Unit 3.2 – Global Governance (Political and Economic)
GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
Governance is all of the processes of governing (making and enforcing laws/policy/conventions),
whether this is undertaken by:
● A government(s)
● A market or network
● A social/religious group
: over any social system – a family, tribe, formal or informal organisation, a territory or multiple
territories; and whether this is done through:
● Laws
● Norms
● Language
In this way, governance differs from government. ‘The government’ as the classically-conceived
sovereign political entity is one way of executing ‘governance’, but ‘governance’ is a broader concept
which may be carried out by actors other than ‘governments’. Consequently, global governance is
different from the idea of a world government. A ‘world government’ requires a single political
sovereign for the planet, whereas it is possible for ‘governance’ to be carried out on a global scale
between a coalition of nation-states and non-state actors, even if there is no single world sovereign.
In this unit, we will explore institutions/mechanisms of ‘political’ and ‘economic’ global governance
– those elements of global governance that primarily concern political and economic issues. However,
it is not possible to completely disentangle the two; they are separated for reasons of analytical ease,
rather than because they are qualitatively distinct categories.
,POLITICAL GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
The United Nations (UN)
The most important institution of global governance is the United Nations (UN). The United Nations
was founded in 1945 as WWII drew to a close. Prior to this, the world had faced what some call a
‘long war’ spanning three decades.
● 1914-1918: WWI was fought, involving all major global nation-states. Many saw the roots of
this conflict as a battle for international and colonial influence between Germany and Britain.
Between 18-20 million people, both civilians and soldiers, were killed or died as a result of
starvation, pandemics, etc. resulting from wartime conditions
● 1919: The ‘League of Nations’ was founded at the Paris Peace Conference with the aim of
preventing future wars. The leading members were France, Britain, Japan and Italy. Three
powerful states did not participate in the League – the Soviet Union was excluded because it
was Communist; Germany was excluded as a punishment for starting WWI; and the USA did
not join, because although the League was President Wilson’s idea, the American Senate
refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles
● 1929: The ‘Wall Street Crash’ in the USA triggered a global economic disaster
● 1931: Japan invaded Manchuria, a resource-rich province in northern China. The League of
Nations did not take effective action and Japan left the League after being criticised
● 1935: Fascist Italy invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia). Again, the League refused to take action
● 1939: Germany annexed Czechoslovakia, after annexing Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia
the previous year. The League again refused to take action. Germany then invaded Poland,
triggering the Second World War. Over 60 million people died (3% of the global population
at the time), making it by some distance the bloodiest conflict in human history
● 1945: WWII came to an end with the defeat of the Axis (Japan, Germany, Italy)
The United Nations was therefore conceived of as a replacement for the League of Nations as an
instrument of global governance and the prevention of horrific wars; one that would hopefully be
more effective than the League of Nations in doing so. The United Nations Charter, the founding
document of the UN makes clear its foundational aims with reference to the events discussed above.
The preamble states:
“WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED; to save succeeding generations
from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and; to
reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the
,equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and; to establish conditions under
which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international
law can be maintained, and; to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger
freedom…”
Article I of the UN Charter makes clear that the maintenance of international peace and security; the
development of friendly international relations; and cooperation on global issues are the key aims of
the UN. Article 2 reaffirms the principle of state sovereignty and emphasises that international
disputes should be solved by peaceful means, not the threat or the use of force. However, it does also
acknowledge that force can be used “in the common interest”.
A brief history of the United Nations
Before looking at the structures and efficacy of the UN as it exists today, it is worth briefly examining
some key changes in the UN’s structure over time.
● 1945: The UN was founded. The five members of the Security Council (discussed below)
were the USA, the Soviet Union, the UK, France and China
● 1947: The Cold War was underway by this point. This was a global geopolitical rivalry
between the two main superpowers at the time – the authoritarian-Communist Soviet Union
and the (nominally democratic)-capitalist USA. Both attempted to ‘convert’ other states to
their ideological banner, either by economic influence or the use of force
● 1949: The Chinese Civil War (which started in the late 1920s, paused between 1936-1945
when Japan invaded China, and resumed when Japan was defeated in 1945) came to an end. It
was won by Mao Zedong’s Communist faction, which assumed control over mainland China
as the ‘People’s Republic of China’. Meanwhile, the Nationalist faction, led by Jiang Jieshi,
fled to the island of Taiwan and continued governing as the ‘Republic of China’, claiming
authority over Taiwan and the mainland (but really only exercising authority in Taiwan). The
US successfully insisted, against Soviet protests, that the Republic of China be defined as the
‘real’ China and should retain ‘China’s’ seat on the UN Security Council and in the UN. The
US hoped that one day, the Nationalist government could retake the mainland
● 1950: The Soviet Union briefly boycotted the UN over the China issue
● 1960-1970: The decolonisation of European empires in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean led to
a large number of newly-created, predominantly African states joining the UN. In 1964, under
the leadership of Algeria, the ‘Group of 77’ was formed – a coalition of developing states
which wanted to advance their interests in the UN. As a result, the UN began to shift its focus
away from conflict resolution and peacekeeping and towards social, economic, education and
health development programmes
● 1971: By 1971, it was clear that the Nationalists were not going to retake the Chinese
mainland, and that the Communist regime was there to stay. The PRC governed over
significantly more people and territory than the ROC and had a much larger economy and
military forces. Consequently, the UN voted to officially recognise the Communist PRC as
, the ‘real’ China and give them the ‘Chinese’ seat on the UN Security Council, whilst the US-
backed Nationalist ROC was expelled from the UN. As a result, Taiwan is still today a
technically unrecognised state
● 1975: The UN passed a resolution declaring that Zionism was equivalent to racism, against
US protests. This demonstrated the growing power of African and Asian countries in the UN
● 1989: The USA and the USSR declared the Cold War over. Paradoxically, in the two decades
preceding this (1970s and 1980s), despite the Soviet Union’s progressive military and
economic decline, it was at its most powerful relative to the US in the UN. This was because
they could rely on the votes/backing of the newly-recognised Communist China, and an
increasing number of pro-Communist decolonised states
● 1991: The Soviet Union collapsed and was dissolved into 15 republics. Russia was given the
Soviet Union’s seat on the Security Council. Between 1991 and 2001, the UN intervened in as
many conflicts as it did between 1951 and 1991. This is because between 1951 and 1991, the
Cold War rivalry between the Soviet Union and the USA prevented consensus on many
issues. With the collapse of the USSR, the US was left as the sole, dominant global
superpower and was able to more effectively impose its will onto the UN since it faced no
serious geopolitical opponents in shaping consensus in the Security Council
Structures of the United Nations
The UN has five active ‘organs’ – the Security Council; General Assembly; Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC); the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Secretariat. We will look at each
of these in turn and consider their strengths and weaknesses as instruments of global governance. In
doing so, it is important to consider a range of criteria:
● How effective is the institution at achieving its aims and implementing its policies?
● How democratic is the decision-making of the institution?
● How legitimate is the institution considered to be amongst nation-states?
The Security Council
The Security Council’s role is the protection of international peace and security. The resolutions
(decisions) of the Security Council are binding on all UN member states, something which is not true
of the decisions of other UN institutions. Where necessary, the Security Council’s decisions are
enforced by UN peacekeepers – soldiers which are provided voluntarily by UN member states. The
UNSC also recommends candidates for the position of UN Secretary-General; and nation-states for
membership of the UN.
The Security Council is based in New York. It is composed of five permanent members (the P5) – the
USA, Russia, China, UK and France; and ten non-permanent members who are elected for two-year
terms by the General Assembly, with the intention of giving representation to different areas of the
globe (3 from Africa, 3 from Asia-Pacific, 2 from Eastern Europe, 2 from Latin America and the
Caribbean, and 5 from Europe/North America). Security Council resolutions are passed if 9 out of 15
