Contemporary Global Governance

United Nations
The name United Nations (UN) was first used in the Declaration by the UN on January 1, 1942,
during World War II. It was coined by then the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Founded in
1945, the UN is an international organization whose mission and vision are guided by the objectives and
principles contained in its founding charter.

The UN represents the peak of modern globalization. This is, in fact, an intergovernmental
organization entrusted with promoting international relations as well as establishing and maintaining
international order. It was established on October 24, 1945, as a replacement for the ineffective League
of Nations right after World War II to avoid another conflict. During its founding, the UN had 51 member
states; now, the member states are 193 (United Nations Organization [UNO], n.d.). Its headquarters can
be found in New York and is subject to extraterritoriality. At the same time, some of its main offices are
located in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. It is interesting that voluntary contributions from the member
states finance the organization. The organisation's goals include maintaining international peace and
security, supporting human rights, fostering social and economic growth, safeguarding the environment,
and providing humanitarian help during hunger, natural disasters, and armed conflict (Anonymous
Patriots, 2017). Did you know it is the largest, most familiar, most internationally represented, and most
powerful global intergovernmental organisation?

Aside from this, the UN Charter was drafted at a conference between April and June 1945 in San
Francisco and was signed on June 26, 1945. After the conference, the charter took effect on October 24,
1945, and the UN began operation (Jochim, 2017). The Cold War between the United States, the Soviet
Union, and their respective allies hindered the UN's mandate to maintain international peace in its early
decades (Torell, 2018). In return, the organization participated in insignificant actions in Korea and Congo
while approving the creation of the Israeli state in 1947. The UN's membership grew significantly
following widespread decolonization in the 1960s. By the 1970s, the UN's budget for economic and
social development programs significantly exceeded its budget for peacekeeping. Meanwhile, after the
end of the Cold War, the UN took on some major military and peacekeeping missions carried out over
the world with varying degrees of success (United Nations, n.d.).

Role of the UN
The UN can act on issues confronting humanity in the twenty-first century, such as peace and
security, climate change, sustainable development, human rights, disarmament, terrorism, humanitarian
and health emergencies, gender equality, governance, and food production — all due to the powers
vested in its charter and its unique international character (UN-org, n.d.). Here are some of its specific
roles:

 Maintain International Peace and Security – In 1945, the UN came into being following the
devastation of World War II, with one central mission — maintaining international peace and
security. The UN accomplishes this by preventing war, assisting parties in dispute in reaching an
agreement, maintaining peace, and creating the circumstances for peace to last and flourish.
These tasks frequently overlap and, in order to be effective, thus need to be reinforced. The UN
 Security Council has the primary responsibility for international peace and security. Its General
Assembly and the Secretary-General play major, essential, and complementary roles, along with
other UN offices and bodies (About Us, n.d.).

 Protect Human Rights – The term "human rights" appears seven times in the UN's founding
Charter, making its promotion and protection an important goal and guiding concept. In 1948,
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights brought human rights into international law. Since
then, the UN has diligently protected human rights through legal instruments and on-the-ground
activities (United Nations, 2020).

 Deliver Humanitarian Aid – As stated in its charter, one of the purposes of the UN is "to achieve
international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or
humanitarian character." The UN first did this in the aftermath of World War II on the devastated
continent of Europe, which it helped to rebuild. The international community is now relying on
the UN to coordinate humanitarian relief operations due to natural and artificial disasters in
areas beyond national authorities' relief capacity (About Us, n.d.).

 Promote Sustainable Development – The UN's major focus remains to be on improving people's
well-being. Over time, people's perceptions of development have also shifted. Countries today
believe sustainable development offers the best way to improve people's lives everywhere. It
promotes prosperity and economic opportunity, increases social well-being, and environmental
protection (About Us, n.d.).

 Uphold International Law – The UN Charter has already set an objective, that is, to provide
conditions that allow for the maintenance of justice and respect for responsibilities originating
from treaties and other sources of international law. Since then, the development of and respect
for international law has been a vital part of the work of the UN. This task is carried out in
multiple ways — by courts, tribunals, and multilateral treaties, and by the Security Council,
which can approve peacekeeping missions, impose sanctions, or authorize the use of force when
a threat to international peace and security exists, if it is deemed necessary (United Nations,
2020).

UN System agencies include the World Food Program, UNESCO, and UNICEF. The UN's most
prominent officer is the Secretary-General, an office held by Portuguese politician and diplomat Antonio
Guterres since 2017. Nongovernmental organizations may be granted consultative status with the
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and other agencies to participate in the UN's work. The UN has
six principal organs, as follows:
1. General Assembly - The General Assembly, the main deliberative assembly, is the UN's central
policymaking and representative organ. The General Assembly is the only UN body with
universal representation, representing all 193 member nations. Every September of every year,
the organization's entire membership meets in the General Assembly Hall in New York for their
annual General Assembly session and a general debate, and many heads of state are expected to
come and speak. A two-thirds majority of the General Assembly must decide on crucial issues
such as peace and security, admission of new members, and budgetary matters. On the other
hand, some minor questions are decided by the majority. The General Assembly elects a
President each year to serve a 1-year term of office.

2. The Security Council – The Security Council is specifically for deciding specific resolutions for
peace and security. It has 15 members; specifically, 5 permanent and ten non-permanent
members. Each member has an equivalent of one vote. Under the same charter, all member
states are obligated to comply with the decisions of the Council. With this, the Security Council
determines whether or not there is a threat to the peace or an act of aggression. It encourages
disputants to resolve their differences peacefully and suggests techniques of adjustment or
settlement terms. In several cases, the Security Council can impose sanctions or even authorize
efforts to maintain or restore international peace and security. In addition, the Security Council
has a Presidency, which rotates and changes every month.

3. Economic and Social Council – The ECOSOC is mainly for promoting international economic and
social cooperation and development, is the primary sector in charge of coordination, policy
review, policy discourse, and recommendations on economic, social, and environmental issues
and implementing globally accepted development goals. It serves as the central mechanism for
the UN system's economic, social, and ecological activities and specialized agencies, thereby
supervising subsidiary and expert bodies. It has 54 members that the General Assembly elects
for overlapping three-year terms. It is the UN's central platform for reflection, debate, and
innovative thinking on sustainable development.

4. The Secretariat – Meanwhile, the Secretariat provides studies, information, and facilities
needed by the UN. It comprises the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of worldwide UN
employees who carry out the UN's day-to-day operations as directed by the General Assembly
and the Organization's other major organs. The Secretary-General is the chief administrative
officer of the UN, appointed by the General Assembly as per the suggestion or recommendation
of the Security Council. The term will last for five years and is renewable. Specifically, UN staff
members are recruited internationally and locally, working in duty stations and on peacekeeping
missions worldwide.
 5. The International Court of Justice – The primary judicial organ, called the International Court of
Justice, is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). It is the only one of the UN's six main
organs that is not based in New York (United States of America). The Court's role is to settle,
following international law, legal disputes submitted to it by states, and give advisory opinions on
legal questions by authorized UN organs and specialized agencies.

6. Trusteeship Council – The Trusteeship Council (inactive since 1994) was established in 1945 by
the UN Charter under Chapter XIII. This aims to provide international supervision for 11 trust
territories that had been placed under the administration of seven member nations and ensure
that necessary steps were taken to prepare the territories for self-government and
independence. By 1994, however, all trusted territories had attained self-government or
independence. The Trusteeship Council suspended operation on November 1, 1994 (Main
Bodies, n.d.).

Functions of the UN
Although the UN does not support its military, it has peacekeeping forces supplied by its member
states. On the approval of the UN Security Council, these peacekeepers are assigned to areas where
armed conflict has recently ceased in order to prevent soldiers from resuming fighting.

Moreover, in 1948, the General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a
standard for its human rights operations. The UN currently provides technical assistance in elections,
helps improve judicial structures and draft constitutions, trains human rights officials, and provides food,
drinking water, shelter, and other humanitarian services to people displaced by famine, war, and natural
disasters.

Finally, the UN contributes largely to social and economic development through its UN
Development Program. This is by far the world's largest source of technical grant assistance. The World
Health Organization, UNAIDS; The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; the UN
Population Fund; and the World Bank Group also play essential roles in this aspect of the UN. The parent
organization also publishes the Human Development Index annually to rank countries in poverty, literacy,
education, and life expectancy (Briney, 2019).

Global Governance in the 21st Century

Global governance was developed to explain an international system that was becoming
increasingly complex. It refers to the institutions, organizations, laws or principles, agreements, treaties,
and codes of conduct in the international system that controls or limit the behavior of processes, flows,
interactions, and actions or behaviors of actors in the international system. This international system
does not have a global government that exerts authority or implements laws that members in the
international system, states, or private organizations and individuals obey. According to Adil Najam,
global governance is the management of transnational processes in the absence of a worldwide
government. It requires a certain degree of organization and understanding among key international
actors regulating interdependent relationships globally.

Our current state of development appears to be marked by a growing sense of insecurity, social
disintegration, division, and a lack of hope, even among the young — who often confront a more
uncertain future than their parents. Unfortunately, the economic system promotes profits solely for the
wealthy, resulting in decades of stagnation, if not regression. Half of the world's population is still
struggling to meet basic needs (The Challenges of the 21st Century, n.d.) due to poverty, exclusion, and
other social challenges — with no secured solutions in sight. Aside from this, the world economy is
running on increasing debt, threatening a return to the financial chaos of a decade earlier, with
governments' room for maneuver reduced significantly. Moreover, a universal loss of moral
responsibility, high ethics or values, and even spirituality, which filled the vacuum of any higher human
purpose in a materialistic culture, has contributed to all of this (Lewis, 2021).

It is not easy to set priorities among the many challenges of today because everything is
interrelated. Some of the challenges of global governance in the 21st century include the following:

 Environmental Challenges – In the scientific community, the significant areas of urgent concern
are climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. For example, global carbon dioxide
emissions from fossil fuels have grown at an average annual rate of 2% since 1990 and hit record
levels in 2018, thereby reflecting the continued growth of the global economy (Dahl, Maja, &
Lopez-Carlos, 2018).

 Social Challenges – Unemployment is one of our most critical social challenges because it drives
exclusion and marginalization, with other negative consequences including increasing crime,
drug trafficking and use, domestic violence, family breakdown, juvenile delinquency, and
migration in search of better opportunities. Work done in the spirit of community service has
numerous advantages, including developing human character and empowering individuals to
reach their full potential. Unfortunately, neither governments nor private servants have found a
solution to this challenge. At the same time, this can be an effective tool to alleviate poverty and
provide a safety net for vulnerable groups; it does not address unemployment and the
associated waste of resources. Work is necessary for individual and social health (The Challenges
of the 21st Century, n.d.).

 Economic Challenges – One economic challenge is the growing risk of a global financial collapse
when the present debt bubble bursts. No reliable, depoliticized mechanism can deal with a
financial crisis at present. Whether a country receives or is refused an International Monetary
Fund (IMF) bailout in the middle of an economic meltdown is a function not of a transparent set
of internationally agreed rules but of several other factors, including whether the IMF's largest
shareholders consider the country to be a strategically worth supporting. No practical
international legal framework exists to ensure that global business enterprises are socially,
environmentally, and economically responsible (The Challenges of the 21st Century, n.d.).
  Security Challenges – Productive capacity in the global economy was never high. In addition,
average life expectancy is at an all-time high; hence, the potential costs of global war are also at
an all-time high. The rewards of war among states are loot, land, glory, and honor. Therefore,
populations sought greater wealth, social security, and various forms of protection which drove
nations to resort to war for ages.

Relevance of State Amid Globalization

Due to various meanings and shifting notions of globalization, the state's role in it is complicated.
Globalization is commonly characterized as the fading or eliminating of economic, social, and cultural
borders between nation-states. However, it has been defined in a variety of ways. Several scholars have
theorized that nation-states inherently divided by physical and financial boundaries will be less relevant
in a globalized world.

While increasingly low barriers to international trade and communication are sometimes viewed as
dangerous to nation-states, these developments have persisted throughout history. On the other hand,
air and sea transportation made same-day travel to other continents possible, considerably expanding
trade among countries. However, they did not abolish the sovereignty of individual nations; rather,
globalisation transformed the way nation-states interact with one another, particularly in the area of
international commerce (Hall, 2020).

Globalization has changed the state's role politically because of strengthened interstate
relationships and dependence on one another. States were created to be sovereign. However, they often
gave their sovereignty away to pooling in conventions, contracting, coercion, and imposition. This
phenomenon has led to increasingly similar jurisdictions across states and power being economic rather
than political progress because conditions now make political progression and regression together,
thereby causing states to become increasingly developmental.

The state's role has also changed because most states now have a high dependence on others.
Britain cannot govern and act as a state independently of the USA's influence and relationship. Since
World War II, Britain and other Western states have become structurally dependent, militarily, and
financially on the USA. Thus, every state's role has changed from being an authoritative figure to a
dependent figure relying on others to make decisions based on other's beliefs. However, this factor can
be positive because a strong state relies on strong allies (Buchanan, 2012).