Can institutions (in the sense of formal organizations) bear duties and be ascribed blame in the same way that we understand individual human beings to be morally responsible for actions? The idea of the "institutional moral agent" is critically examined in the guise of states, transnational corporations, the UN, NATO and international society in the context of some of the most critical and debated issues and events in international relations, including the Kosovo Campaign, development aid, and genocide in Rwanda.
In December 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the International Law Commission's articles on the responsibility of international organizations, bringing to conclusion not only nearly ten years of reflection by the Commission, governments and organizations on this specific topic, but also decades of study of the wider subject of international responsibility, which had initially focused on State responsibility. Parallel to this reflection by the Commission, diplomats and public officials, the body of international case-law and literature on the many facets of the topic has steadily been growing. Responsibility of International Organizations: Essays in Memory of Sir Ian Brownlie contributes to the body of international literature by collecting a broad spectrum of different and sometimes differing perspectives from well-known experts in the field, ranging from the bench to the Commission, academia, and the world of in-house counsel. The book is also a memorial to the renowned Sir Ian Brownlie, himself a former Chairman of the International Law Commission who, as a leading scholar and practitioner, greatly contributed to the reflection on international responsibility, including the responsibility of international organizations. Edited by Maurizio Ragazzi, a former pupil of Sir Ian, the book is an ideal companion to International Responsibility Today, a collection of essays on international responsibility which the same editor presented in 2005 in memory of Oscar Schachter, and to which Sir Ian Brownlie had contributed. The essays collected in Responsibility of International Organizations: Essays in Memory of Sir Ian Brownlie, conveniently grouped by the editor under broad areas for the reader's benefit, will be relevant not only to all those interested in this specific subject but also, more generally, to all those engaged in the field of international law and the law of international organizations.
Identifies the major weaknesses in the current United Nations system and proposes fundamental reforms to address each. This title is also available as Open Access.
International Organizations and Member State Responsibility: Critical Perspectives is the first international public law book entirely devoted to the topic of member state responsibility. Throughout its ten contributions, it takes stock of the legal developments brought about by the International Law Commission’s work on international responsibility, and critically unveils the major remaining conceptual gaps in the field. The novel approaches offered in the book serve as a repository of the various understandings within academia and legal practice that reflect the evolution of the contemporary law of international (member state) responsibility. Contributors: Ana Sofia Barros, Cedric Ryngaert, Jan Wouters, Antonios Tzanakopoulos, Catherine Brölmann, Esa Paasivirta, Francesco Messineo, Ige Dekker, Jean d’Aspremont, Niels Blokker, Paolo Palchetti, Ramses Wessel, Tom Dannenbaum This Volume was previously published as International Organizations Law Review Vol. 12, issue 2 (2015).
This book seeks to understand the obligation of the international community to implement the principles of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). With a focus on the humanitarian crisis in Syria, the volume examines what formal responsibility and actual capability international institutions have to protect and prevent civilians from systematic mass atrocities and presents an analysis of several prominent international organizations (IOs). Each chapter focuses on a specific organization and explores their formal responsibilities and how these pertain to the obligations of the R2P. Existing capabilities and actual abilities to address the challenges of R2P are analysed by looking at these issues before, during, and after the occurrence of the humanitarian crisis in Syria. With the UN not fully engaged in the Syrian conflict, the systematic human rights abuses have engendered greater attention on other organizations. This volume argues that if the UN Security Council’s inactions result in an abdication of responsibilities under the UN Charter, there should not only be a discussion of how the UN must alter its approach, but also an examination of whether there are alternative R2P paths for other MNOs to take in the name of international peace and human security. This book will be of much interest to students of R2P, humanitarian intervention, international organisations, Middle Eastern politics and security studies.
Since the UN's creation in 1945 a vast nexus of global and regional institutions has evolved, surrounded by a proliferation of non-governmental agencies and advocacy networks seeking to influence the agenda and direction of international public policy. Although world government remains a fanciful idea, there does exist an evolving global governance complex - embracing states, international institutions, transnational networks and agencies (both public and private) - which functions, with variable effect, to promote, regulate or intervene in the common affairs of humanity. This book provides an accessible introduction to the current debate about the changing form and political significance of global governance. It brings together original contributions from many of the best-known theorists and analysts of global politics to explore the relevance of the concept of global governance to understanding how global activity is currently regulated. Furthermore, it combines an elucidation of substantive theories with a systematic analysis of the politics and limits of governance in key issue areas - from humanitarian intervention to the regulation of global finance. Thus, the volume provides a comprehensive theoretical and empirical assessment of the shift from national government to multilayered global governance. Governing Globalization is the third book in the internationally acclaimed series on global transformations. The other two volumes are Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture and The Global Transformations Reader: An Introduction to the Globalization Debate.
Examines the activities of the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme, in relation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Inter-American Development Bank.
In an increasingly globalised world, it is becoming ever more difficult for nation states to adapt to the international consequences of market failures, government failures and global externalities without co-operation and co-ordination with other countries. In the absence of any form of world government, the most effective solution to this problem is either to create new international institutions, reform existing ones or work within the prevailing institutional framework.
The global implications of China's rise as a global actor In 2005, a senior official in the George W. Bush administration expressed the hope that China would emerge as a “responsible stakeholder” on the world stage. A dozen years later, the Trump administration dramatically shifted course, instead calling China a “strategic competitor” whose actions routinely threaten U.S. interests. Both assessments reflected an underlying truth: China is no longer just a “rising” power. It has emerged as a truly global actor, both economically and militarily. Every day its actions affect nearly every region and every major issue, from climate change to trade, from conflict in troubled lands to competition over rules that will govern the uses of emerging technologies. To better address the implications of China's new status, both for American policy and for the broader international order, Brookings scholars conducted research over the past two years, culminating in a project: Global China: Assessing China's Growing Role in the World. The project is intended to furnish policy makers and the public with hard facts and deep insights for understanding China's regional and global ambitions. The initiative draws not only on Brookings's deep bench of China and East Asia experts, but also on the tremendous breadth of the institution's security, strategy, regional studies, technological, and economic development experts. Areas of focus include the evolution of China's domestic institutions; great power relations; the emergence of critical technologies; Asian security; China's influence in key regions beyond Asia; and China's impact on global governance and norms. Global China: Assessing China's Growing Role in the World provides the most current, broad-scope, and fact-based assessment of the implications of China's rise for the United States and the rest of the world.
