Disparities of Power in International Organizations

Regional as well as international organizations have typically developed out of the recognition that few states have historically been able to go it alone in the world. Economic development has always required stable international relations to protect trading partners and sources of raw materials. States have also found that they must work together to survive threats from hostile countries (Rubenstein, 1989). This was as true when the ancient Spartans created the Peloponnesian League as it was when Woodrow Wilson called upon the world to create the League of Nations after World War I (Cartledge, 2003).

The multi-state organizations that have been created over time have not rivaled, threatened, or superceded the sovereignty of individual states. To succeed, however, they require long-term commitments of cooperation which theoretically emerge from the sense of mutual dependency that most states possess. Additionally, both weaker and stronger states see international organizations as capable of lending them legitimacy while simultaneously protecting their resources from others. Thus, as Bennett and Oliver (2002) have noted, the development of international organizations is very m

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f the Soviet Union, the United States often elected to act unilaterally rather than through the mechanisms available to it and other countries in the UN. Conversely, the United States has, through various administrations, found the UN hopelessly mired in debate, unwilling to recognize that sanctions have a limited effect on the behavior of nations and otherwise less competent in resolving international conflicts than is desirable. There are other criticisms articulated by Boutros Ghali (1999) that suggest that international organizations such as the UN are only as effective as their members will allow them to be. Despite the fact that these organizations do not seem to be fully able to meet their own stated goals and objectives, autonomous nation-states continue to pursue membership. Bennett and Oliver (2002) believe that international organizations provide services and channels for intervention that are indispensable to or at least valuable for maintaining an orderly international system. At the same time, if the major contribution that international organizations "can make to world affairs is to aid in breaking down barriers that divide the peoples of the world, the progress to date in eliminating those barriers often seem
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Approximate Word count = 2158
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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