You may have heard of the UN, the World Bank and especially the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the news. Have you ever wondered what these organisations are and how they operate?
Here, we will be covering international organisations, commonly referred to as International Governmental Organisations (IGOs). We will be looking at:
- The definition of international organisations
- The role and functions of two different types of international development organisations
- The importance of international organisations
International organisations: definition
Let us look at the definition of IGOs.
IGOs are transnational organisations between more than two sovereign states, created to help solve development problems collectively.
The United Nations (UN) is a prime example of an IGO, with 193 member states. Other examples of IGOs include:
The European Union (EU)
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
The World Health Organisation (WHO)
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
The African Development Bank (ADB)
The World Trade Organisation (WTO)
The World Bank
The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Types of international organisations
While focusing on the role of international development organisations in global strategies for development, we will divide IGOs into those whose primary focus and effects are either:
These are broadly the two types of international organisations that are present. Below, we will also look at the functions of international organisations and their importance.
Fig. 1 - International organisations can have multiple aims, including giving financial assistance to and helping the economic development of countries that need it.
The role of international development organisations with economic effects
First, we'll look at the functions and roles of international development organisations with economic effects.
Over the 20th century, perhaps no other IGOs have had a larger impact on global development than the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
The IMF as an economic international organisation
The IMF acts as a lender for countries in debt and provides loans to developing countries to help fight poverty. Officially,
Its main objective is to promote an orderly system of world trade, within which member nations can develop their economic capabilities.” (Livesey, 2014, p. 211) 1
As an IGO, the IMF is there to help regulate the global economy.
In theory, it is an IGO that enables access to funding and provides expertise in economic development strategies. However, the realities are different.
The IMF does not freely give out loans to developing and struggling countries. Instead, the IMF provides conditional loans on the basis that they adopt neoliberal economic policies. These are known as Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs).
Structural Adjustment Programmes by the IMF
SAPs are given under the conditions that the country:
- Allows ‘free trade’ by removing restrictions on imports and exports.
- Regulates private companies less (deregulation) by reducing employment and environmental laws.
- Cuts taxes for Transnational Corporations (TNCs).
- Promotes privatisation, which involves selling industries owned and run by the state into private company hands.
Evaluating the IMF’s role in development
To evaluate the IMF’s role in global development we must look at the effects neoliberal SAPs have had on developing countries. Evelyne Hong (2000) says SAPs have only negatively impacted less economically developed countries (LEDCs) compared to those that did not take a loan from the IMF. These include:
Increased poverty.
Increased inequality.
Poor social conditions, i.e. reduced health and education outcomes.
Corruption.
Environmental damage.
Social unrest.
The reasons for this are:
Deregulation, privatisation, and reduced taxes lead to low pay and less available funds for governments to spend on health and social care provision. When there is development, the already better-off gain more whilst the poor face greater poverty.
SAPs reorient the economy to export markets rather than domestic needs. This often leads to the production of ‘cash crops’. Environmental damage follows in the form of deforestation, land deterioration, and increasing levels of CO2 emissions.
According to Hong (2000), the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s occurred due to increasing cuts to social services and welfare provision alongside increasing poverty levels, which caused political upheaval and social unrest.
The World Bank as an economic international organisation
Working closely with the IMF, the World Bank provides loans to governments of developing countries. The World Bank has the primary objectives of reducing poverty and improving living standards among its member states.
However, this has often been restricted to loans for specific, large-scale, infrastructure projects such as dams, which have been inappropriate for wider development. They often come at the expense of displacing some of the poorest communities.
Between 2004 and 2013, 3.4 million people were forcibly removed from where they live and had their land taken from them in the name of World Bank development projects.2
From 2009 to 2013, more than $50 billion was poured into projects with the highest risk for 'irreversible or unprecedented' social or environmental impacts.2
The importance of international organisations: criticisms of the IMF and the World Bank
Whilst the importance of international organisations is clear, the criticisms of the IMF and its SAPs can be applied to the World Bank. To summarise:
- The IMF and the World Bank, with their SAPs, are heavily criticised for their role in global development strategies. In particular, they are said to have imposed a particular model of economic reform, namely, neoliberalism.
- Neo-Marxists would argue that World Bank and IMF policies are merely signs of hegemony (domination) from the ‘West to the Rest’ that only serve to make LEDCs more exploitable by ‘Western’ TNCs.
Hegemony refers to the "leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group over others" (Antonio Gramsci, 1929).
The functions of international organisations with political effects
Though the IMF and The World Bank play an implicit role in political affairs, IGOs like the United Nations (UN) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) do the same explicitly.
The United Nations as a political international organisation
The UN has a global membership with 193 states in its ranks. It has a range of political, cultural, and economic institutions focused on various issues.
The UN's official aims include:
Ensuring international peace and security.
Encouraging co-operation to resolve economic, political, and cultural problems
Dispute resolution.
Promotion of human rights and freedoms.
Whilst the UN is seen as a more ‘pro-LEDC’ organisation than either the IMF or the World Bank, the extent to which it can positively affect global political development strategies is perhaps best illuminated by deep diving into the example of the COP (Conference of the Parties: i.e., all the signatories to the UN Convention on Climate Change) meetings around climate change.
It is a good example when considering both the strengths and weaknesses political IGOs like the UN can have in affecting global development strategies.
Positives: In 2015 at COP24, a pledge was made to keep warming below +1.5C by 2100. As of 2021, in the years that have followed, global promises to cut down emissions have decreased the expected global warming of the earth from an estimate of +3C by 2100 to +2.1C by 2100.
Negatives: Even with global public pressure and even when faced with the quite literal apocalyptic consequences of global temperatures going above +1.5C, the largest emitters and most powerful nations have still offered very little in the way of achieving this.
Fig. 2 - There are debates as to the effectiveness of the UN's aims.
The World Trade Organisation as a political international organisation
The World Trade Organisation has a few defined functions and aims. These include:
Establishing world trade rules.
It has over 150 member states, which between them hold 90 per cent of all world trade.
It has the stated intention of promoting free and fair trade across all nations.
Its critics (Rodrik, 2018; Edelman, 2005; Jang, 2002) argue that in practice the WTO:
Pushes neoliberal reforms.
Excludes developing countries from important discussions.
Places free trade over all other considerations. For example, measures of sustainability are not included.
Creates an unequal relationship between developing and developed nations.
SAPs force developing countries to open up their economy to Western exports, but are ineffective at making developed nations return the favour. This is because, as is often the case in large IGOs, the richest nations are the most powerful in allowing/pushing through policies.
Consequently, this leads to rules that are more favourable to them and their economies.
International Organisations - Key takeaways
- International Governmental Organisations (IGOs) are transnational organisations between more than two sovereign states, created to help solve development problems collectively.
- We classify IGOs by their primary focus and effect, which are either economic or political.
- Economic IGOs include the IMF and the World Bank. Over the 20th century perhaps no other IGOs have had a larger impact on global development strategy.
- The IMF and World Bank imposed Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) on developing countries in return for loans. SAPs forced neoliberal economic policies onto developing countries which have then had a range of negative effects.
- Political IGOs include the UN and the WTO. The extent to which the UN can positively affect global political development strategies is limited compared to other IGOs. The WTO has been criticised for disadvantaging developing countries and prioritising free trade above all.
References
- Livesey, C. (2014) Cambridge International AS and A Level Sociology Coursebook. Cambridge University Press
- Chavkin, S., Hallman, B., Hudson, M., Schilis-Gallego, C., & Shifflett, C. (2015). How The World Bank Broke Its Promise to Protect the Poor. The Huffington Post. (2015). Retrieved 11 October 2022, from https://projects.huffingtonpost.com/worldbank-evicted-abandoned
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