International Governmental Organizations in World Politics (Essay Sample)

International Governmental Organizations in World Politics
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The globalization of politics has led to the increasingly significant role of international Governmental organizations (IGO), especially in international policy making. Thus, the modern era has witnessed a mushrooming of International Government Organizations dealing with global issues as well as nation-specific issues. Examples of these IGOs include United Nations, regional and intercontinental organizations. Many philosophers have argued that IGOs are not real actors as they are dependent upon the good will of states to be effective. This paper will provide a critical analysis of this notion.
It is undeniable that the obligations of the regional and international agreements, institutions and regimes limit the autonomy of states. The growing interdependence between IGOs and the states breeds a structure of international governance that radically challenges the state-oriented approaches to global policy-making (Weiss & Wilkinson, 2014). Realism claims that IGOs are established by the states and hence are dependent on them. Realists argue that IGOs act for the interests of states, particularly national security interests.
According to realists, institutions reflect the sharing of power around the world. Institutions are founded on the egocentric calculations of the superior powers, and thus, they do not have an independent influence on the state conduct. An exemplary example of this approach is the United Nation Security Council (Betts and Orchard, 2014). From this perspective, IGOs are tools for state interests. However, institutionalism strongly opposes this perspective of institutions and asserts that institutions can change state preferences and hence alter state behavior. Institutions may discourage countries from calculating self-centeredness based on the way each move influences their relation power institutions (Weiss and Wilkinson, 2014).
In the modern era, IGOs are not strong independent actors and therefore, they find it very hard to reach agreement on important issues. Realism perceives IGOs as intergovernmental actors who cooperate due to shared interests of state governments and hence are not independent in their decision-making. The argument holds that policymaking is unanimous and reliant on states, that the role of global bureaucracy is efficient, and that states are authoritative. United Nations is an intergovernmental institution as it reflects the coinciding interests of different member states. Credited delegations, each representing its government, are responsible for endorsing most policies. The other principle of the decision-making of IGOs is transnationalism that is grounded on the concept of transcending national interests, whereby independent international officials have the power to exercise authority. Conversely, United Nation, which is a transnational organization that represents a universal good that surpasses the total personal state interests (Betts and Orchard, 2014).
A close examination of IGOs’ policy-making behavior reveals that IGOs do not act independently to a larger extent. Moreover, they have quite autonomous impacts on the global systems, and that state-oriented approaches are irrelevant. It’s no doubt that most IGOs have been effective in developing and at times executing, policies that may not be regarded as the simple outcome of interstate negotiations. In this modern era of politics, IGOs deal with many issues, such as climate change, HIV/AIDS and peacekeeping that can be considered state matters and they do affect states’ interests in such issues. IGOs make influential decisions that reach all corners of the world and affect both private and public spheres, such as reproductive rights and government spending respectively (Weiss and Wilkinson, 2014).
IGOs can act as state administrations, execute governmental activities and even support, develop and establish new states. Moreover, IGOs pose sanction on countries; reform their financial systems and economies and change their institutional and political landscapes. E...