, but not all, components of their sovereignty with the European Union’s institutions. For the union to approve some policies, state governments must agree unanimously in the Council; for others, collective decisions are taken by qualified majority voting.

The EU (also referred to as supranational) is unique among international organisations since it has formed its own legal order, which is both legally obligatory and supreme on all member states according to the requirements of the founding treaties (after a landmark ruling of the ECJ in 1964). The principle of subsidiarity, which states that choices are made collectively if and only if they cannot be made individually, is one of the union’s foundational principles.

Sovereignty of European Union

While the member states are sovereign, the union operates on a supranational level for the functions that have been agreed to be shared by treaty. (“Competencies that are not granted by  Treaties to the Union remain with the member states”). Previously restricted to European Community affairs, the ‘community method’ is now employed in a wide range of policy topics. Each member delegated combined sovereignty to the institutions in exchange for representation within those entities. ‘Sovereignty pooling’ is a term used to describe this process. These entities are then given the authority to draught and enforce European laws.If a country does not follow European Union rules, it may be punished or have money withheld.

Conclusion

As a result, nations have advocated for more multilateral collaboration to address the economic, commercial, and security issues posed by piracy. ASEAN members have discussed the need for the regional organisation to make some concessions and reorganisations in order to respond to the challenges that non-traditional security (particularly piracy) issues pose to the ASEAN members’ security. Despite the ASEAN’s efforts and intentions, the body is anticipated to shed its reputation as merely a venue for discussing security matters.