Introduction
After the world wars I and II, many leaders of the world saw the need of putting in place proper laws and institutions to govern the world in a manner that would make it very difficult for another world war to happen.
One of the key steps towards this direction was the establishment and strengthening of the United Nations, so that it could have the power and means of maintaining law and order in the world. This assignment is a discussion of how and why the United Nations, through the United Nations Security Council has been attempting to manage world order and why and how it has been unsuccessful.
Discussion
The term world order or new world order as its popularly known as, is used to refer to a bureaucratic system of governance of the world which advocates for global governance in disregard to traditional State sovereignty which advocates for national governance (Slaughter, 2005).
The term has its history from what was referred to as “illuminati” which was the movement responsible for the French revolution as well as revolutions in Europe (Stauffer & Williamson, 2005). Recently, new world order has taken the form of institutions which have global influence, appeal and presence like the United Nations and its affiliated institutions as well as the so called Breton wood institutions (Balogun, 2011).
One of the key UN affiliated institutions which has been trying to propagate and manage the idea of world order is the United Nations Security Council, which is concerned with global security. The UN, through the UN Security Council has been in the fore front in attempts to have a world which is centralized in terms of governance, administration, justice as well as in terms of trade.
The main idea behind the centralization of world’s governance is that such a world would be safer to live in, especially after the September 11 terror attacks on the United States.
It is worth mentioning that the United States actually controls the Un Security Council due to its veto power. In fact, many international relations analysts have argued that there is actually no difference between the United States and the UN Security Council. A good example to illustrate this scenario is the US led invasion on Iraq in 2003, in which the Security Council was unable to prevent the US from doing the invasion, despite the fact that there were no enough justifications for the invasion.
In its attempts to manage word order, the UN Security Council has been employing the strategy of carrot and a stick, in which countries of the world, especially the developing ones are given aid with strings attached. In some situations, they are required to relinquish part of their sovereignty to international bodies like the international criminal court and several other international treaties and conventions. Those counties which fail to comply are not only slapped with economic sanctions, but also military actions as well.
Why the UN Security Council attempts have been unsuccessful
The initial intention of establishing and maintaining world order was good. But due to the politics of domination between the rich and the poor nations of the world, the idea has been faced with enormous challenges, which have made the UN Security Council strain without much success in the management of word order.
It seems that there has been a growing resistance to the new world order which attempts to concentrate resources and power around the ruling elite and the bureaucrats at the expense of the common persons or citizens commonly referred by Karl max as the have nots (Milanović, 2010).
For instance, the recent uprisings in Arabic countries like Egypt, Libya and Tunisia were seen by many as an indication of civilian unrest and discontedment with the status of affairs in many countries which tend to pursue, propagate or support the ideology of a new world order.
The unrest in these countries led to the ousting of the ruling bureaucrats, who had taken the advantage of the capitalist ideology to propagate inequality, lack of fairness and equity between various segments of the society which exists in form of social classes, with the upper social class enjoying the benefits of capitalism in form of surplus, as the low social class suffer from poverty, unemployment and lack of basic social amenities (Milanović, 2010).
There have also been grassroots movements in form of civil society organizations which are formed by countries’ non-governmental sector. These civil society organizations have been working in a coordinated manner to push governments of countries to respect human rights, provide health care and education to the citizens. The idea behind the formation of civil society organizations is to empower the common citizens with information about their rights and the responsibilities of governments (Barlow, 2003)
The universal declarations of human rights agitates for the universal respect of human rights, civil liberties and freedoms like the freedom of worship, movement and expression. These rights and civil liberties advocated for by the civil society have the potential of affecting the stability of the new world order, especially in the fight against terrorism, which is thought to succeed under the limitation of some of the civil liberties and political rights as stipulated in the United States Patriotic Act enacted after the terrorist attacks of United States in 2001 (Abele, 2005).
The international criminal system of justice is intended to curb impunity and the violation of basic fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens. It is aimed at detaining and punishing leaders who violate the rights of their citizens. This has happened especially for countries like Rwanda, Yugoslavia among others. However, the court has been explained by many critics as being characterized by double standards between the rich and poor nations.
The impact of the international court system on security is that many countries of the world are improving their political systems to become more democratic instead of dictatorial or authoritative. This to some extend has led to increased freedom of expression of citizens which in a way has reduced the grip of the rich nations on the power to control and manipulate the resources of the world.
Economically, the grassroots movements have been able to lobby for increased opportunities for countries to do business with each other. The movements have also been very instrumental in pushing governments to offer business opportunities and provide friendly loaning facilities to citizens.
The world trade organization has been in the fore front in lobbying for increased interaction between nations in terms of doing business. It has also been working closely with individual governments to stream line their loaning facilities to be more friendly and accessible to many citizens (Barlow, 2003).
The World Bank and the IMF have been working hand in hand with the world trade organization to offer financial support to the developing countries to fight poverty and disease, like Hiv/Aids and malaria. These institutions have empowered many poor countries to boost their levels of education, health care and overall, their economies.
The economies of the poor countries have been improving from time to time, thereby reducing their dependency on the rich countries. This has been compromising the establishment of a new world order because the number of countries which may be manipulated for the gain of the rich countries is declining.
Technologically, the grassroots movements and institutions have been working hand in hand with governments to be more open to technology transfer. Many countries of the world are now adopting the use of technology, especially the information communication technology like the use of the electronic mail, the use of the mobile phone networks as well as the use of electronic money transfer systems like wire transfer, money bookers, western union, PayPal among others (Chorafas, 1988).
The use of information communication technology and the internet has enabled people to improve the way in which they communicate to each other in many sectors. In the trade sector, many people have been able to do business in various countries due to improved use of information and financial technology. Doing trade and business nowadays has become more efficient and convenient than ever, which has been advantageous to the economies of the poor or developing countries.
In the education sector, information technology has opened up more opportunities for people to do research and improve their academic qualifications in a friendly, convenient and efficient manner.
This has led to increased literacy levels in many countries, which has got a positive impact on the economy of many countries because many people are able to understand the nature of business transactions and how to undertake business in a sustainable manner.
This has consequently worked against the establishment of the new world order in which the rich states are able to consolidate resources and opportunities at the expense of the poor countries.
At the global level, the advancement in technology has been a growing concern especially the advancement of nuclear energy. Some emerging economies in Asia and Middle East are increasingly embracing nuclear technology as an alternative to the use of coal, crude oil and natural gas as sources of energy.
The use of nuclear energy is presumed to be environmental friendly and to possess the ability to generate massive energy to power the growth of economies of countries of the world. However, the use of nuclear technology has been a growing concern to the United States especially in regard to the issue of misuse of nuclear technology.
The fear is that nations like North Korea, Iran and Syria which are perceived as having a hidden agenda in their nuclear programs and described by the previous US president George W. Bush as “axis of evil” may use their nuclear technology to harm the United States, its allies and the world in general.
Nuclear energy may lead to nuclear terrorism. It may also have serious negative implications on the environment especially in regard to the disposal of nuclear waste if not properly managed. All these nuclear related issues are perceived as working against the establishment and strengthening of the new world order in which the elite concentrate the possession of technology and even the energy used for boosting economic productivity in countries of the world.
If the poor, emerging or developing economies are allowed to pursue nuclear energy, they will not only act as potential terrorist threats but would also act as serious competitors of the advanced economies like the United States and members of the European Union and the establishment of the new world order as well.
Conclusion
Throughout the discussion in this assignment, what has emerged is that the powerful States have been attempting, through the United Nations Security Council to establish a bureaucratic arrangement of world’s governance in which the elite would be controlling world’s resources and power.
The main idea behind this has been to ensure that the super powers maintain the status quo in terms of world’s politics, economy, culture and technology through the propagation of their ideologies and influence to the less powerful nations of the world.
However, there has been a lot of challenges in establishing the new world order, which have to some extend compromised the economic, political, cultural and technological security of the rich nations. The discussion may be summed up as a competition between the bureaucrats and the common person, whom, through the assistance of grassroots movements and institutions has been empowered to rise up and challenge the exploitations and discriminations which comes with the establishment of a new world order.
The United Nations Security Council has also been hindered by the presence of many non-governmental organizations, which work in partnership with governments of the developing world to empower the citizens with education, which is a very important tool in fighting the rich nation’s imperialism.
Education has enabled many countries in the developing world to embark on research, especially on agriculture and technology, which has enabled them to become self-reliant in terms of food and technological advancement. This has denied the rich nations, through the UN Security Council an opportunity to propagate the idea of world order, especially through giving aid to these countries, with some strings attached.
Reference List
Abele, R.P.(2005). “A User’s Guide to the USA Patriot Act and Beyond”. Oxford OX2 6DP: University Press of America.
Balogun, M.J. (2011). Hegemony and Sovereign Equality: The Interest Contiguity Theory in International Relations. Oxford OX4 2DQ: Springer.
Barlow, A.L. (2003). Between Fear and Hope: Globalization and Race in the United States. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Chorafas, D.N. (1988). Electronic Funds Transfer. Wellington Square: Butterworths.
Milanović, B.(2010). The Haves and the Have-Nots: A Brief and Idiosyncratic History of Global Inequality. Oxford OX2 6DP: Basic Books.
Slaughter, A.M. (2005). A New World Order. Woodstock OX20 1TW: Princeton University Press.
Stauffer, V., & Williamson, B.J. (2005). New England and the Bavarian Illuminati. Oxford OX1 3BN: The Invisible College Press, LLC.