1. Major actors in international relations
• European institutions
• States
• Countries
• International organizations (UN)
• NGO’s, nonprofit organizations
• …
1.1. States
General accepted features to become a state (4 major features): a government exercising
authority over the population, a territory, a permanent population and you must be able to
enter into relations with other states.
2 approaches/ theories concerning what the value of recognition is (recognition of states):
è Constitutive theory: a state can only become a state when it is recognized by other
international community and other countries.
è Problem: it can become very complicated because you need recognition by
the international community (all other countries in the world). There is no
world authority who chooses if something can become a state. Each
country decides for itself if they recognize that certain ‘state’. COMPLEXITY
è Declaratory theory: recognition is not required in this theory; you only need the 4
major elements/ features as mentioned above. This is mainly to establish diplomatic
relations with other states.
Examples:
• Taiwan
• Kosovo
• Palestine: is Palestine a state or not? It’s a very difficult case because of the very small
territory, you have people living there and you have a government, but they don’t have
full authority over the people living there because Israel still has some of authority
there. Also, some countries don’t recognize Palestine as a state.
1.2. International organizations
Features:
• An international organization is always established by states (States by the declaratory
theory but in reality, you have to get through a procedure and at the end it will be a
political decision. When countries don’t recognize a state, they can block their
application to enter an international organization.
• By means of a treaty: the major goals, rules to membership, expel memberships,
common objectives,
, • Organ with a distinct will from the member states. You’ll have to create your own
identity. You are more than separate wills of the member states.
• Established under international law, not under national law.
• International legal personality. You will have your own rights etc.
Examples: EU, WHO, OECD, OPEC, UN, WTO.
Why is UNICEF not an international organization because it is not established by states but by
the general assembly of the UN. It has not a separate legal personality, but it remains an organ
within the UN. Another bad example is the ECB, it’s an autonomous part of the EU but it still
is a part of the European Union.
Classification of international organizations (3 ways)
I. Open (universal) versus closed.
1. Open organization: every state can become a member, there are no
limitations. You do not limit membership in advance.
Examples: WTO, WHO, IMF, ILO, UN
2. Closed organization: not all countries can become members of this
international organization. They restrict access on basis of some categories
(geographically, based on principles of human rights etc., only countries with
the same colonial backgrounds, religions, only states where the majority of the
population is Islam, economic systems (OECD))
II. Supranational versus intergovernmental
1. Supranational: the member states delegate sovereignty to the international
organization. What does this mean in practice once you decide to give some of
your power away? The organization will take the decisions for you even if you
as a member state don’t agree. You can bind the member states against their
will (most essential feature of a supranational organization).
Sometimes it’s possible that all the members take the decision together. This
is done by majority voting so the states who voted against have to respect and
implement the decision that has been made. Another voting principle is that a
body, independent experts, they act and take decisions on behalf of the
interests of the organization and only the organization.
Examples: EU (to a certain extent because not in all the policy areas
supranational, for example: external political relations, foreign policy (the
political aspect), defence)
2. Intergovernmental: fundamental distinction is that with an intergovernmental
there is no transfer of sovereignty from the member states to the organization.
What are the consequences of this? The decisions made are not necessary
legally binding. The decisions will be taken as supranational organization. An
intergovernmental organization can make legally binding decisions when there
is a unanimous vote. It’s also possible that is only binding for the member
, states who voted for the decision and not against. Decisions by majority voting
is not legally binding but they are invitations to adapt the decision made.
Examples: General Assembly of the UN: they adopt resolutions by majority
voting. What does it mean for the value of a resolution? They are
recommendations, states are encouraged to do something, not legally
binding (because it is not supranational).
WTO, Council of Europe, IMF, World Health Organization etc. are mainly
intergovernmental.
III. Political versus functional
1. Political: broad and general objectives involved in many and different policy
areas because of the different objectives.
Examples: EU
2. Functional: it has very specific goals and objectives such as protecting human
health.
Examples: OPEC, IMF
1.3. International non-governmental organizations
They are established by and composed of private, nonstate international actors. Always
established under national law by means of contract and not by means of treaty. It’s broader
than the traditional nonprofit organizations.
Examples: ICRC (International committee of the Red Cross, it’s a unique one because it’s
established under national law, but it does have some rights under the international law),
Greenpeace, Medecins sans frontieres, Nestle (is a big multinational so not an traditional NGO
(broader)), ExxonMobil.
Different categories of international non-governmental organizations
1. Private-sector economic organizations such as multinationals and big pharma
organizations (they own a significant part of and operate facilities in states other than
the one in which it is based in).
2. NGO’s with explicit economic, political or social agendas
3. NGO’s that attempt to avoid overtly political roles
4. Terrorist and criminal organizations or networks.
Individuals
Do we play an important role in international relations? Depends on who you are, for
example: me versus Donald Trump. People like Merkel, Macron, Putin play an important role
because of their function. Rather exceptional an individual can be very important (ex. Nelson
Mandela). ‘Ordinary’ people like us do not play an important role in international relations.
, 2. Theories of international relations
It’s an approach to enter international relations. Each theory starts from basic assumptions
and once we have accepted these assumptions, we will analyze international relations in a
certain way.
I. Realism
The actors in international relations are the states and this is the only actor. They don’t deny
the existence of international organizations but it’s all about the states. Each state wants to
gain more power in IR, there is always a kind of struggle for more power (image: billiard
game). The final outcome is a balance of powers.
Based on the philosophy of T. Hobbes. The ideology on which this theory is based on is
conservatism.
II. Liberalism or pluralism (we will use this in the course)
The starting point is that there are various actors in IR, they all have a role to play in IR. They
work together because there is growing interdependency. It’s about cooperation where you
create a sort of spiderweb between all those actors.
Based on the philosophy of H. Grotius (need for common rules and cooperation). The ideology
on which this theory is based is liberalism. They emphasize the need of cooperation.
III. Economic structuralism
According to this theory the major actors are not states, or IO but the major actors are classes.
It’s about the struggle between the bourgeoise and the proletarians. Struggle between the
class who has everything, and they exploit the class who have nothing.
Based on the ideas of J.J. Rousseau and Karl Marx.
3. International cooperation in international organizations: peace and
security.
3.1. United Nations:
The origin of the UN
Founded at the end of WO2 at the end 1945. The reason to establish the UN was to bring
peace and to avoid a similar war like WO2 (maintain security and peace). The initiative came
from the UK (Churchill) and the USA (Roosevelt). After this the soviet-union and France joined
this organization. In 1945 they invited all the allies of the WO2 (a total of 50 countries) to
participate in a conference in San Francisco to join the UN. 50 countries signed this
constitution and ratified it.
Objectives of the UN (Art. 1 UN Charter):
• A multi-purpose organization (3 main purposes of the UN)
