DeveshKapur IOs India Multilaterism

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (IOs)

What are IOs?

And what do they do?

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International Organizations

Public

IGOs

Embedded Formal Institutions

International Financial Institutions

MDBs

World Bank

Regional Development

Banks

IMF BIS

UN Family WTO

Informal Institutional Arrangements (eg. G-7,

G-20, G-77)

Private for Profit

MNCs

Private Non-Profit

International NGOs (eg. Amnesty

International)

Public/Private

International Union for the

Conservation of Nature

International Organization of

Securities Commission

International Standards

Organization

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Total Active Organizations (INGOs and

IGOs)

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Share of Organizations by Region and Time

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NGOs with UN Consultative Status, by Status Category

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Why do we need IOs?

• IOs are institutionalized forms of international cooperation and multilateralism

• Rational states will use or create a formal IO when the value of its functions outweighs the costs, notably the resulting limits on unilateral action

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What do IOs do?

• Facilitate the negotiation and implementation of agreements

• Resolve disputes and manage conflicts

• Enforce compliance with international commitments

• Develop norms, rules and standards

• Shape international discourse

• Carry out operational activities like technical assistance

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IOs and International Trade Liberalization

• ITO => non-starter • GATT (1947-1994)

– Lower tariffs – Non-tariff barriers and anti-dumping – Non-discrimination – “Rounds”

• Kennedy Round (1963-67) • Tokyo Round (1973-79) • Uruguay Round (1986-94) led to the creation of the WTO

• WTO (1995-present) • PTAs • World Bank • IMF

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Functional Characteristics of IOs

• Centralization – Collective activities through an organization often with a

permanent secretariat – This increases the efficiency of collective activities and

enhance the organization's ability to affect the understandings, environment, and interests of states

• Independence – the ability to act with a degree of autonomy within defined

spheres. – Neutrality is critical for the legitimacy of specifc actions

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Theoretical Approaches

• Regime theory – Regimes: "institutions possessing norms, decision rules, and

procedures which facilitate a convergence of expectations." Focus on institutional organization of intl. cooperation

• Decentralized cooperation theory (Delegation) – coordination and collaboration problems requires collective

action; this requires IOs to address info. and transaction costs

• Realist theory – IOs are not serious entities; they merely reflect national

interests & power and do not constrain powerful states

• Constructivist theory – IOs are (in part) both reflections of and participants in ongoing

social processes and creating international norms Devesh Kapur/UPenn

Designing IOs

• Functions and Goals

• Membership criteria

• Governance

• Financing

• Leadership

• Location

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QUESTIONS

• Do weak or strong states prefer IOs?

• Which IOs should India join?

• What price – financial and non-financial –should India be willing to pay?

• Which interests are represented and how?

• When are India’s interests best served through bilateral, regional, plurilateral or global IOs?

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Is India a…

• Rule taker?

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Is India a…

• Rule taker?

• Rule bender?

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Is India a…

• Rule taker?

• Rule bender?

• Rule breaker?

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Is India a…

• Rule taker?

• Rule bender?

• Rule breaker?

• Rule shaper?

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Is India a…

• Rule taker?

• Rule bender?

• Rule breaker?

• Rule shaper?

• Rule maker?

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India and Multilateralism

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India and Multilateralism Historical Trends

• Expansive Internationalism

– Nehruvian heyday: Independence to the China war

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India and Multilateralism Historical Trends

• Expansive Internationalism

– Nehruvian heyday: Independence to the China war

• Dysfunctional Multilateralism

– Mid-1960s to the end of the cold war

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India and Multilateralism Historical Trends

• Expansive Internationalism

– Nehruvian heyday: Independence to the China war

• Dysfunctional Multilateralism

– Mid-1960s to the end of the cold war

• Defensive Internationalism and Renewed Regionalism

– Post cold war

– Gujral doctrine

– “Look East”

– BRICs; BIMSTEC etc… Devesh Kapur/UPenn

India and Multilateralism What factors have shaped Indian views? I. Ideas

• Holy Grail of

– “Strategic Autonomy”

– Sovereignty and Non-intervention

• Ambiguity and skepticism about the West

• Discomfort with Power

• Confusion about its international identity

– Status-quo or a status-seeking power?

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India and Multilateralism What factors have shaped Indian views? II. Domestic factors

• The Economy

– From self-reliance to economic interdependence

• Domestic Politics

– Internal conflict

– Political competition

– Rise of regional parties

• Rise of new actors shaping foreign policy

– Business

– Media and Public opinion

– Diaspora Devesh Kapur/UPenn

India and Multilateralism What factors have shaped Indian views?

III. Changing International System

• Early years of Cold War

– Non-alignment, NAM

• Later years of Cold War

– Aligning with Soviet Union

– G-77

• End of Cold War and rise of China

– Regionalism

– G-20

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CHALLENGES

• Does membership of increasing number of IOs, increase or constrain strategic autonomy?

• Changing nature of conflict from international to civil wars: India’s views on R2

• India’s role in UN Peacekeeping

• Which IOs?

– BRICS bank?

– “Concert of democracies”?

– Overcoming the South Asia impasse: should it be more welcoming of extra-regional multilaterals?

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India’s Stake in Multilateralism

• Economic regimes

– trade; finance

• Security regimes

– maritime; space; cyber

• Environment and Energy

– Climate change

• Human security

– Human rights; global food regime

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