INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS |
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European Union | WTO | NATO | IMF | G20 (semi) | World bank | United Nations | EEA | |
ILO | IMO | BIS | International courts | OECD | IEA | Council of Europe | OSCE | EBRD |
threat to multilateralism |
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Towards a more effective, |
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International Organisations (IO's) and their Mission to civilize the World |
International Organisations (IO's) and their Mission to civilize the World, an Article by Klaas Dykmann, Associate Professor for Global Studies at the Roskilde University in Denmark and Supporter of the Initiative.
Global imbalances were institutionalised and thus perpetuated due to the legitimation of international organisations as a result of their international and seemingly neutral character. From the beginning, international standards had a strong western influence, such as human rights and labour norms. Western values, norms and patterns became standardised rules and western concepts shaped the organisations and their policies. Yet, the civilising mission of international organisations was another powerful element perceived as a moral obligation. Consequently a problematic paternalism formed, categorizing countries and societies with attributes like “serious” and “inferior”. However, since the 1970s, the western imprint in international organisations would have been challenged by rising non-western powers. Their influence should gain a footing in the nature of the civilising mission of international organisations. Looking at criteria to civilize the world like health programmes and global governance, the western imprint is still more than obvious, states Dykmann. The civilizing mission, aiming to make the world more “European” or “western”, has led to many improvements, such as democratic standards, but generally fails to consider holistic approaches and the application of culturally appropriate measures so far. Accordingly, international organisations would have taken the role of normative global “governors” in the civilising discourse. A stronger focus on non-western internationalism will be of high interest and importance for further research and contemplations, especially in the face of current global developments and changes. Dr. Klaas Dykmann: "My argument that a global civilising discourse has been one of the essential driving forces for IO, shall contribute to a more accurate study of international organisations as an alternative to a questionable postcolonial overall condemnation of these institutions and too normative and applauding assessments of IOs as only universally-legitimate global “governors”. It will be of particular research interest in the future to look closer at non-western internationalisms and civilising features of IO's." The full article by Klaas Dykmann is available for download here. |
EU, UN and IMF | Reforms within structures of international cooperation: what is desirable, what is possible? |
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The 'Van Bylandt' lecture Age Bakker, Dutch trustee at the IMF, presented on 1 June 2011 a very clarifying explanation on gobal economic governance. It is clear global governance has failed. Speed of developments is one of the causes and now a new world economic order is outlining. Thinking of how a country should position in order to represent its interests in the best way. There are also consequences for positions within international organizations, such as IMF and it means a weakening for the Washington Consensus (*).
Globalization, network-economy, military power are all aspects that triggered changes in the world. Europe was not (enough) prepared for it. Now, slowly, new global governance patterns are growing and G20 together with the IMF, acting as crisis management and supplier for prevention are the nucleus.
80% of IMF money is put out in Europe. Situations has changed and it is not illogical that emerging countries wants to represent their interests. |
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(*) There is a report of the Dutch delegation to the Bretton Woods Conference in July 1944, which summarizes about some delegations, including Belgium: "The relationship between the Dutch and Belgian delegates can only be called excellent. There was constantly a very close contact between the two delegations, which showed that their insights on every point were entirely similar. The close cooperation has undoubtedly strengthened and greatly amplified the position of Belgium and the Netherlands at the conference. By acting jointly, the delegations represented an extremely important element in the international monetary and trading system and as such they were thus recognized. The good cooperation led, among other things, to a quota system where the Netherlands and Belgium were represented both in the Bank and the Fund as executive director or alternate executive director. This opens the possibility to get an appointment with the Netherlands, for example, during the first two years a Director designated for the Fund and an alternate for the Bank and Belgium a director for the Bank and an alternate for the Fund, while for the next period 2 year roles would swapped, etc. By the close contact and exchange of information and insights both delegations retained a complete overview of the work of the conference, since either Netherlands or Belgium was represented in almost every subcommittee or special committee". |
Washington Consensus |
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