The book provides a succinct and much needed introduction to the Council of Europe from its foundation through the early conventions on human rights and culture to its expansion into the fields of social affairs, environment and education. Founded in 1949 within a month of NATO, the Council of Europe was the hub of political debate about integrating Europe after the Second World War. After the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, it was thrust into the limelight again as the test bed where all newly liberated European states had to prove their democratic credentials. Now it is the political arena in which the closely integrating states of the European Union face the twenty European states still outside the EU. Its European Court of Human Rights hands down judgments which all member states must respect, and its monitoring activities report on conditions concerning democracy, human rights and the rule of law across the whole continent. The Council of Europe has negotiated international agreements against the death penalty, torture, corruption, cybercrime and terrorism. It works for political pluralism, media freedom and fair elections. The treatment for minorities, efficient local government and strengthening non-government organisations are part of its daily agenda. Today the states of Greater Europe come together to discuss their present and their future in the Council of Europe Providing a wealth of factual information and describing and analysing the key debates within the organization, this work will be of great interest to students and scholars of international organizations, European politics and international relations.

Contemporary governance is a contested field of competing institutional schemes and system of rules. This book analyzes new institutional trajectories, the renewal of old institutions or the emergence of new ones, to understand their interaction and how they can help renew collective action in a new world of global digital capitalism.

This book examines the key motivations for and challenges to greater regional integration in Southeast Asia. It demonstrates how security and economic concerns -domestic, regional and international - have either contributed to, or detracted from, an increased level of unity and cooperation in ASEAN. It also explores how the patterns of interaction and socialization generated by these issues, together with the nature of domestic political systems, have affected the emergence of common values, norms and interests. It covers the full range of issues confronting ASEAN at present, and the full range of ASEAN countries, and discusses both developments in ASEAN to date and also likely future developments.

Globalisation has put national labour movements under severe pressure, due to the increasing transnationalisation of production, with the production of many goods being organised across borders, and the informalisation of the economy. Through a range of case studies, this volume examines the possibilities and obstacles to transnational solidarity of labour in a period of global restructuring and changing global political economy. It brings together a range of international and transnational case studies, examining successful and failed transnational solidarity covering inter-trade union co-operation as well as co-operation between trade unions and social movements within the formal and informal economy, and the public and private sector. It is structured in six parts and examines: Globalisation and the new challenges for transnational solidarity Inter trade union co-operation across borders. The dynamics of co-operation between trade unions and social movements across borders, looking at developing and developed countries. The struggles to defend the public sector against private service providers. The possible ways forward towards transnational solidarity of formal and informal labour in the global economy. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of International Political Economy, International Relations, Industrial Relation, Globalisation, Geography and History.

This book analyzes how, and under what conditions, African International Economic Organizations (IEO) have evolved, and what individual and collective contributions, if any, these African IEOs have had on Africa's socio-economic development. Providing a comprehensive and accessible overview, the book covers the continent's main IEOs, The United Nations Economic Commission on Africa, The African Development Bank; and The New Partnership for Africa's Development as well as the five major Regional Economic Communities, including Economic Community of West African States, and Southern African Development Community. Assessing the degree to which African IEO's have been able to chart their own course in coming up with their development agendas and priorities rather than following the lead of Global Institutions, this book: Provides a descriptive and analytical overview of the historical and contemporary development blueprints produced for Africa Clearly examines the contribution made by African economic institutions towards development Considers whether African economic institutions are building blocks or stumbling blocks in Africa's development Offers a detailed evaluation and critique of African IEOs Enabling the reader to reach a deeper understanding of the challenges and potentials of development on the African continent, African Economic Institutions will be of interest to all students and scholars of African politics and development studies.

Four world food organizations are based in Rome: FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization); WFP (World Food Programme- British spelling is used in Rome); WFC (World Food Council); and IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development). For obvious reasons, acronyms are widely used when discussing their functions and activities. FAO came into being in 1945 even before the United Nations was officially launched; its original and continuing purposes are to aid agriculture worldwide so that "freedom from hunger" might actually become a reality. WFP is an experimental, now quasi-permanent institution of the early 1960's, using agricultural surpluses of the industrial countries to assist the development of agriculture in the newly created nations of Asia and Africa. In November 1974, the UN held a World Food Conference in Rome. It was the largest meeting of its type ever held, and out of its deliberations were born the WFC and IFAD. The former was designated the coordinating fuction of worldwide agricultural activities; the latter was to assist agricultural development, primarily in low-income Third World countries "the poorest of the poor." For reasons elaborated in the book, the World Food Council has been of marginal utility in the pursuit of its coordinating function; IFAD has been quite successful even though greatly underfunded. The production, distribution, and utilization of food is largely a function of individual countries. These four world organizations have as their principal purpose the improvement of agriculture in Third World countries. Talbot describes what they do to alleviate the continuing and often devastating problem of world hunger and why they really are unable to do what they were created for.

One of the more prolific and influential analysts of multilateral approaches to global problem-solving over the last three decades is Thomas G. Weiss. Thinking about Global Governance, Why People and Ideas Matter, assembles key scholarly and policy writing.

This collection organizes his most recent work addressing the core issues of the United Nations, global governance, and humanitarian action. The essays are placed in historical and intellectual context in a substantial new introduction, which contains a healthy dose of the idealism and ethical orientation that invariably characterize his best work.

This volume gives the reader a comprehensive understanding of these key topics for a globalizing world and is an invaluable resource for students and scholars alike.

The Organization of American States (OAS) is the world's oldest regional multifunctional organization. This work provides a clear and comprehensive discussion of this important body, dealing with security, technical cooperation, and the construction of democratic institutions.

Providing an incisive analysis of the history, decision making procedures, relevance, functions, and operations of the OAS, this book also examines the organization in the context of the web of international and regional institutions that deal with global governance and international politics in the Western Hemisphere. In this accessible and concise text, M?nica Herz seeks to move beyond the well-studied roles of the OAS as a tool of foreign policy and assess the increasing significance of its independent normative and operational activities.

Providing an important resource to those seeking to fully understand the activities and impact of the OAS, this work will be essential reading for all students of Latin American politics, international organization, and global governance.

The Organization of American States (OAS) is the world s oldest regional multifunctional organization. This work provides a clear and comprehensive discussion of this important body, dealing with security, technical cooperation, and the construction of democratic institutions.

Providing an incisive analysis of the history, decision making procedures, relevance, functions, and operations of the OAS, this book also examines the organization in the context of the web of international and regional institutions that deal with global governance and international politics in the Western Hemisphere. In this accessible and concise text, Monica Herz seeks to move beyond the well-studied roles of the OAS as a tool of foreign policy and assess the increasing significance of its independent normative and operational activities.

Providing an important resource to those seeking to fully understand the activities and impact of the OAS, this work will be essential reading for all students of Latin American politics, international organization, and global governance.

This book analyzes the development of the European Parliament's (EP) committees and their relationship with national political parties in the light of the EP's increased legislative role over the last three decades. The book argues that national parties have a greater incentive to care about what goes on in the EP given the growth in its legislative power. Because most of the EP's detailed legislative work takes place in its committees, national parties should be concerned about their involvement with the EP's committee system. Based on extensive original research, this book shows how the EP's committees have changed over time in response to legislative empowerment and analyzes how national parties and individual MEPs use the committee system to further their policy goals. The book makes a theoretical contribution by providing an explanation for the variation in powers of committees between separated and fused systems of government and by adapting theories of legislative organization developed in the context of the US Congress, to the EP. The European Parliament's Committees will be of interest to students and scholars studying the European Parliament, EU institutions, policy-making, and the development of legislatures and political parties.

The notion of a single political organization encompassing the whole of humanity-a world state-has intrigued mankind since earliest recorded history. This book provides a concise yet comprehensive overview of the history of world government, and questions whether political globalization, in the form of a federal world government, could and should complement the ongoing processes of economic and cultural globalization. While the potential peacekeeping advantage of such a state is obvious, the consensus judgment has always been against it, because it could lead to totalitarian tyranny. Yunker examines whether this judgment is still correct, considering that nuclear weapons of unimaginable destructiveness now exist, capable of destroying human civilization as we know it. Summarizing the lessons of history, the author suggests that while the conventional world federalist concept of an unlimited world government is still impractical in today's world, there may be a role for a limited federal world government that would go well beyond the existing United Nations, thereby providing a stronger institutional basis for the evolutionary development of genuinely effective global governance. This book is an important resource for all students and scholars of global governance, international relations and international organizations.

One of the most pervasive phenomena that distinguish the early 21st century is the prevalence of international organizations (IOs). There are IOs in virtually every sector: political, economic, trade, social, educational, scientific, defense, and so forth. Some IOs are restricted to clearly defined activities and closely controlled by their members; others just grow and grow, moving into new sections and becoming more powerful in some ways than their members. The second edition of Historical Dictionary of International Organizations provides a comprehensive overview of the major international organizations, both intergovernmental and international intergovernmental, of the 20th and 21st centuries. While the emphasis is on organizations that continue to operate today, important organizations that have ceased to exist are also included. This reference includes a chronology, an introductory essay, and over 700 cross-referenced dictionary entries on the organizations, significant leaders, pioneers, founders and members.

A PDF version of this book is available for free in open access via www.tandfebooks.com as well as the OAPEN Library platform, www.oapen.org. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license and is part of the OAPEN-UK research project. Structures and processes occurring within and between states are no longer the only - or even the most important - determinants of those political, economic and social developments and dynamics that shape the modern world. Many issues, including the environment, health, crime, drugs, migration and terrorism, can no longer be contained within national boundaries. As a result, it is not always possible to identify the loci for authority and legitimacy, and the role of governments has been called into question. Civil Society anf International Governance critically analyses the increasing impact of nongovernmental organisations and civil society on global and regional governance. Written from the standpoint of advocates of civil society and addressing the role of civil society in relation to the UN, the IMF, the G8 and the WTO, this volume assess the role of various non-state actors from three perspectives: theoretical aspects, civil society interaction with the European Union and civil society and regional governance outside Europe, specifically Africa, East Asia and the Middle East. It demonstrates that civil society's role has been more complex than one defined in terms, essentially, of resistance and includes actual participation in governance as well as multi-facetted contributions to legitimising and democratising global and regional governance. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, international relations, civil society, sociology, European politics and global governance.

Globalisation has put national labour movements under severe pressure, due to the increasing transnationalisation of production, with the production of many goods being organised across borders, and the informalisation of the economy. Through a range of case studies, this volume examines the possibilities and obstacles to transnational solidarity of labour in a period of global restructuring and changing global political economy. It brings together a range of international and transnational case studies, examining successful and failed transnational solidarity covering inter-trade union co-operation as well as co-operation between trade unions and social movements within the formal and informal economy, and the public and private sector. It is structured in six parts and examines: Globalisation and the new challenges for transnational solidarity Inter trade union co-operation across borders. The dynamics of co-operation between trade unions and social movements across borders, looking at developing and developed countries. The struggles to defend the public sector against private service providers. The possible ways forward towards transnational solidarity of formal and informal labour in the global economy. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of International Political Economy, International Relations, Industrial Relation, Globalisation, Geography and History.

World Compendium of Healthcare Facilities and Nonprofit Organizations is the most comprehensive index of critical information on healthcare facilities and nonprofits in 72 low and lower-middle-income countries as classified by the World Bank. Presented in an easily accessible format and organized in 72 country chapters, the compendium allows stakeholders to better identify where healthcare services are available and where additional resources are needed.

A series of crises unfolded in the latter part of the first decade of the 21st Century which combined to exacerbate already profound conditions of global economic inequality and poverty in the world's poorest countries. In 2007, the unsound lending practices that caused a collapse in the US housing market ushered in a broader economic crisis that reverberated throughout the global financial system. This economic shockwave had a global impact, triggering not just instability in other industrialized countries, but also in their developing world counterparts, also highlighting deficiencies in the current structures of global governance to protect the world's poorest and most disadvantaged.

This book offers answers to questions raised about the role of global governance in the attenuation and amelioration of world poverty and inequality. The contributors interrogate the role of systems of governance at a time of global economic crisis and continuing environmental degradation against a backdrop of acceleration in inequalities within and between communities and across the globe.

Evaluating how existing systems can be reformed or redesigned to be more effective at addressing issues of poverty and inequality and providing a comprehensive discussion of a wide range of global governance initiatives this work will be essential reading for students and scholars of global governance, international relations and international organizations.

As the NATO Alliance enters its seventh decade, it finds itself involved in an array of military missions ranging from Afghanistan to Kosovo to Sudan. It also stands at the center of a host of regional and global partnerships. Yet, NATO has still to articulate a grand strategic vision designed to determine how, when, and where its capabilities should be used, the values underpinning its new missions, and its relationship to other international actors such as the European Union and the United Nations.

The drafting of a new strategic concept, begun during NATO's 60th anniversary summit, presents an opportunity to shape a new transatlantic vision that is anchored in the liberal democratic principles so crucial to NATO's successes during its Cold War years. Furthermore, that vision should be focused on equipping the Alliance to anticipate and address the increasingly global and less predictable threats of the post-9/11 world.

This volume brings together scholars and policy experts from both sides of the Atlantic to examine the key issues that NATO must address in formulating a new strategic vision. With thoughtful and reasoned analysis, it offers both an assessment of NATO's recent evolution and an analysis of where the Alliance must go if it is to remain relevant in the twenty-first century.

The Round Table journal (now subtitled The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs) first appeared in 1910. The journal carried a number of articles recognised both by contemporaries and by historians as highly influential in the making of Commonwealth policy, including constitutional reform in India, the independence of southern Ireland, the League of Nations mandates system and the United Nations trusteeship system, British policy in East Asia, the building of the Anglo-American alliance, appeasement, decolonisation, and the transition to a new, multipolar Commonwealth.

This book brings together excerpts from some of the key articles published over the last one hundred years and features leading figures including;

• Lionel Curtis and John Dove on Ireland, leading to the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the creation of the Irish Free State,
• T.E. Lawrence on the Middle East, a key influence on post-1919 state creation in the Arab Middle East,
• Philip Kerr on India, galvanizing attempts at constitutional reform in British India.

This selection provides a unique commentary on imperial/Commonwealth and international affairs and makes available to a new generation of scholars and students some of the articles now acknowledged as key influences in the evolution of British and Commonwealth policies.

This collection of essays is intended as a companion volume to The Contemporary Commonwealth: An assessment 1965 - 2009, edited by James Mayall, marking the centenary of The Round Table.

A series of crises unfolded in the latter part of the first decade of the 21st Century which combined to exacerbate already profound conditions of global economic inequality and poverty in the world's poorest countries. In 2007, the unsound lending practices that caused a collapse in the US housing market ushered in a broader economic crisis that reverberated throughout the global financial system. This economic shockwave had a global impact, triggering not just instability in other industrialized countries, but also in their developing world counterparts, also highlighting deficiencies in the current structures of global governance to protect the world's poorest and most disadvantaged.

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This book offers answers to questions raised about the role of global governance in the attenuation and amelioration of world poverty and inequality. The contributors interrogate the role of systems of governance at a time of global economic crisis and continuing environmental degradation against a backdrop of acceleration in inequalities within and between communities and across the globe.

?

Evaluating how existing systems can be reformed or redesigned to be more effective at addressing issues of poverty and inequality and providing a comprehensive discussion of a wide range of global governance initiatives this work will be essential reading for students and scholars of global governance, international relations and international organizations.

This book contributes to our understanding of a neglected and poorly-understood concept within the development field: 'capacity development' in the context of human and organisational sustainable development. Relating 'capacity development' to other perspectives in development thinking and practice and giving an account of the concept's genesis, the book introduces readers to recent empirical research initiatives that help to elucidate the concepts of capacity, capacity development, and capacity management. While capacity development initiatives and programmes have been used by most international and national agencies over the course of the last five decades, the term means different things to different people and especially to different major players in the international community. This weakens its effectiveness. This book therefore strives first of all to set ground rules that can be utilised by international aid providers such as UNDP, OECD, World Bank, and CIDA and practitioners alike.

"A very valuable and much needed book on a central element in the processes of social change: the construction and reconstruction of social norms as they move between global and local levels." -Naila Kabeer, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK "This book explores how gender equality norms are ever-evolving and argues convincingly that we cannot take their effectiveness, nor their acceptance, for granted." -Judith Kelley, Duke Sanford School of Public Policy, USA "In an era of increasing resistance to gender equality, this is a much-needed volume that attends to how gender equality norms are interpreted and contested in governance organisations ranging from the UN and the EU to Mercosur and women's NGOs in India and Uganda." -Ann Towns, University of Gothenburg, Sweden This edited collection provides a new theoretical approach to the study of how global norms influence social processes. It analyses the institutional and highly political processes whereby actors - be they local, national, regional or trans-national - engage with global norms of gender equality. The editors bring together key thinkers who emphasise how context and history effect norm engagement and how particular groups and actors tend to be marginalised from discussions of global norms. By proposing a situated approach that underlines the contingent, multi-level processes that occur when actors interpret, use, manipulate, bend, or betray norms, notions of norm diffusion are fundamentally challenged. This book makes a further crucial contribution to the study of norms and gender equality in global governance by analysing very different empirical contexts, from New Delhi and St. Petersburg to the Organisation of American States, and from Kampala and New York to the European Union.

This book analyzes how, and under what conditions, African International Economic Organizations (IEO) have evolved, and what individual and collective contributions, if any, these African IEOs have had on Africa's socio-economic development.

Providing a comprehensive and accessible overview, the book covers the continent's main IEOs, The United Nations Economic Commission on Africa, The African Development Bank; and The New Partnership for Africa's Development as well as the five major Regional Economic Communities, including Economic Community of West African States, and Southern African Development Community.

Assessing the degree to which African IEO's have been able to chart their own course in coming up with their development agendas and priorities rather than following the lead of Global Institutions, this book:

• Provides a descriptive and analytical overview of the historical and contemporary development blueprints produced for Africa
• Clearly examines the contribution made by African economic institutions towards development
• Considers whether African economic institutions are building blocks or stumbling blocks in Africa's development
• Offers a detailed evaluation and critique of African IEOs

Enabling the reader to reach a deeper understanding of the challenges and potentials of development on the African continent, African Economic Institutions will be of interest to all students and scholars of African politics and development studies.

An extensive and unequalled one-volume guide covering some 1,900 international and regional entities, this title provides detailed and accurate information on a wide spectrum of international organizations from the World Health Organization to OPEC.

Fully revised and updated, this new edition includes essential background material as well as invaluable contact details to provide a conplete understanding of the role of international organizations in the framework of modern global politics.

New for this edition is an essay on the international economic system, its institutions and governance.

Features include

• introductory articles: An Introduction to International Organizations and The International System in the Early Twenty-first Century
• a chronology charting the historical development of international organizations
• texts of significant international charters, treaties and documents
• lists of key UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, plus information about peace-keeping activities
• biographical details of leading officials within international organizations
• information on each organization includes contact details, membership, leading officials, activities, finance, publications and subsidiary organizations
• an extensive index.

This is a definitive and comprehensive history of international organizations from their very beginning at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 up to the present day, and provides the reader with nearly two centuries of world history seen from the perspective of international organizations. It covers the three main fields of international relations: security, economics and the humanitarian domain which often overlap in international organizations. As well as global and intercontinental organizations, the book also covers regional international organizations and international non-governmental organizations in all continents.

The book progresses chronologically but also provides a thematic and geographical coherence so that related developments can be discussed together. A series of detailed tables, figures, charts and information boxes explain the chronologies, structures and relationships of international organizations. There are biographies, histories and analysis of hundreds of international organizations.

This is an essential reference work with direct relevance to scholars in international relations, international political economy, international economics and business and security studies.