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121. G7 to G8 to G20: Evolution in Global Governance

Author:
Gordon S. Smith
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
This paper provides a brief history of the evolution of the Group of Seven (G7) from its origins in the aftermath of the 1971 breakdown of the Bretton Woods system of exchange rates and the oil crisis in 1973. It then discusses Russia's participation at summits after the fall of the Berlin Wall, formally joining the group in 1997, thus becoming the Group of Eight (G8). The paper gives a concise account of the formation of the Group of Twenty (G20) finance ministers and central bank governors in the late 1990s, in the wake of financial crises in Asia and Latin America, which was elevated to a leaders' summit forum at the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2008. The paper wraps up with a discussion of the differences in the G8 and G20 models, concluding that the G20 process is still the best option for meeting the challenges of complex global governance issues.
Topic:
International Cooperation, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, Financial Crisis, and Governance
Political Geography:
Russia, Asia, and Latin America

122. The Health Systems Funding Platform: Resolving Tensions between the Aid and Development Effectiveness Agendas

Author:
Amanda Glassman and William Savedoff
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Global health aid is exceedingly complex. It encompasses more than one hundred bilateral agencies, global funds, and independent initiatives that interact with an equally complex and diverse set of institutions involved in financing and providing health care in developing countries. Numerous efforts have been made to better coordinate these activities in the interest of making them more effective. The Health Systems Funding Platform (the Platform) is one of the most recent of these initiatives. Established in 2009, the Platform has advanced farthest in two countries, Ethiopia and Nepal, and is currently expanding to several others. This paper briefly assesses the Platform and argues that the way the initiative is proceeding differs little from prior initiatives, such as sector- wide approaches and budget support. However, the initiative does represent an opportunity to make global health aid more effective if it were to deepen its commitment to improving information for policy, link funding explicitly to well-chosen independently verified indicators, and establish an evaluation strategy to learn from its experience.
Topic:
Development, Health, International Cooperation, International Organization, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
Nepal and Ethiopia

123. Global Matrix: A conceptual and organisational framework for researching the future of global governance

Author:
Daniel Gros, Richard Youngs, Michael Emerson, Christian Egenhofer, Nathalie Tocci, Giovanni Grevi, and Jean-Pierre Cassarino
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
Conceptually, Global Matrix advances in a systematic and structured inter-disciplinary (matrix) framework a research agenda for examining the stance of major world actors on the key policy dimensions to world politics (political ideologies, economics, migration, climate change, security and world view); drawing out evidence of cross-cutting linkages (between sectors and among major actors); and evaluating the evolution and adequacy of existing multilateral institutions in relation to the emerging multi-polarity, and formulating recommendations.
Topic:
Security, Climate Change, Economics, Globalization, International Cooperation, International Organization, and Governance
Political Geography:
Japan, South Africa, Brazil, and Korea

124. The New Role of Central and Eastern Europe in International Democracy Support

Author:
Tsveta Petrova
Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
The new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe are increasingly engaging in international democracy support, especially in the former Soviet Union and the Western Balkans. They have leveraged their membership in a number of Euro-Atlantic international organizations and used their bilateral diplomatic ties with democratization laggards to motivate and pressure them to observe democratic norms and practices. They are also been supplying small but growing amounts of democracy assistance.
Topic:
Democratization, Development, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Soviet Union and Balkans

125. Rehashed Commission Delegations or Real Embassies? EU Delegations Post-Lisbon

Author:
Michele Comelli and Raffaello Matarazzo
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and the creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS) have transformed the delegations of the EU abroad which are the face of the EU in third countries and in international organisations. Previously they dealt with trade and aid only, now they also deal with foreign and security policy, coordinating and representing the positions of the EU in third countries. This is an important innovation, but one which poses new challenges. In addition, EU delegations to international organizations are confronted with specific problems: the member states' reluctance to recognize the new competences conferred by the Treaty to the EU and the discrepancies between the new provisions of the EU's external representation and the internal procedures of international organizations themselves. In order to use all the space for manoeuvre provided for by the Treaty EU delegations must pursue a double objective: further adapting the EU's external representation to the procedures of the main international organizations; and promoting deeper coordination between the EU and the member states, particularly when shared competences are at stake.
Topic:
International Organization, Regional Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe and Lisbon

126. Partners in Preventive Action: The United States and International Institutions

Author:
Paul B. Stares and Micah Zenko
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
With the U.S. military overstretched after a decade of continuous combat operations and Washington facing acute fiscal pressures, the strategic logic of preventive action to reduce the number of foreign crises and conflicts that could embroil the United States in burdensome new commitments has never been more compelling.
Topic:
Globalization, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, Peace Studies, and United Nations
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Washington, and Southeast Asia

127. Walther Schücking and the Idea of 'International Organization'

Author:
Frank Bodendiek
Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The article concentrates on the core issue of Walther Schücking's scientific efforts and his literary production as a publicist – the idea of international organization. It begins by situating Schücking's methodological approach, notably his desire to move beyond legal positivism, before moving on to analyse Schücking's specific understanding of the notion of international organization. Schücking argued that the general motto 'peace through law' should be attained by a 'republican organization' of the world and stated that a relevant trend towards a true rule of law on the international level was already on its way. In fact, Schücking went even further and postulated a world confederation 'Weltstaatenbund' as the centrepiece of the reform of international law and the key for the realization of all further progress in the field. Having assessed features of Schücking's reform programme, which he put forward with considerable consistency, the article argues that Schücking is rightly seen as a pioneer who broke new ground in analysing the phenomenon of international organization. The biography of Walther Schücking displays a very colourful picture of a most industrious legal scholar who in fact had the strong ambition to have an effect on the 'real world' outside the academic community. A short glance at the bibliography of Walther Schücking reflects his intent of having an effect on very different addressees. However, on closer inspection, it is immediately clear that – in particular in the years before World War I – Schücking's scientific efforts as well as his literary production as a publicist very much focused on one core issue: the concept of 'international organization.
Topic:
International Organization

128. Professor Walther Schücking at the Permanent Court of International Justice

Author:
Ole Spiermann
Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
In 1930, it was seen as critical by many to have a German jurist elected to the bench of the Permanent Court of Justice, and this was indeed achieved by the election of Walther Schücking. It may seem a paradox that in the following years where, in many cases, the Permanent Court exercised self-restraint and embraced arguments based on state sovereignty, probably the greatest supporter of notions of international organization and community to be associated with the work of the Permanent Court, namely Walther Schücking, occupied a permanent position on the bench. But then his 'optimism' was simply an extrapolation of the state on to the international level, leaving key values such as state sovereignty essentially unaffected. The interest in Schücking's contributions to the work of the Permanent Court lies not least in the fact that, even today, many lawyers approach international law in manners similar to his.
Topic:
International Law and International Organization
Political Geography:
Germany

129. Law's Frontier – Walther Schücking and the Quest for the Lex Ferenda

Author:
Jost Delbrück
Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Based on a short recapitulation of Schücking's family background and his formative years as a law student and young scholar, the article then focuses on Schücking as a left-liberal politician and – strongly influenced by Kant's tract on Perpetual Peace – as an adherent to a progressive international legal order based on the Organization of the World and the rule of law. Schücking participated in the Versailles Peace Conference and in this capacity supported the League of Nations project. However, he became increasingly critical with regard to the Versailles Peace Treaty which he held to be shortsighted and prone to lead to another World War. He withdrew from his political activities and concentrated on developing his concept of an international law as a dynamic tool to induce the necessary process of peaceful change.
Topic:
International Organization and Politics

130. Subsequent Practice and Established Practice of International Organizations: Two Sides of the Same Coin?

Author:
Christopher Peters
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
The present Article considers and compares the subsequent practice of the parties according to Art. 31 (3) (b) VCLT and established practice amounting to rules of an international organization (Art. 5 VCLT). The significance of these concepts lies in their potential to contribute to the adaptation of constituent instruments of international organizations to changing factual and normative circumstances. Established practice can serve as a hinge between the general law of treaties and the law of international organizations. The paper argues that both concepts are not two sides of the same coin, but that they have to be distinguished. Whereas subsequent practice primarily serves in interpretation, established practice amounting to a rule of the organization is quasi-customary law specific to the respective organization. It can even influence the preconditions for and significance of subsequent practice in the application of constituent instruments. Thus, the requirements for the agreement of the parties in accordance with Art. 31 (3) (b) VCLT can be relaxed and tacit consent can be recognized more easily. In some cases even organ practice which is independent from (all) Member States can create subsequent practice. However, these informal mechanisms of change raise problems of legitimacy.
Topic:
International Organization