International Organizations

Pankaj Ghuge



Namaste Everyone..

Today,
I'm glad to present one of the most fascinating topic, especially for Political Science students all over the world. The topic is too vast, and most of the concepts we are dealing with, may prove to be the subject for PhD thesis. However, we'll try to focus on basic understanding of the subject. I hope you all will enjoy this..

   EVOLUTION OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

International Organizations refer to a union or association of the nation states. It also includes non-governmental associations.

International Organizations are indivisible part of the modern globalised world. As the world continuously shrinks through developments and advancements in the fields of science and technology, the phenomenon of international economic and social cooperation is much strengthened by the effective role of International Organizations.

However, the idea and development of International Organizations didn’t evolve overnight. The study of evolution of International Organizations can be done through dividing the history into different phases and developments. 

Philosophical Roots –

Different philosophers of different periods of history advocated the idea of cooperation among different states. Philosophical roots comprise of the broad legacy of ideas of controlling warfare advocated by philosophers.

To trace the beginning, we can study the contribution of great Chinese philosopher, Confucious (551 – 479 BC). Along with his policies of deploring war, Confucious stated the Key Doctrines of International Relations.

The contributions of philosophers like Aristotle & Plato is also considered as one of the important development as it provided the philosophical base to phenomenon of International Organizations. Both of them opposed the policy of war, except in self defense.

In modern context, last four centuries show the philosophers who advocated different modern approaches to world like International Law, Decolonization, Disarmament & Free Trade.

Hugo Grocious, Father of International Law, has stated in his work “On the way of War & Peace” that law is essential for nation relations.

Jeremy Bentham, in his “Principles of International Law”, stated two important principles that would maintain the world order. Those two principles are Decolonization & Disarmament.

In the contemporary period, Richard Cobban advocated the principle of Free Trade.

To cut a long story short, thought process developed by these philosophers to maintain world order, laid a strong foundation of modern International Organizations.

Institutional Evolution:-

Institutional evolution of International organizations can be traced back to many centuries.

The ancient Greeks could be credited with first formal organization, the “Amphietyonic League” in the early sixth century BC. A little later, seventy Greek states formed the “Achaen League” of the Hellenes. These organizations can be considered as the foundations of modern International Organizations.

In the medieval era, with the movement of reformation, Renaissance, scientific innovations, industrial revolution & the expansion of trade and commerce, the whole definition of international relations went through a drastic change. As the world started becoming closer, new complexities of interdependence emerged, that gave birth to extended diplomacy in the form of international conferences, treaties & formal peace.

The first significant event in this context was the “Congress of Westphalia” which was held in 1648. It readjusted the religious & political affairs of Europe by creating sovereign & independent states.

Congress of Vienna: - 1815

Congress of Vienna which was called to reestablish the territorial divisions of Europe, is treated as the first systematic effort to regulate international affairs by means of regular international conferences.

Objectives & Importance of Congress of Vienna:-

                    i.                        Establishing security and peace in Europe

                 ii.                        It was decided that multilateral meetings would be held

              iii.                        Meetings would be held, not only during conflicts, but also during peace

            iv.                        Giving legitimacy to the nations

               v.                        All European powers came to an agreement & divided parts of Asia & Africa among themselves to colonize

Hague Conferences: - 1899 & 1907

The purpose of organizing these conferences was bringing together the principal nations of the world to discuss & resolve the problems of maintaining universal peace, reducing armanments& ameliorating the conditions of warfare. These conferences were organized by the ruler of Russia Tsar Nicholas II at Hague.

Hague conferences do play an important role in evolution of  International Organizations because,

                    i.                        For the first time European & Non European powers (Latin American States, China & Japan) came together

                 ii.                        Conferences believed that disputed issues to be solved by communications Arbitrations, negotiations & legal means.

              iii.                        Every nation state who is a member of conference is equal. (Principle of legal Equality)

            iv.                        Discussions were started about codification of international law

               v.                        Drawing the procedure to establish chair, various committees, voting system etc

League of Nations:-   

League of Nations was immediately established after the end of World War I. It was the time when all the nation states felt a need of  establishing such organization which will resolve the disputes by communication & other legal means.

Hence the League of Nations was established with two important objectives:

                            i.                        To prevent war

                         ii.                        Collective Security Arrangements

It was unanimously decided  that every nation will respect the territorial integrity & political independence of other states.

League of Nations was a strong platform of communication for all the states. It had Five important organs.

A) The Council    B) The Assembly    C) The Secretary

D) Permanent Court of International justice

E) International Labour Organization  

Great Britain, France, Italy & Japan were the permanent members of Council which was decision making body.

League of Nations functioned as a permanent international arrangement for settling the disputes. It was basically a peace keeping body which advocated that the conflicts & issues should be solved by negotiations.

However, League of Nations failed miserably due to the following reasons:-

                 i.                        United States initiated the process to establish League of Nations, but it never became a part of the organization.

              ii.                        League of Nations gave the utmost importance to the political integrity of the nations

           iii.                        Policy of appeasement of Great powers

         iv.                        League of Nations had no answer to the great economic depression, 1930

Failure of League of Nations led to the World War II. However, it cannot be denied that League of Nations in its initial stages proved to be very successful in maintaining peace in world order.

Hence, after the devastation of World War II, the world felt a need of such organization to maintain world peace. This need gave birth to UN i.e. United Nations that we see today. It has been functioning efficiently since last six decades.

To sum up, the International organizations have a definite history and stages of evolution. In all ages, scholars, intellectuals, philosophers & states in general terms, felt the need of international body to resolve their disputes & to establish peace.

It is because of their hope & aspirations of better world order, present day International Organizations could obtain such a strong and effective base.

Thank You all. All questions, comments suggestions are welcome. 

Best Wishes.