International Organizations

An international organization is “a body that promotes voluntary cooperation and coordination between or among its members.” There are many types of international organizations, but one way of categorizing them is to distinguish between intergovernmental organizations and supranational organizations.

Background

• The development of international organizations has been, in the main, a response to the evident need arising from international intercourse rather than to the philosophical or ideological appeal of the notion of world government
• The growth of international intercourse, in the sense of the development of relations between different peoples, was a constant feature of maturing civilizations; advances in the mechanics of communications combined with the desire for trade to produce a degree of intercourse which ultimately called for regulation by institutional means
• The institution of the consul, an official of the State whose essential task was to watch over the interests of the citizens of this State engaged in commerce in a foreign port, was known to the Greeks and the Romans
• It survives to this day as one of the less spectacular, but important, institutions of international law. The consul was not, however, concerned with representing his state as such, and for this purpose ambassadors were used, being dispatched for the purpose of a specific negotiation
• By the fifteenth century this intermittent diplomacy had been replaced in the relations of certain of the Italian States by the institution of a permanent diplomatic ambassador in the capital of the receiving State, and the practice of exchanging ambassadors, complete with staff and embassy premises, is now a normal (albeit not compulsory ) feature of relations between states. Consular and Diplomatic institutions can be found in the origins of the subsequent and more complex institutions
• The League of Nations was the first international organization which was designed not just to organization operation between states in areas which some have referred to as ‘low politics’, such as transport and communication, or the more mundane aspects of economic co-operation as exemplified by the Metric Union, but to have as its specific aims to guarantee peace and the establishment of a system of collective security, following which an attack against one of the member-states of the League would give the rest the right to come to the attacked state
• The League failed in its own overriding purpose: preventing war. On the ruins of the Second World War the urge to organize was given a new impetus. As early as August 1941, American president Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill had conceded the Atlantic Charter, a declaration of principles which would serve as the basis, first, for a declaration of the wartime allies, and later, after the State Department had overcome President Roosevelt’s initial reluctance to commit himself to the creation of a post-War organization, for the Charter of the United Nations
• Also during the war, in 1944, the future of economic cooperation was mapped in Bretton Woods, where agreement was reached on the need to cooperate on monetary and trade issues, eventually leading to the creation of the international monetary Fund and the General Agreement on tariffs and Trade, among others
• The resurrection of the largest battlefield of the Second World War, Europe, also came accompanied by the rise of a number of organizations
• The Council of Europe was a first attempt, born out of Churchill’s avowed desire to create the United States of Europe, so that Europe could become an important power alongside the US and the UK
• To channel the American Marshall aid, the Organization for European Economic co-operation was created (In 1960 transformed into the Organization for Economic co-operation and Development),  and a relatively small number of European states started a unique experiment when, in 1951, they created the supranational European Coal and Steel Community, some years later followed by the European economic Community and the European community For atomic Energy, all three of which have now been subsumed into the European Union
• In Africa, the wave of independence of the 1950s and early 1960s made possible the establishment of the organization of African Unity in 1963, with later regional organizations such as Ecocas (in central Africa) and Ecowas (western Africa) being added
• In Asia, some states assembled in Asean, for their security, Australia and New Zealand joined the US in Anzus. A relaxed form of cooperation in the Pacific Rim area, moreover, is channeled through Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

Supranational Organizations

A supranational organization is different because member states do surrender power in specific areas to the higher organization. Decisions taken by a supranational organization must be obeyed by the member states. Often there are courts to determine when violations have occurred, although frequently enforcement mechanisms are not as effective as they are within nation states.

Commonwealth of Nations 

• The Commonwealth of Nations, commonly referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political organisation made up of 54 member states, almost all of which were formerly British colonial territory. It is headquartered in London
• Aims of the voluntary Commonwealth include international collaboration, the advancement of economic, social and human rights in member countries, and the promotion of human rights in member countries. The decisions of the different Commonwealth councils are purely advisory in nature

World Health Organisation 

• Global public health is the responsibility of the World Health Organisation (WHO), a specialised organisation of the United Nations tasked with this responsibility
• The WHO’s mandate includes the following goals and objectives: working globally to promote health, keeping the world secure, and serving the most vulnerable. According to the report, a billion additional people should have universal health care coverage, participation in the monitoring of public health hazards, coordination of responses to health emergencies, and the promotion of health and well-being, among other things

World Trade Organisation 

• The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is concerned with the worldwide norms of international trade between nations, and it is based in Geneva
• One of its primary responsibilities is to guarantee that trade moves as easily, reliably, and freely as possible

Conclusion

A major role played by international organisations is to assist governments in establishing a global agenda, mediating political bargaining, providing a forum for political initiatives, and acting as catalysts for the formation of coalition governments. They make it easier for member countries to cooperate and coordinate their efforts. International cooperation is essential for the preservation of peace as well as the promotion of security, prosperity, and justice around the globe.