Misplaced Pages

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56-414: One of the key advantages of multilateralism is that it enables countries to solve problems that transcend national boundaries, such as climate change, terrorism, and pandemics, through shared responsibility and burden-sharing. However, multilateralism is not without its challenges. The rise of populism, nationalism, and protectionism in some countries has raised concerns about the future of multilateralism and

112-399: A class of actions, without regard to particularistic interests of the parties or the strategic exigencies that may exist in any occurrence." He further clarified that multilateralism is 'a unique product of US global hegemony [. . . ] not necessarily a post-war American invention', but a reflection of post-war 'American hegemony '. Embedding the target state in a multilateral alliance reduces

168-470: A clean slate. It is a policy that flowed from our recent history and our national movement and its development and various ideals, we have proclaimed. (Nehru, 1961, p. 34). In fact, the foreign policy culture of India is an elite culture, meaning, in effect, that the writings and speeches of select leading figures of the Indian foreign policy elite provide an insight into the key ideas and norms constituting

224-433: A defined geographical region. Regionalism refers to an intentional political process, typically led by governments with similar goals and values in pursuit of the overall development within a region. Regionalization, however, is simply the natural tendency to form regions, or the process of forming regions due to similarities between states in a given geographical space. In national politics (or low politics ), regionalism

280-412: A floodtide of literature critical of its development or determined to justify it as a necessity for world security. Some critics were arguing that economic unions and common markets distorted the logic of a universal division of labor, and that regional military planning was made both impossible and obsolete. On the other hand, the defenders of the pattern were invoking the necessities of the cold war. By

336-653: A growing number of international public and private associations, such as the General Postal Union and the International Law Association , which were holding regular meetings and had their own secretariats. By the end of the Second World War, then, regionalism had not still entered the vocabulary of international relations. By the 1940s however, an increasing number of influential people had already advocated "escape from

392-484: A larger one can be effective. Similarly, multilateralism may allow one great power to influence another great power. For a great power to seek control through bilateral ties could be costly; it may require bargaining and compromise with the other great power. Miles Kahler defines multilateralism as "international governance" or global governance of the "many," and its central principle was "opposition [to] bilateral discriminatory arrangements that were believed to enhance

448-506: A multilateral forum. Arguably, the Bush administration favoured bilateralism over multilateralism, or even unilateralism, for similar reasons. Rather than going it alone or going it with others, the administration opted for intensive one-on-one relationships with handpicked countries that maximized the U.S. capacity to achieve its objectives. Another challenge in global governance through multilateralism involves national sovereignty. Regardless of

504-430: A particular agreement. Victor Cha argued that: power asymmetries predict the type of structures, bilateral or multilateral, that offer the most control. If small powers try to control a larger one, then multilateralism is effective. But if great powers seek control over smaller ones, bilateral alliances are more effective. Thus, a country's decision to select bilateralism or multilateralism when enacting foreign policies

560-607: A theoretical and ineffective universalism into practical and workable regionalism". The region as a unit of analysis became important not only in the Cold War context, but also as a result of the self-consciousness of regions themselves. Because of the subsequent demands by states that had already made heavy political investments in regional arrangements such as the Inter-American System, the Commonwealth and

616-708: A tradition of public and private participation. After the Second World War the victors, drawing upon experience from the League's failure, created the United Nations in 1945. Since then, the "breadth and diversity" of multilateral arrangements have escalated. Unlike the League, the UN had the active participation of the United States and the Soviet Union , the world's then greatest contemporary powers. Along with

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672-650: Is unilateralism , in terms of political philosophy . Other authors have used the term "minilateralism" to refer to the fewest states required to get the biggest results through this institutional form. The foreign policy that India formulated after independence reflected its idiosyncratic culture and political traditions. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India, in March 1950, Nehru affirmed: “It should not be supposed that we are starting on

728-595: Is a political notion which favours regionalization —a process of dividing a political entity (typically a country) into smaller regions, and transferring power from the central government to the regions. Opposite process is called unitarization . a. According to the article 33 of the Chapter VI of the UN Charter, regional bodies are regarded as agencies of the first resort in dealing with disputed among their own members. The preliminary version of

784-400: Is any doctrine or agenda that supports one-sided action. Such action may be in disregard for other parties, or as an expression of a commitment toward a direction which other parties may find disagreeable. As a word, unilateralism is attested from 1926, specifically relating to unilateral disarmament . The current, broader meaning emerges in 1964. It stands in contrast with multilateralism ,

840-505: Is assumed to be the most efficient, i.e., in issues that can be solved without cooperation. However, a government may also have a principal preference for unilateralism or multilateralism, and, for instance, strive to avoid policies that cannot be realized unilaterally or alternatively to champion multilateral solutions to problems that could well have been solved unilaterally. Unilateralism as first course of action can be viewed as an act of aggression or hard power, unilateral sanctions violate

896-472: Is difficult to place its origins much before 1945. Advocacy of international regionalism was rare in the period between World War I and according to Al Marucut(1998) World War II when the doctrine of collective security was dominant. With the notable exception of the Inter-American System very few regional groupings existed before World War II What did emerge before World War II were

952-634: Is greatly affected by its size and power, as well as the size and power of the country over which it seeks to control. Take the example of Foreign Policy of the United States . Many references discuss how the United States interacts with other nations. In particular, the United States chose multilateralism in Europe and decided to form NATO , while it formed bilateral alliances, or the Hub and spokes architecture , in East Asia. Although there are many arguments about

1008-620: The Arab League , regionalism made its appearance even in the finalized UN Charter . European regionalism took a concrete form during the late 1940s. The treaty establishing the Benelux Customs Union was signed in 1944 by the governments in exile of Belgium , Netherlands and Luxembourg in London , and entered into force in 1947. In 1952, Denmark , Sweden , Iceland and Norway ( Finland joined in 1955) established

1064-473: The Conference of Berlin in 1884 helped reduce power conflicts during this period, and the 19th century was one of Europe's most peaceful. Industrial and colonial competition, combined with shifts in the balance of power after the creation - by diplomacy and conquest - of Germany by Prussia meant cracks were appearing in this system by the turn of the 20th century. The concert system was utterly destroyed by

1120-566: The Doha round . The European Union can be classified as a result of regionalism. The idea that lies behind this increased regional identity is that as a region becomes more economically integrated, it will necessarily become politically integrated as well. The European example is especially valid in this light, as the European Union as a political body grew out of more than 40 years of economic integration within Europe. The precursor to

1176-498: The European Union and NAFTA , although these are not in themselves incompatible with larger accords. The original sponsor of post-war multilateralism in economic regimes, the United States, turned towards unilateral action and in trade and other negotiations as a result of dissatisfaction with the outcomes of multilateral fora. As the most powerful nation, the United States had the least to lose from abandoning multilateralism;

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1232-705: The First World War . After that conflict, world leaders created the League of Nations (which became the precursor of the United Nations ) in an attempt to prevent a similar conflict. Although the League of Nations failed in its security mission, it initiated a variety of specialized organizations that continue to operate today. Moreover, although the US did not join, it did provide a degree of support from individual Americans and American philanthropies that started

1288-731: The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) The multilateral system has encountered mounting challenges since the end of the Cold War. The United States became increasingly dominant in terms of military and economic power , which has led countries such as Iran, China and India to question

1344-471: The Nordic Council , an interparliamentary organization with the goal to forge the regional Nordic co-operation. The Nordic Council's statutes set out in the 1962 Helsinki Agreement , according to which the parties undertake "to seek to preserve and further develop co-operation between our nations in the legal, cultural and financial areas as well as in matters relating to transport and protection of

1400-546: The United States embargo against Cuba . Typically, governments may argue that their ultimate or middle-term goals are served by a strengthening of multilateral schemes and institutions, as was many times the case during the period of the Concert of Europe . Regionalism (international relations) In international relations , regionalism is the expression of a common sense identity and purpose combined with

1456-407: The 1880s. The first coherent regionalism initiatives, however, took place during the 1950s and 1960s. During the late 1990s, however, a renewed interest in regionalism emerged and lead to the rapid emergence of a global system of regions with political and economic parameters. It is quite difficult to define when the history of regionalism begins, since there is no single explanation that encompasses

1512-486: The 1960s a number of important changes in international politics – the easing of the intensity of the Cold War, the independence of new states that had been part of colonial empires, the successful initiation of the European integration experience – gave rise to a new range of questions about regionalism. According to Nye the new international environment made "the collective security and military defense focus of

1568-600: The Americas that would stretch from Alaska to Argentina was ultimately rejected in particular by nations such as Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. It has been superseded by the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) which was constituted in 2008. Regionalism contrasts with regionalization , which is, according to the New Regionalism Approach, the expression of increased commercial and human transactions in

1624-586: The EU, the European Economic Community (EEC) was entirely an economic entity. Joseph Nye defined an international region "as a limited number of states linked by a geographical relationship and by a degree of mutual interdependence", and (international) regionalism as "the formation of interstate associations or groupings on the basis of regions". This definition, however, was never unanimously accepted, and some analysts noted, for example, that

1680-536: The Soviet Union had signed in 1972. These challenges presented by the U.S. could be explained by a strong belief in bilateral alliances as instruments of control. Liberal institutionalists would argue, though, that great powers might still opt for a multilateral alliance. But great powers can amplify their capabilities to control small powers and maximize their leverage by forging a series of bilateral arrangements with allies, rather than see that leverage diluted in

1736-638: The UN's relevance. Concurrently, a perception developed among internationalists such as former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan , that the United States is more inclined to act unilaterally in situations with international implications. This trend began when the U.S. Senate, in October 1999, refused to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty , which President Bill Clinton had signed in September 1996. Under President George W. Bush

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1792-417: The United Nations (by consolidating their UN vote in a voting bloc with other nations, for example.) Multilateralism may involve several nations acting together, as in the UN, or may involve regional or military alliances, pacts, or groupings, such as NATO . These multilateral institutions are not imposed on states but are created and accepted by them to increase their ability to seek their own interests through

1848-478: The United Nations Charter and inhibit development of developing countries. Unilateral action is often elected on behalf of independent leaders with nationalist tendencies and a strong distrust for the intentions of other countries' intervention. In recent years, unilateral action is adjacent with nationalism, protectionism and rejection towards institutions that embody multilateral approach. i.e,

1904-532: The United Nations made the new system more powerful than the old League system. Moreover, United Nations peacekeepers stationed around the world became a visible symbol of multilateralism. Later, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed as a defensive alliance that used the multilateral form to promote collective security in the postwar era. Multilateral institutions of varying scope and subject matter range from

1960-546: The United States adopting protectionist trade policy during the mid-2010s against the multilateral interests of the World Trade Organization. Unilateralism, if unprovoked, has the potential to disrupt the peaceful upholding of sovereignty and territorial integrity that global security depends upon. Unilateral coercive measures against smaller states put a strain on goals of sustainable development. Examples include arbitrarily imposed economic sanctions such as

2016-916: The United States rejected such multilateral agreements as the Kyoto Protocol , the International Criminal Court , the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel land mines and a draft protocol to ensure compliance by States with the Biological Weapons Convention . Also under the George W. Bush administration , the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty , which the Richard Nixon administration and

2072-436: The coordination of their policies. Moreover, they serve as frameworks that constrain opportunistic behaviour and encourage coordination by facilitating the exchange of information about the actual behaviour of states regarding the standards to which they have consented. The term "regional multilateralism" has been proposed by Harris Mylonas and Emirhan Yorulmazlar, suggesting that "contemporary problems can be better solved at

2128-594: The costs borne by the power-seeking control, but it also offers the same binding benefits of the Lilliputian strategy. Furthermore, if a small power seeks control over another small power, multilateralism may be the only choice, because small powers rarely have the resources to exert control on their own. As such, power disparities are accommodated to the weaker states by having more predictable bigger states and means to achieve control through collective action. Powerful states also buy into multilateral agreements by writing

2184-476: The creation and implementation of institutions that express a particular identity and shape collective action within a geographical region. Regionalism is one of the three constituents of the international commercial system (along with multilateralism and unilateralism ). The first coherent regional initiatives began in the 1950s and 1960s, but they accomplished little, except in Western Europe with

2240-458: The effectiveness of international cooperation. Multilateralism, in the form of membership in international institutions, serves to bind powerful nations, discourage unilateralism , and gives small powers a voice and influence that they could not otherwise exercise. For a small power to influence a great power, the Lilliputian strategy of small countries banding together to collectively bind

2296-797: The environment". In the 1951 Treaty of Paris , France , West Germany , Italy , Belgium , Luxembourg and the Netherlands established the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) to pool the steel and coal resources of its member-states. The same states established on March 25, 1957 by the signing of the Treaty of Rome the European Atomic Energy Community and the European Economic Community , most important of two European Communities. The growing success of European regionalism in particular led scholars in

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2352-470: The erosion of nation-states' legal and operational sovereignty in international relations, "nation-states remain the ultimate locus of authoritative decision making regarding most facets of public and private life". Hoffman asserted that nation-states are "unlikely to embrace abstract obligations that clash with concrete calculations of national interest." Global multilateralism is challenged, particularly with respect to trade, by regional arrangements such as

2408-481: The establishment of the European Community . Some analysts call these initiatives "old regionalism". In the late 1980s, a new bout of regional integration (also called "new regionalism") began and continues still . A new wave of political initiatives prompting regional integration took place worldwide during the last two decades. Regional and bilateral trade deals have also mushroomed after the failure of

2464-551: The foundation of India's foreign policy . One modern instance of multilateralism occurred in the nineteenth century in Europe after the end of the Napoleonic Wars , where the great powers met to redraw the map of Europe at the Congress of Vienna (November 1814 to June 1815). The Concert of Europe , as it became known, was a group of great and lesser powers that would meet to resolve issues peacefully. Conferences such as

2520-437: The late 1950s to what Ernst called "the new challenge of regionalism, ... the potentialities of the field for insights into the process of community formation at the international level". By the late 1950s, "the organization of the world's ninety-odd states into various systems of competing and overlapping regional associations [had been] a fact of international relations for over ten years". Regionalism had already given rise to

2576-544: The leverage of the powerful over the weak and to increase international conflict."; Robert Keohane defined it as "the practice of coordinating national policies in groups of three or more states." John Ruggie further elaborated the concept in his influential writings on multilateralism. Based on principles of "indivisibility" and "diffuse reciprocity he defined it as "an institutional form which coordinates relations among three or more states based on 'generalized' principles of conduct ... which specify appropriate conduct for

2632-411: The origins and development of the regional idea. Criteria such as the desire by states to "make the best of their regional environment" are regarded by certain analystas as elusive; they prefer to consider the history of regionalism in terms of the rise of modern institutions. If formal organization at the regional as opposed to the international level is to be the yardstick for the onset of regionalism, it

2688-473: The plethora of regional organizations founded at the initiative of developing countries had not fostered the rapid growth of regionalism in the Third World . Other authors, such as Ernst B. Haas, stressed the need to distinguish the notions of regional cooperation, regional system, regional organization and regional integration and regionalism. Initiatives towards a closer regional integration date back to

2744-826: The political institutions of the UN, the post-war years also saw the development of organizations such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) (now the World Trade Organization ), the World Bank , and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) (the so-called ' Bretton Woods ' institutions), and other technical institutions that were part of the UN system—including the World Health Organization . Formation of these and other subsequent bodies under

2800-452: The pursuit of foreign policy goals alongside allies. Unilateralism and multilateralism represent different policy approaches to international problems. When agreement by multiple parties is absolutely required—for example, in the context of international trade policies— bilateral agreements (involving two participants at a time) are usually preferred by proponents of unilateralism. Unilateralism may be preferred in those instances when it

2856-781: The reasons for this, Cha's " powerplay " theory provides one possible reason. He argued: ...postwar U.S planners had to contend with a region uniquely constituted of potential rogue allies, through their aggressive behaviour, could potentially entrap the United States in an unwanted wider war in Asia... To avoid this outcome, the United States created a series of tight, deep bilateral alliances with Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan through which it could exercise maximum control and prevent unilateral aggression. Furthermore, it did not seek to make these bilateral alliances multilateral, because it wanted to amplify U.S. control and minimize any collusion among its partners. Unilateralism Unilateralism

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2912-447: The regional rather than the bilateral or global levels" and that bringing together the concept of regional integration with that of multilateralism is necessary in today's world. Regionalism dates from the time of the earliest development of political communities, where economic and political relations naturally had a strong regionalist focus due to restrictions on technology, trade, and communications. The converse of multilateralism

2968-626: The rules and having privileges such as veto power and special status. International organizations , such as the United Nations (UN) and the World Trade Organization , are multilateral in nature. The main proponents of multilateralism have traditionally been the middle powers , such as Canada, Australia, Switzerland, the Benelux countries and the Nordic countries . Larger states often act unilaterally , while smaller ones may have little direct power in international affairs aside from participation in

3024-561: The upgraded importance of a region-by-region basis political cooperation and economic competitiveness. The African Union was launched on July 9, 2002 and a proposal for a North American region was made in 2005 by the Council on Foreign Relations ' Independent Task Force on the Future of North America. In Latin America, however the proposal to extend NAFTA into a Free Trade Area of

3080-714: The weakest nations have the most to lose, but the cost for all would be high. Aside from changes in the US, populism in Europe has proven to be problematic to multilateralism in recent years. Results from direct elections to the European Parliament give evidence to this claim, as Eurosceptic parties have made advances. When enacting foreign policies, governments face a choice between unilateralism, bilateralism and multilateralism. Bilateralism means coordination with another single country. Multilateralism has attempted to find common ground based on generalized principles of conduct, in addition to details associated with

3136-517: The writings in the early 1950s seem at best quaint and at worst misleading". Since the late 1980s globalization has changed the international economic environment for regionalism. The renewed academic interest in regionalism, the emergence of new regional formations and international trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the development of a European Single Market demonstrate

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