Chapter 6. Ideological Structure and Membership in International Institutions

2021 ◽  
pp. 90-107
Keyword(s):  
International Institutions ◽  
Ideological Structure

Ideological Structure and Membership in International Institutions

2021 ◽  
pp. 90-107
Author(s):  
Erik Voeten
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Intergovernmental Organizations ◽  
The Core ◽  
Spatial Approach ◽  
Ideological Dimension ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Ideological Structure

This chapter shows that ideological divisions shape how states sort into intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). During the Cold War, communist states for the most part stayed out of the core IGOs that defined the liberal order. Since the end of the Cold War, states all over the ideological spectrum have joined IGOs, but there has been considerable ideological sorting into IGOs and alliances. Global ideological orientations have implications for economic, cultural, human rights, security, and other issues. Thus, positioning on an ideological dimension can shape sorting into a wide variety of institutions. The chapter then compares the implications of the spatial approach to an alternative way of conceptualizing and measuring the structure underlying IGO memberships: network analysis.

Global Governance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Caney
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Fair Trade ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
World Trade ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
The World ◽  
Dangerous Climate Change

In recent years, a number of powerful arguments have been given for thinking that there should be suprastate institutions, and that the current ones, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and United Nations Security Council, need to be radically reformed and new ones created. Two distinct kinds of argument have been advanced. One is instrumental and emphasizes the need for effective suprastate political institutions to realize some important substantive ideals (such as preventing dangerous climate change, eradicating poverty, promoting fair trade, and securing peace). The second is procedural and emphasizes the importance of political institutions that include all those subject to their power in as democratic a process as possible, and builds on this to call for democratically accountable international institutions. In this chapter, the author argues that the two approaches need not conflict, and that they can in fact lend support to each other.

The value of ecosystem services

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linus Blomqvist ◽  
R. David Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Random Sample ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Conservation Strategy ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Opportunity Costs ◽  
Monetary Value ◽  
Pollution Treatment ◽  
Diminishing Returns

This chapter investigates whether the growing enthusiasm for ecosystem services recently expressed by conservation NGOs and international institutions is supported by evidence. Ecosystem services—the benefits humans receive from nature—have become the darlings of conservation on the assumption that the valuation of selected services may justify protecting land. A critical examination of a random sample of monetary valuations for regulating ecosystem services such as pollution treatment, finds that only onethird can be considered reliable, and that only ten percent of monetary value estimates can be transferred to other contexts. This suggests that the overall evidence base for assigning monetary value to nature is limited. Furthermore, diminishing returns, high opportunity costs, and technological substitutes might limit the amount of conservation that can be justified on the basis financial assessments of ecosystem services. As such, this chapter concludes that ecosystem services as a conservation strategy should not be embraced uncritically.

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