>>>>Dean Grillot: Let's talk a little bit about one way in which we can address and
solve problems in the global community, and that's through international law and the development
of international governmental organizations. It's important to acknowledge the fact that
these are governmental organizations. The emphasis here is on states and governments,
and how they work together collectively to address common problems. I mean as we've talked
about throughout this course, you know, states are very interdependent. The global community
is very interconnected, and so problems in one part of the world often have an impact
on problems in another part of the world or cause problems in another part of the world.
So it's it's best when they work together to solve those common problems, because no
one particular state, no one particular actor can solve any one particular problem. Take
issues like that we've discussed throughout this class like international terrorism, conflict,
war, poverty. No one particular actor can solve those problems. So they have to work
collectively, it's in their self-interest and their collective interest to do so. Now
to be sure, there's really nothing new about international law. In fact, states that have
been interacting with one another for some time in the global community for centuries
really, have been doing so in a way that they set out customary practices and ways in which
they expect each other to behave. This is really a precursor for today's international
law and organizations. But it's really been in the 20th century that we saw a huge leap
forward in terms of global interactions among states and nations and the creation of multiple
organizations. We'll talk about some of these later, but organizations like the United Nations,
for example, that were created after the Second World War, during the 20th century to address
collectively the problems that we face today. So to be specific, let's talk about some of
the formal organizations that are, that are operating in the global community today. As
I mentioned, like the United Nations, like the European Union, like the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization, or NATO. These are fine examples of intergovernmental organizations
in today's global community. These organizations are very formal in nature in the sense that
they have charters that establish them. They have states as members. They have secretariats,
meaning that they have certain locations. They have offices. They have a budget. They
have members that pay dues. They're very formal in their structure so these kinds of organizations,
international governmental organizations, are very critical in helping address, again,
common collective problems in the global community in a very formal way. Now these types of formal
organizations are distinct from more informal arrangements in the global community, arrangements
we call international regimes. International regimes are often based on certain types of
international laws or treaties; agreements where states come together and say: "Hey,
we don't want to pollute the oceans" or "We don't think nuclear weapons should be spread
around the world." So the Law of the Sea or the Nonproliferation Treaty are good examples
of treaties and laws that help create what we call an international regime, an expectation
of certain behavior. So when states get together and they write these laws and these treaties,
they're agreeing to behave in a certain way. They prescribe behavior, and they proscribe
behavior. They tell states what they can do what they can't do. And even though that's
the same thing as an international governmental organization like the UN, a very formal organization,
it's the same type of arrangement, except that regimes are nowhere near as formal. They
don't have secretariats. They don't have offices and budgets. They may get together to meet
frequently, but they're a lot less formal and a lot less costly, actually. So we see
many more of these than we do international organizations, formal organizations. We have
many more of what we call international regimes in today's global community. So whether we're
talking about international governmental organizations, formal organizations, or informal international
regimes, the outcome really is the same. Both of them enhance awareness and increase information
about partners within the global community. As states come together and interact and share
information about their interests, they know more about one another. They sign agreements
and treaties that lead to these organizations that then provide expectations for behavior,
and so we have more information about how other states are supposed to behave, and it
enhances our certainty about our partners in the global community. Ultimately these
organizations, whether it's a regime or a formal organization, they're there to help
increase chances for cooperation. In the international community, we do see a lot of cooperation.
It's usually through these organizations, formal and informal, that cooperation is best
achieved. So ultimately all of these tools: international laws, organizations, regimes,
treaties, regulations, they're all very meaningful tools that help states come together and collectively
solve global problems.