System Of International Institutions Research Articles

The First Fifteen Years of the BRICS

At the first BRIC(S) summit in 2009, leaders of the major emerging market countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) from different continents committed to build a democratic and transparent economic architecture, support the efforts of the Group of 20 (G20) to reform the international financial institutions, restore growth, and deepen intra-group cooperation. Since then, views expressed in the literature on BRICS (expanded to include South Africa in 2010) have ranged from the harsh dismissal of BRICS as a meaningless investment banker’s acronym to its identification as a new power centre with a profound impact on the global economic order. The authors offer an updated, systematic assessment of BRICS’ evolving institutional dynamics, performance, and contribution to cooperation among its members, and to global governance as a whole. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, they identify the major achievements of each of the BRICS’ 13 annual summits through the three five-year hosting cycles, the leaders’ agreements on 933 collective commitments, and their countries’ compliance with them at a level of 77% overall. Further, they highlight the expansion of the group’s agenda into 34 subjects, the process of building the intra-BRICS institutions with the New Development Bank (NDB) as its hallmark, and its extensive second track networks including Business, Think Tanks and Academic, Trade Unions, Parliamentarian, Youth and Civil BRICS. In its first 15 years, BRICS expanded and sustained its institutional dynamics, depth, and performance despite external and domestic challenges, tensions between the members, and the unprecedented tests of the COVID19 pandemic and the ensuing socio-economic crises since 2020. Established as a dialogue and policy coordination forum, it matured into a transregional governance institution with a comprehensive political-security, socio-economic, and people-to-people agenda. Its dense institutional networks, flexibility, continuity, and foundational principle of moving forward only on issues acceptable to all members were vital factors for BRICS’ resilience and evolution. Although broadening its agenda inhibited deepening cooperation, there was considerable continuity across the annual presidencies. Progress on intra-BRICS cooperation was more tangible than that on international architecture reform, despite the group’s unwavering commitment to an equitable international order. Its consensus-based working methods sometimes constrained the group’s leadership. However, BRICS proved its value as a platform for facilitating its members’ bilateral relations and convergence in approaches, promoting their role in global governance, and advancing a more inclusive, representative, and effective international institutional system.

ЎЗБЕКИСТОН ЖАНУБИЙ ВИЛОЯТЛАРИ ТАЪЛИМ СОҲАСИНИ РИВОЖЛАНТИРИШДА ХОТИН-ҚИЗЛАРНИНГ ЎРНИ

The article explains that during the years of independence in Uzbekistan, the development of new principles for solving women's problems is on the agenda. Particular attention should be paid tothecreation of a legal basis for ensuring gender equality in all spheres of life and public administration, improving the system of international institutions on gender issues, protecting the rights and freedoms of women in the era of globalization. The article analyzes the fact that Uzbekistan is undergoing serious reforms in the field of education. An analysis of the active participation of women in education reform is given, and data are systematized on the example of the Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya regions, where women were awarded state awards and achieved great success.Index Terms:Uzbekistan, southern regions, education, industry, women, gender equality, reform, school, award, title, textbook, competition

«Парадипломатия» и международная экологическая политика

This paper examines the phenomenon of “paradi-plomacy” and its implementation in international environmental policy. The genesis of the studied concept is traced in the process of the academic discussion of three approaches: Soldatos/Duchacek, Der Derian, Hoking. The practical implementation of this phenomenon in the framework of the work of paradiplomatic organizations in the field of envi-ronmental policy is considered. A comparative anal-ysis of the history of development and practical ac-tivities of two international organizations: Regions4 and Northern Forum is carried out. In general, given the objective differences and unique features, one can note common challenges for such structures in the form of a lack of political opportunities and lack of financial independence. Overcoming these limita-tions seems realistic only through their evolutionary integration into the global complex system of envi-ronmental policy: cooperation of paradiplomatic organizations with the system of international insti-tutions (UN and its structures, EU, EAEU, etc.); greater subordination within the global hierarchical structure; strengthening bottom-up mechanisms so that regional representatives have the opportunity to speak out and be heard on issues of importance to them.

SPECIFIC ISSUES OF LEGAL REGULATION OF INFORMATION RELATIONS

The purpose of this article is to identify the main problems and consequences of the formation of a «digital» information society for the world community through the relationship of concepts such as information society, information relations and information security. For this purpose, such methods were used as analysis of the legal framework in the field of information law, study of legal and methodological literature on the theory of information society formation to determine the signs and identify the main causes and consequences of the problem; study; systematization, comparison, generalization. Results: the domestic legal system is currently undergoing a complex process of bringing into line with international standards and adapting to rapid social change. Currently, social transformations are taking place mainly in line with the rapid informatization and digitalization of all spheres of public life. The legal sphere, which is a part of social development, is no exception. Informatization is in many respects the basis for the successful implementation of the paradigm of sustainable development in Ukraine. The main feature of modern civilization is the growing importance of information in social relations. The formation of a «digital» (information) society in the modern civilized world raises the problem of information security and protection of human rights and freedoms. Public relations arising from information, play an extremely important role in the life of modern state and society. Modern processes of globalization and informatization of society only strengthen the social significance of this category of social relations, bringing them to the forefront. The article considers the peculiarities of the process of formation of the information society in Ukraine and highlights the problematic issues of this legal phenomenon in the light of similar processes taking place in the global dimension. The significance of constitutional norms in the system of information law as a whole is actualized, the analysis of the normative-legal base of ensuring the information law of Ukraine as well as the legal mechanisms of regulation of information relations by the international institutional system is carried out. The main ways of legal influence on the improvement of information relations in order to ensure human rights and freedoms, their protection and information security are also identified. Discussion: the study allowed to draw conclusions about the existence of contradictions of regulations in the field of information relations of Ukraine and the provisions of international and European legal acts. The factors of Ukraine’s lag behind the world development of information relations are also considered; the main directions of improving the information legislation of Ukraine by expanding the types of information activities and their modernization, implementation of European and international information law in the information legislation of Ukraine, systematization of national information legislation by codification - development of the Information Code of Ukraine.

The G20 and BRICS: Engaging with international institutions for global governance

ABSTRACT The emergence of the G20 and BRICS in response to vulnerabilities and changes in the world economy in the new millennium has generated a range of expectations, reflections and criticisms. The G20, in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008, sought to manage the crisis, reform the international architecture and devise a new global consensus. The BRICS formation pledged to foster cooperation and coordination between members and to promote international institutional reform. This study explores the modes of engagement of the G20 and BRICS in their dealings with international institutions, testing the assumptions that they can resort to a combination of approaches and that their preferred approach reflects their mission and role in the system of international institutions (IIs). The intensity of engagement by the G20 and BRICS with various IIs in fulfilling their global governance functions confirms their commitment to multilateralism.

Is Global Governance Fragmented, Polycentric, or Complex? The State of the Art of the Network Approach

AbstractInternational institutions such as treaties and organizations shape, and are shaped by, the large web-like architecture of global governance. Yet we know little about what this architecture looks like, why certain structures are observed, and how they are linked to the functioning of international institutions as well as the overall effectiveness of global governance. Over the past decade, network science has emerged as a promising and indispensable approach to unraveling structural nuances and complexities of the system of international institutions. This article presents a state-of-the-art review of this emerging field of research and seeks to stimulate its further development. In this article, I draw connections between various network analyses of global governance that are found in different bodies of literature. In so doing, I integrate three separate but overlapping strands of work on institutional fragmentation, polycentricity, and complexity and bring much-needed conceptual clarity to the debate. Building on previous studies, I propose a framework for operationalizing fragmentation, polycentricity, and complexity in network terms in order to enable systematic and comparative analysis of global governance systems. This article argues that there is much potential in the network approach and makes a case for advancing the “network science of global governance.”

Oroszország mint geopolitikai entitás az amerikai geopolitikai szakértők szemszögéből

Apparently the world nowadays lives in the progressive erosion of the schematic patterns of the international system, and after the disintegration of the bipolar world order, several tectonic plates on which the international order and its principles were based began to move, and the international institutional system, which is still known today, is slowly stagnating and eroding. The world today has at least five key players, who think differently from the mainstream political culture in a variety of ways, contributing to the deformation of established rules and practices, in support of their national interests. The world to which the Western elites are accustomed, and the world they wish to see slowly disappears, and Russia is both a cause and a symbol of the process. My paper examines the ideas of several world famous American geopolitical thinkers about Russia and the geopolitical future of Russia. Getting to know these ideas can give you an insight of the possible segments of our future, because for Hungary, being a country on the border of the Heartland, it is particularly important to know the mechanisms of the “Big Chessboard”.

«Группа двадцати», БРИКС и АТЭС в системе международных институтов. Хорошие новости для глобального управления

The rise of new institutions in response to systemic vulnerabilities, strategic power shifts in the world economy and the slow pace of reform of existing institutions generated heated discussions over the proliferation of institutions and the subsequent fragmentation of global governance. However, this fragmentation does not mean there has been a decline in demand for global governance or reduced efficiency. On the contrary, it can be beneficial, positive and creative [Acharya, 2016].Though essentially different in their missions and collective identities, the Group of 20 (G20), the BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum each has an important role to play in promoting the inclusiveness, legitimacy and efficiency of global governance. The distinctive features of these institutions are the nature of their summitry, the character of their volunteerism and their recognition of the role of major developing countries in world economic growth and global and regional governance. They are deeply embedded within the system of international institutions and are intensely engaged with international organizations (IOs).This engagement does not directly address the concerns over fragmentation. However, it does stimulate a division of labour which mitigates the risks of fragmentation and competition, facilitating coordination, coherence, accountability and effectiveness in global governance.This paper examines G20/BRICS/APEC engagement with international organizations in fulfillment of their global governance functions of deliberation, direction-setting, decision-making, delivery and global/regional governance development.The study is carried out within the paradigm of rational choice institutionalism. It draws on quantitative and qualitative analysis of documents adopted by the G20, BRICS and APEC to trace dynamics and identify their preferred models of engagement with multilateral organizations.The article begins with a brief outline of the roles of the G20, BRICS and APEC in the system of global governance. Then it presents the analytical paradigm and methodology of the study. Applying the described methodology, it tests the key assumption that summit institutions can resort to a combination of “catalyst,” “core group” and “parallel treatment modes” in their engagement with IOs and that their preferred choice reflects their mission and role in the system of international institutions which may change over time. Reviewing the findings, this article concludes that the G20, BRICS and APEC consistently engage with IOs even while the range of organizations, the intensity, the dynamics and models of engagement differ substantially.The G20, a premier forum for consensus-based economic cooperation, seeks to fulfill the promise of facilitating greater coherence in the system across institutions [Narlikar, Kumar, 2012, p. 389] to forge a new form of institutional collectivism. The G20 exceeds the BRICS and APEC in terms of the number of references to IOs, intensity and scope. It employs all three modes, engaging its key partners - the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Bank (WB), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) - mostly as a core group across the full range of global governance functions from deliberation to delivery. The BRICS, representing a new force in global governance, strives to build a better world order for humanity through a constructive contribution to defining the rules of the game [Duggan, 2015, p. 11]. The BRICS consistently acts as a catalyst stimulating, endorsing, compelling and supporting change of the United Nations (UN), the IMF, the WB and the WTO and building a BRICS-centred institutional system. APEC as a regional premier economic forum and a vehicle of Asia-Pacific engagement in global issues [Morrison, 2014, p. 2] advances inclusive growth regionally and globally. This duality is explicit in APEC’s choice of partners, where the top ten positions are split between global and regional IOs. APEC expedites integration of regional and global agendas, facilitates coordination between regional and multilateral institutions and reinforces their mutual influence.Jointly the G20, BRICS and APEC contribute to more effective global policy coordination. Though there is definitely room for improvement, this is indeed good news, raising hopes for the future of global governance.

Milestones in the Foundation and Role of the Most Significant International Organizations against Money Laundering in the European Union

In this two-piece study, the author introduces the most important international organizations and institutions fighting against money laundering of our time, through the main chapters of the formation of the international institutional system. The first part is focused on the creation of the international institutional system fighting against money laundering.By the 21st century the phenomenon of money laundering—with the need of the laundering of gradually increasing “dirty” money, mainly from drugs, weapons and human trafficking, prostitution and corruption—has become a worldwide problem. With the increasing organization of international criminal groups—taking advantage of the free movement of money and financial services—are using more and more refined techniques to get more profits with their illegal activities. Money laundering will not leave terrorism untouched—casting a shadow on our everyday life—as particular radical groups use every means necessary to lay their hands on money sources anonymously needed for their existence, as it supplies their destructive actions; and naturally procuring this money the best sources are the money laundered by criminals. Recognising the money laundering and the negative and destructive effects of new crimes on everyday economic, financial and political life based on laundering, the leading countries of the world started international legislation against money laundering and terrorism which laws and codes are strictly regulating the different financial and bank supervision of the nation states. Despite the onsetting difficulties and indecisiveness, it was clear for the European Union that only strong international collaboration—and the unified understanding of measures—is the only power to stop the spread of money laundering.

The More Things Change ...

Taming the Sovereigns: Institutional Changes in International Politics. By K. J. Holsti. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 372 pp., $70.00 cloth (ISBN: 0-521-83403-1), $25.99 paper (ISBN: 0-521-54192-1). Should we celebrate the end of history, the obsolescence of major war, and the retreat of the state? Or must we cower before the coming chaos and clash of civilizations, while reminiscing fondly about the good old days of the Cold War? Whether dispensing good cheer or dour pessimism, many of the most widely read authors writing about international relations in recent years have agreed about one thing—the future will be discontinuous with the past. In Taming the Sovereigns , K. J. Holsti seeks to douse such fevered speculations with a survey of institutional change in international politics over the past several centuries. Holsti concludes that the foundations of the Westphalian order remain firmly in place. Even though different components of the international institutional system have evolved in varied ways, the overall picture is one of incremental change in the direction of greater complexity rather than transformation. This continuity is all to the good, given that, according to Holsti, the existing institutional order has a “moderating influence” (p. 307) on state behavior (hence the title), which allows for historically unprecedented levels of peace and prosperity. The conceptual foundations of Holsti's study reflect the influence of so-called “English School” thinkers such as Martin Wight (1978) and Hedley Bull (1977). Although agreeing with realists that international politics is anarchic in structure, Bull conceived of states not as atomistic utility maximizers but as pragmatic social agents capable of working out mutually acceptable rules and practices. The resulting institutional order served to avert, or at least to dampen, the Hobbesian war of all against all that realists wrongly considered the inevitable product of international anarchy. The English School thus occupies an interesting intermediate position in contemporary paradigmatic debates—combining realism's state-centric assumptions with liberalism's optimistic conclusions about the prospects for international cooperation. According to …

Poverty as a cause of wars?

During this last century war has taken more lives and wrought more damage than in all of human history. Its persistence - with over a hundred armed conflicts on the scale of ‘war’ raging in the last decade - prompts a search for causes, since diagnosis comes before a cure. Many fingers point to the stress of poverty as a major contributing factor, but both anecdotal and modelling approaches reveal that poverty has not been and is not now a significant proactive or enabling factor: if poverty were to become a thing of the past there would be no assurance that wars would be eliminated or even significantly reduced. Poverty is associated with societal stress and with sporadic and endemic societal violence, but stress does not lead to war or play a major role in enabling the rise to power of war prone leaders and their associated elites unless other factors are at play. The causal factors conducive to war making are varied but all are characterised by tribal, religious, and ethnic rivalries that political leaders exploit to mobilise support for war, and/or by the lust for money or hegemonic power of the political leadership. It is exceptionally difficult to prevent the rise of leaders who, for various self-serving reasons, are able to gain power and are prone to pursue policies leading to war. The way to thwart these ambitions is to create conditions, nationally and internationally, that are inimical to the rise to power of such leaders and, if they do gain power, to make the realisation of their war bent policies too costly to them. At the national level of governance the essential elements of policies to create such war inhibiting conditions are education, especially at the primary level, a free independent media, and a guaranteed protection of political and civil rights - in a phrase, democratic governance. At the international level of governance the support calls for financial and other forms of assistance that would enable national governments to carry through the democracy enhancing programmes and projects related to education and to political and civil rights, and measures to strengthen democratic control of the system of international institutions and to constrain the exercise of national sovereignty in those areas where doing so enhances ‘the global common good’, one key element of which is the radical diminution of international and intrastate wars. Economic and social rights are the other aspects that comprise the concept of ‘human rights’, and, though they are mutually reinforcing, for tactical reasons the struggle to achieve these rights should be pursued on a separate track from the struggle to gain political and civil rights that appear to face less formidable obstacles and could thus, in the short and medium term, progress sufficiently to have a significant impact in reducing the occurrence and intensity of wars.

Poverty as a cause of wars?

During this last century war has taken more lives and wrought more damage than in all of human history. Its persistence - with over a hundred armed conflicts on the scale of ‘war’ raging in the last decade - prompts a search for causes, since diagnosis comes before a cure. Many fingers point to the stress of poverty as a major contributing factor, but both anecdotal and modelling approaches reveal that poverty has not been and is not now a significant proactive or enabling factor: if poverty were to become a thing of the past there would be no assurance that wars would be eliminated or even significantly reduced. Poverty is associated with societal stress and with sporadic and endemic societal violence, but stress does not lead to war or play a major role in enabling the rise to power of war prone leaders and their associated elites unless other factors are at play. The causal factors conducive to war making are varied but all are characterised by tribal, religious, and ethnic rivalries that political leaders exploit to mobilise support for war, and/or by the lust for money or hegemonic power of the political leadership. It is exceptionally difficult to prevent the rise of leaders who, for various self-serving reasons, are able to gain power and are prone to pursue policies leading to war. The way to thwart these ambitions is to create conditions, nationally and internationally, that are inimical to the rise to power of such leaders and, if they do gain power, to make the realisation of their war bent policies too costly to them. At the national level of governance the essential elements of policies to create such war inhibiting conditions are education, especially at the primary level, a free independent media, and a guaranteed protection of political and civil rights - in a phrase, democratic governance. At the international level of governance the support calls for financial and other forms of assistance that would enable national governments to carry through the democracy enhancing programmes and projects related to education and to political and civil rights, and measures to strengthen democratic control of the system of international institutions and to constrain the exercise of national sovereignty in those areas where doing so enhances ‘the global common good’, one key element of which is the radical diminution of international and intrastate wars. Economic and social rights are the other aspects that comprise the concept of ‘human rights’, and, though they are mutually reinforcing, for tactical reasons the struggle to achieve these rights should be pursued on a separate track from the struggle to gain political and civil rights that appear to face less formidable obstacles and could thus, in the short and medium term, progress sufficiently to have a significant impact in reducing the occurrence and intensity of wars.

Towards an International Antitrust Authority? Key Factors in the Internationalization of Competition Policy

Negotiated access to markets through the internationalization of business framework rules is of increasing importance. The article examines the political‐economic factors that are contributing to, but also setting limits on, the greater internationalization of one such aspect of policy—competition policy. It analyzes whether internationalizing forces are likely to transform existing international arrangements in competition policy matters from those of a loose regime to that of a fully fledged international institutional system. The latter could be represented by recent proposals for an International Antitrust Authority. The four factors examined are: conflicting ideas about competition policy; the exercise of political power by nation states and business; the roles and stances of international agencies; and democratic concerns about the accountability, representativeness, and transparency of competition policy institutions.The analysis concludes that future forms of institution‐building at the international level of competition policy are important. This is so because, if lejt totally as a set of international regimes, competition policy may be arranged to an excessive degree in the interests of business power or in the interests of one or more dominant countries.

Hongkong Chinese emigration and investment patterns in response to the 1997 problem

The transfer of Hongkong from British to PRC sovereignty has resulted in an apparently large outflow of Hongkong Chinese emigrants and investments abroad. The outflow is motivated by a variety of causes: Political fear, uncertainty, and economic considerations. These motivations in turn are mediated by the socio-economic position of potential migrants, their preference for developed. Western, liberal, English-speaking countries and the interplay of these factors with the international institutional system of legal migration. Because of these factors, the possibility of Communist rule after 1997 has in fact generated not a single response from Hongkong Chinese, but a variety of different responses. They range from economically eligible migrants choosing to stay and invest in Hongkong to outright emigration and divestment.