The Role of International Institutions in Attaining Global Peace - Dissertation Example

?The Role of International s in Attaining Global Peace The Role of International s in Attaining Global Peace Introduction The international institutions are conceptualized and created for global integration of business and administrative activities. The most famous of them include United Nations, Organization of the Islamic Conference, the South-Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and Association of South East Asian Nations. The international institutions are working in all parts of the world. The objectives of all of them vary a great deal but they have one thing in common that is the will to strive for global or regional integration of resources in order to improve a particular region or a whole planet. The United Nations for instance is working to eliminate hunger, poverty and war from the face of Earth while South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is working for economic growth of South Asian region. Recently major world population has initiated to consider international institutions as ineffective bodies that are not doing what they are supposed to do and due to this reason their trust upon them has significantly deteriorated over the past few years. All of the international and global institutions are working for achieving particular goals and objectives but what they lack is proper authority that is necessary for achieving their objectives. The global platforms are working in advisory capacity with all member nations and therefore the major decision power resides with national governments. The national governments have the authority to dismantle all the operations and send the officials of so-called global platforms to their homes. In the light of above argument it can be established that United Nations along with other institutions cannot do much in terms of eliminating national conflicts among countries because it does not have the proper authority to do so. However international institutions have the power to arbitrate national conflicts while they cannot force the conflicting nations in the direction of a resolution. It is also important to note that global organizations are operating with the help of member nations and therefore financially and economically strong ones have a political influence over the decision making of them. Still global institutions have an authority to place economic and fiscal sanctions but they cannot influence internal politics and national issues of any country. Nevertheless the ability to place sanctions is used to enforce discipline on member nations that follow anticlockwise policies than those which are approved by international institutions. Ironically it is a historically proven fact that those countries such as Japan that had faced sanctions from the UN emerged as economic powers later. Thus the power of international institutions is limited to only advising national authorities on economical matters while the local administration is free to nullify their suggestions and recommendations. So the real power to demonstrate flexibility and eliminate national and political conflicts lies with individual governments and international platforms can facilitate the process of mitigation but cannot force member nations to resolve their issues. Interestingly the underlying problematic concepts that are causing national conflicts include racial and religious divides amongst nations whereas few of them are holding old and historical grudges dear and therefore they are willing to plunge their next generations into war in order to satisfy their psychological need of violence and bloodshed. If humanity wants to eliminate conflicts then firstly it has forego the outdated concept of nationalism and every individual must consider him or herself as the citizen of the globe. The need to embrace global citizenship is a crucial one due to the global nature of the challenges humans are facing nowadays such as global warming, recession and employment. The threat of global warming is so immense that in few centuries Earth may become uninhabitable due to its adverse influences. The so-called global institutions are finally suggested to highlight commonalities of the problems each nation is presently facing and sincerely work towards their solution. International platforms are also recommended to make well informed and fact based decision making and the influence of stronger nations should also be minimized regarding strategic direction of concerned organizations. The absence of mutual trust and respect within the ranks of nations is also playing a significant role in undermining the position of international platforms in the process of peace preservation. Furthermore the process of maintaining peace is difficult because according to philosophers creating peace takes hundred years but it can be destroyed by a single gunshot. Notably the great wars in the history of mankind initiated by a single fire or an act of aggression and therefore the base of all conflicts is aggressive and violent thinking that translates into armed conflict in the right environment. Based on the above argument humans need to tolerate and respect each others’ differences and create a peaceful social mindset that will assist them in eliminating national conflicts in the long run. Conclusively it can be established that the role of international institutions in terms of resolving national conflicts remained negligible over the past number of decades. The issues of Palestine, Kashmir and Chechnya are unresolved despite UN’s explicit directions that order concerned nations to resolve these territorial problems with the help of dialogue process. However the idea of peace can be implemented by closely working with national governments and in addition international institutions must finance educational facilities in developing nations that are notorious for going to war over minute issues. It is because education has the power to promote planned and emotionless decision making while it has the unexplained ability to strengthen peace and love in societies. The process of establishing peace and harmony amongst nations is a long term one to say the least and therefore it will test the patience of those who will carry it forward. The role of global institutions will become very imperative in sustaining the peace in the world that has faced two World Wars and is standing at the verge of the third one. The global peacekeepers must inform and educate people about adversities of war and tell them that going into the third major engagement will destroy the future of humanity’s next generations. Literature Review The international institution is defined as a body that is designed to achieve integration amongst its member nations in a particular aspect of life such as World Health Organization is working in order to improve health standards all around the world. The World Trade Organization on the other hand is concerned with the policing of global economic activities to ensure their legitimacy. According to recent research the international institutions’ authority and power to impose decisions degrades when individual states’ interests and goals are divergent than those of the global organizations (Mitchell & Hensel, 2007). In the view of Tarrow, (2001) the international institutions should work towards global incorporation in their respective fields. The institutions have the responsibility of endowing resources into individual national economies so that they can play their due role in the globalized world of the 21st century. But the national conflicts are notorious for hindering the process of internationalization and therefore international institutions have to mitigate the domestic and regional conflicts before they can support the idea of globalization. However in recent years the international economic activity is growing between apparent enemies and because of this development it can be pressumed that the national gaps are finally coming down. According to Chimni, (2004) the global interdependence of economy, socialogy and technology is going to create a world where majestic governance style will become more prevalent. This futuristic development may cause weaker nations to become overly dependent on the stronger ones and thus it will further assist economic inequality to prevail in the international arena of trade and economics. The international institutions’ value and ability of intervening into the abovementioned process is considered important by scholars and philosophers of the present. The idea of global peace appears to be a vital concept to majority of nations as they are well aware of the destructions caused by two World Wars and dezons of isolated armed conflicts. In recent years any new war does not break while negotiations among nations are flourishing. The idea of global integration may result in the fiscal and economic development of weaker nations or may force them to surrender to the monetory supermacy of other countries. But international institutions may help the developing nations in fighting economic takeovers by financing the strengthening of their industrial and services sectors. The endowment of resources into developmental processes of the weaker nations seems to be far cry. It is because stronger nations have been known to control the decision making of international institutions and which they will use to hinder diversion of resources towards developing nations in order to save and grow their global trade share. The educational and economic development go hand in hand and predict longitudinal presence of peace in the society. Based on the above argument it can be established that education and fiscal development are sure ways of attaining peace (Rice, 2000). Nonetheless the commitment of resources towards national defense is also an important measure towards preserving peace because enemies will fear going into armed conflict with a powerful and stable opponent. Griffin, (2003) stated that globalization has placed weaker countries at a disadvantage because they do not have necessary sources needed to train and develop the modern human capital. In the view of the scholar international organizations such as World Trade Organization should commit resources towards developing viable human resources who can compete in the international labor market. American policy makers on the other hand do not sponsor friendly policies when dealing with majority of other nations in the world and because of this reason the superpower of the past is becoming more and more isolated in an economically and socially integrated world. In the light of Neo-Liberalism Theory governmental interference with nation’s international trade should be kept to the minimium so that the demand and supply of the goods and services can freely determine the prices. But in the practical sense the proposed system will lead to chaos in the international marketplace as the government will have no power over prices thus trademen will feel free to expliote the consumers in the open market. Keohane, (1995) said that the international trade associations should impress national management of the country towards committing their resources to produce products and services that they can produce efficiently while they must be educated to outsource or import those kinds of goods that are expensive to produce in a local setting. Another study told that different nutures of international institutions are stopping them to play their important role in the global community as many of them are working to address global issues while others are focusing on resolution of domestic and regional ones (Koremenos, Lipson, & Snidal, 2001). They on the other hand have opposing objectives and therefore there arises a conflict of interest among major number of international organizations currently working in different parts of the world. The concepts of major international institutions are formulated in post Second World War scenario (Kratochwil & Ruggie, 1986) as the world had commenced its recovery process from the devastations it experienced during the war time. Major theories of institutionalization stated that international peace promoting organizations are playing a vital role in eliminating war and thus strengthening peace in the world (Mearscheimer, 1995). But modern scholars tend to differ because international peace associations have little authority over controlling and managing behaviors of the states when it comes down to weather or not going to the war. The theory of neo-realism states that a country should participate in the process of globalization in order to gather the advantages whereas it should control and minimize the adverse effects of internationalization on local society and culture (Callahan, 2003). The idea of adopting American ways in the name of adopting globalization is considered wrong and met with resistance in several parts of the world. The theory of Neo-Liberalism is illustrating the point that nations should submerge into the international trade and social community through melting down its national boundaries and identity. In the literal intellect the application of Neo-Liberalism is not a practical one. It is because of basic and elementary human psychological need to remain attached to the bloodlines and national identity. And therefore the idea of entirely melting the national identity appears to be an alien one to majority of people even in the 21st century. The power of global justice system is currently being used against few races and religions (Nagel, 2004) whilst its ability to promote peace and tranquility is continually viewed with skepticism to say the least. Marsella, (1998) supported the concept of liberalism as the world is increasingly shrinking in terms of the mass and the telecommunications are getting better with every passing year. All of the mentioned facets contrributed towards growing the need of a similar culture all around the world so that people can communicate with each other with ease. The international laws governing global relations explicitly and clearly state that nations should not interfere with each other’s internal matters (Feinstein & Slaughter, 2004). However the need for internatuional trade is persistently growing in present thus inducing nations towards peaceful coexistence with other nations. The peace is considered a prerequisite for economic growth and therefore majority of the nations are preserving peace in order to establish their name and reputation in global marketplace. In the light of above statement the international institutions are suggested to work in the direction of strengthening trade between neighboring countries so that their economies become interdependent that will promote peaceful coexistence in the long run perspective. McCain, (2007) highlighted the role of America in promoting international relationships and trade. The American nation is the one that gave major innovations in the field of technology and sciemes for the past number of centuries. The idea of industrial globalization means that the US has to continue the creation of knowledge. And rest of the world should use the new knowledge to create commercialized products and services. In this manner trade will become something central in the lives of many nations and economic goals and objectives will stop the war. Finally governments and international organizations are suggested to tear down trade barriers among nations of the world so that their economies can become interconnected via increased imports and exports (Oneal & Russett, 2003). In parallel the cross border investment will also increase in its volume and then the economic and fiscal interdependencies will eliminate national conflicts and war as well. In addition international institutions are recommended to play their due role in strengthening industrial activities in fiscally weak economies so that they can compete in the international market more effectively. Findings The key findings of this study are enlisted as follows The international institutions are formed in order to support a particular facet of human life Some of the international institutions are working on a global scale while many of them are operating on regional and domestic level as well The role of international institutions in promoting and supporting global peace is negligible because they lack the proper authority to influence internal decision making of any nation The international institutions always work on an advisory level while the main authority resides with political leadership of the nation The international institutions operate with the help of deploying resources of their member nations Moreover the international institutions’ decision making process is unduly influenced by powerful nations The nature, management styles and objectives of many international institutions are contradictory to each other which creates a conflict of interest The presence of conflict of interest further degrades ability of international institutions to support global peace The promotion of international trade amongst the nations is considered as an efficient way of preserving peace in the long-run. The international institutions should work towards strengthening trade ties among nations in order to create economic interdependencies The presence of economic interdependencies will most probably stop nations to start a war against their trade allies The international institutions are suggested to play their part in promoting education and economic growth because both of them are known for preserving peace Conclusion This paper reviewed the role of international institutions in preserving global peace and found that the function of featured organizations is insignificant. The reason of insignificance is the lack of proper authority over the resources of member countries that are under the total control of the local government. The role of international institutions is therefore reduced to mere facilitation of arbitration and advisement. But in the process of arbitration international institutions cannot force the concerned nations to resolve the issues. Globalization on the other hand placed a premium on international trade and due to this development bilateral interdependencies are emerging within the economic systems of all the nations. Thus trade is the only way of promoting peace in the world because it will help the nations to understand each other’s importance in the journey of economic growth. The increasing and intensifying phenomenon of globalization has already caused betterment in ties of many nations. In the view of this research effort the educational, economical and technological growth occur simultaneously. The international platforms should have to play a pivotal function in bringing all of the nations to the same level of development so that the competition in international labor and product market can become symmetrical in the long run scenario. The idea of war is finally subsiding because no major military conflict took place in last three years and the US coalition forces are getting ready to evacuate from Afghanistan and Iraq. Arab world on the other hand is planning to finance recovery of war struck areas. Ultimately it can be observed that humanity is willing to invest in its fiscal future. The world’s political climate is favorable for international institutions and they have an opportunity to prove their opposers wrong by creating an integrative and international trade network. This trade network will also lend a hand in preserving peace. References Callahan, W. 2003. Beyond Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism: Diasporic Chinese and Neo-Nationalism in China and Thailand. International organization Vol 57(3) , pp.481-517. Chimni, B. 2004. International Institutions Today:An Imperial Global State in the Making. European Journal of International Law Vol 15 no.1 , pp.1-37. Feinstein, L., & Slaughter, A. 2004. 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