In modern public international law, international intergovernmental organizations are considered as permanent associations of states created on the basis of an international agreement or other constituent act developed and approved by states in order to coordinate the efforts of governments to solve certain international problems and promote the development of comprehensive cooperation between states with different social systems. Such organizations are subjects international law.
The principle of cooperation between states as a principle of international relations has become a generally recognized and generally binding principle of international law since the adoption of the UN Charter and has been enshrined in the charters of many international organizations, in international treaties, numerous resolutions and declarations. Specific forms of cooperation and its volume depend on the states themselves, their needs and material resources, domestic legislation and international obligations assumed.
International intergovernmental organizations have a number of specific characteristics:
- - they are created by states with the intentions and goals recorded in the constituent act (charter, convention), developed and adopted by the founding states in the form international treaty;
- – such an organization exists and operates on the basis of an adopted constituent act defining its status, powers, legal capacity and functions;
- – is a permanent association, for this purpose a secretariat and other permanent bodies are formed;
- – based on the principle of sovereign equality of the member states of the organization;
- – each international organization has a set of rights inherent in a legal entity, which are fixed in the constituent act of the organization or in a separate convention;
- – an international organization enjoys certain privileges and immunities that ensure its normal activities and are recognized both at the location of its headquarters and in any state in the exercise of its functions.
The rules on the status of persons who are personnel of the organization are essential. Appointed or elected officials and contracted employees are classified as members of the international civil service. In the performance of their duties, they cannot be influenced by the governments of their country and are responsible only to the organization and its highest official (general secretary, director, etc.).
In international legal doctrine, various criteria are used to classify international organizations. Thus, international organizations are divided into worldwide, or universal, the goals and objectives of which are important for all or most states of the international community and which are characterized by universal membership (for example, the UN, UNESCO, IAEA, WHO, etc.).
AND others, which are of interest to a certain group of states, which determines their limited composition. These are regional international organizations that unite states located within a certain region and interact taking into account their group interests. These include, for example, the European Union, Council of Europe, CIS, etc.
Classification of international organizations according to the scope and nature of their powers. These are organizations general competence (UN, CIS, OSCE) and special competence – Worldwide trade Organization(WTO), International currency board(IMF), etc.
A special type of international organizations are interdepartmental organizations. When creating such organizations and in the process of their activities, the relevant ministries or departments exercise the powers of state bodies within the limits of domestic legal norms. The decision on participation in a particular international organization falls within the competence of the government, and subsequent contacts with the organs of the organization are carried out through the relevant department.
International organizations have the ability to participate in diplomatic relations.
Each international organization has its own financial resources, which are made up of contributions from member states of the organization and are spent exclusively in the general interests of the organization.
As subjects of international law, international organizations are responsible for offenses and damage caused by their activities and can make claims of liability.
The organization that occupies a central place in the system of international interstate organizations should be called the United Nations Organization (UN), created in 1945 on the initiative of the leading countries of the anti-Hitler coalition (USSR, USA, England, China and France) as a universal international organization with the goal maintaining peace and international security, developing cooperation between states.
The main provisions of the organization's Charter were developed at the Conference of representatives of the USSR, USA, Great Britain and China, held in August - October 1944 in the ancient city estate of Dumbarton Oak in Washington (therefore the conference is called Dumbarton Oaks). The name of the Organization, the structure of its Charter, goals and principles, the legal status of individual bodies, etc. were determined. The final text of the Charter was agreed upon and finalized at the United Nations Conference in San Francisco (April - June 1945) with the participation of representatives of 50 states, while the USSR, USA, Great Britain and China acted as inviting powers.
It was envisaged that the Charter would come into force after the deposit of the instruments of ratification by the USSR, USA, Great Britain, China and France (which received the status of states - permanent members of the Security Council), as well as by the majority of other states that signed the Charter, were deposited with the US Government (as depositary). Such a day was October 24, 1945 - it is the day the UN was created.
To date, more than 190 states are members of the UN. The UN Charter is viewed as a charter for peaceful coexistence, a generally accepted code of international conduct aimed at developing cooperation between states. The UN Charter is binding on all states, and its hundredth preamble reads: “We, the peoples of the United Nations, are determined to save the next generation from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold grief to humanity, and to reaffirm faith in human rights, in the dignity and worth of human beings.” individuals, into the equal rights of men and women and into the equal rights of nations large and small, and to create conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and improved conditions of life in greater freedom , and for these purposes to exercise tolerance and live together, in peace with each other, as good neighbors, and to unite our forces for the maintenance of international peace and security, and to provide by the adoption of principles and the establishment of methods that armed forces are not used except in common interests, and to use the international apparatus to promote the economic and social progress of all peoples, have decided to join our efforts to achieve these goals."
The UN Charter consists of a preamble and 19 chapters covering 111 articles. An integral part of the UN Charter is the Statute of the International Court of Justice.
In ch. 1 proclaims the purposes and principles of the UN. In Art. 1 the following goals are named: 1) to maintain international peace and security and, for this purpose, to take effective collective measures to prevent and eliminate threats to the peace, as well as suppress acts of aggression or other violations of the peace and carry out by peaceful means, in accordance with the principles of justice and international law, settling or resolving international disputes or situations that may lead to a breach of the peace; 2) develop friendly relations between nations based on respect for the principle of equality and self-determination of peoples, as well as take other appropriate measures to strengthen world peace; 3) to carry out international cooperation in resolving international problems of an economic, social, cultural and humanitarian nature and in promoting and developing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of race, sex, language and religion; 4) be a center for coordinating the actions of nations in achieving these common goals.
According to Art. 2 of the Charter, in order to achieve these goals, the Organization and its members act in accordance with the following principles; 1) sovereign equality of all members of the Organization; 2) conscientious fulfillment of assumed obligations; 3) resolution of international disputes by peaceful means in such a way as not to jeopardize international peace and security; 4) abstinence in international relations from the threat or use of force, either against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the UN; 5) provision of all possible assistance to the UN by its members in all actions taken by it in accordance with the Charter; 6) ensuring that states that are not members of the UN act in accordance with the principles of the Charter; 7) non-interference by the UN in matters within the internal competence of any state.
All these democratic principles are essential for the development of modern international law. They were further developed in the Declaration of Principles of International Law adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1970, and also formed an integral part of the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (1975).
Membership of the PLO is open to all other peace-loving states who accept the obligations contained in the Charter and who, in the judgment of the Organization, are able and willing to fulfill these obligations.
The admission of any such state to Membership of the Organization is carried out by resolution of the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council.
UN member states have their permanent representations at the Organization. According to Art. 105 of the Charter, the Organization enjoys in the territory of each of its members such privileges and immunities as are necessary to achieve its goals.
Representatives of members of the Organization and its officials also enjoy privileges and immunities that are necessary for them to independently perform their functions related to the activities of the Organization. The UN Secretary-General and his assistants are entitled to full diplomatic immunities and privileges.
The official languages of the UN are Arabic, English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and French.
The UN headquarters are located in New York City. The main bodies of the UN in its Charter are named: the UN General Assembly, the UN Security Council, the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice of the PLO and the UN Secretariat. In addition to the above-mentioned bodies, the UN system includes specialized intergovernmental organizations of a universal nature that cooperate in special areas(economic, cultural, humanitarian, etc.). Russia is a member of many specialized institutions.
The UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council play a special role in the UN system of bodies.
UN General Assembly is a body in which all UN member states are represented. At sessions, no more than 5 representatives and no more than 5 alternates are present from each state, with each delegation having one vote. In the meeting room, delegations are seated in alphabetical order.
The General Assembly, based on the provisions of Art. 10 of the UN Charter, has the power to discuss any questions or matters within the limits of the Charter or relating to the powers and functions of any of the bodies provided for in the Charter, and to make recommendations to the members of the UN or the Security Council or both the members of the Organization and the Security Council on any questions or matters under consideration. The recommendations are not binding on UN members, but are only advisory in nature.
There are seven main committees of the General Assembly on specific, most significant issues. All members of the General Assembly are represented on each committee. Having discussed the issues submitted to the main committee for consideration, he submits proposals on them for approval at the plenary meeting of the General Assembly. In order to carry out its functions, the General Assembly establishes special committees and commissions on both a permanent and temporary basis.
The General Assembly operates in session. Regular sessions are convened annually and last three months. Special and special emergency sessions may be convened at the request of the Security Council or by a majority of members of the Organization, and they are convened within 24 hours. At each session, a chairman and 21 deputies are elected, including the chairmen of the seven main committees. The Assembly approves the agenda, which is drawn up by the Secretary-General and communicated to UN members at least 60 days before the opening of the session.
The UN General Assembly elects non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, members of ECOSOC, the Trusteeship Council and the International Court of Justice of the PLO.
UN Security Council – chief permanent political body The UN, which, according to the UN Charter, has primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. The Security Council consists of 15 people, of which five are permanent (Russia, USA, Great Britain, France and China), the remaining ten are non-permanent, elected to the Council in accordance with the procedure provided for by the UN Charter.
The Security Council is vested with an exceptionally large volume of powers in preventing military clashes between states. Only the UN Security Council has the right to decide on the conduct of operations using UN Armed Forces. To assist in the use of armed forces, subordinate to the Security Council is the Military Staff Committee, consisting of the chiefs of staff of the permanent members of the Security Council or their representatives, which supervises these forces.
The Security Council functions continuously. At meetings of the Security Council, the chairmanship is carried out by all its members for one month in turn, in alphabetical order by the name of the country in English.
The Council is empowered to investigate any dispute or any situation that may threaten international peace and recommend appropriate methods of settlement through the International Court of Justice. If the dispute is not resolved, it is referred to the Council of Security, which decides what measures should be taken to maintain or restore peace. These may be measures of an economic or political nature, and if they prove to be insufficient, the PLO Security Council may decide to use the UN Armed Forces.
A decision of the Security Council is considered adopted if a majority of non-permanent members and all permanent members of the Council vote for it. If at least one of the permanent members votes against, then the decision is not made.
UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) was created in order, under the leadership of the UN General Assembly, to promote international cooperation in economic, social, cultural and other fields; improving living standards, full employment and conditions for economic and social progress and development; resolving international problems in the field of economic, social and health care; international cooperation in the field of culture and education.
ECOSOC consists of 54 members who are elected by the PLO General Assembly for a period of three years (the election procedure is provided for in Article 61 of the UN Charter). Within the framework of ECOSOC there are numerous committees and commissions of various profiles, including regional ones.
ECOSOC, based on Art. 62–67 of the UN Charter, is authorized to:
- – undertake research and compile reports on international issues in the field of economic, social, cultural, educational, health and similar matters or encourage others to do so, and also make recommendations on any of these issues to the General Assembly, Members of the Organization and interested specialized agencies;
- – make recommendations to promote respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all;
- – prepare draft conventions for submission to the General Assembly on issues within its competence;
- – convene, in accordance with the rules prescribed by the UN, international conferences on issues within its competence;
- – enter into agreements defining the conditions under which the relevant institutions will be brought into contact with the UN. Such agreements are subject to approval by the General Assembly;
- – harmonize the activities of specialized agencies through consultation with them and recommendations to such agencies and through recommendations to the General Assembly and Members of the Organization;
- – take appropriate measures to obtain regular reports from specialized agencies; to enter into agreements with the Members of the Organization and with the specialized agencies for the purpose of obtaining from them reports on the measures taken by them in pursuance of its own recommendations and the recommendations of the General Assembly on matters within its competence;
- – communicate your comments on these reports to the General Assembly;
- – provide information to the Security Council and, at the proposal of the Security Council, is obliged to assist it.
As we can see, ECOSOC is entrusted with various functions of coordinating and developing cooperation between states in such important economic and social areas as economics, trade, social security, science and technology and much more.
The highest body of ECOSOC is the session, which convenes twice a year - in the spring in New York and in the summer in Geneva. Decisions are made by a majority vote of its members present and voting.
UN Trusteeship Council created for leadership international system trusteeship, which included territories formerly under the mandate of the League of Nations, territories seized from enemy states as a result of World War II (former Italian and Japanese colonies), and territories voluntarily included in the trusteeship system by the states responsible for their administration.
As a result of the liberation struggle, of the 11 trust territories that were under the jurisdiction of the Council from the very beginning of its activities, currently only one territory remains - Micronesia (Pacific Islands), which is under the trusteeship of the United States. The Council is composed of permanent members of the PLO Security Council. The Council shall report annually to the General Assembly on political, economic and social progress, based on information provided by the authority administering the territory and after visiting the territory under trusteeship.
International Court of Justice of the PLO – main judicial organ of the UN. It operates in accordance with the UN Charter and the Statute of the International Court of Justice. Only states can be parties to the cases under consideration; this is the main specific feature of this court. Its main purpose is that it must resolve any international disputes that are submitted to it by the disputing states. The court resolves disputes on the basis of international law, international customs, general principles rights, as well as international conventions. A number of states, including Russia, recognize the jurisdiction of the Court as mandatory under certain international treaties.
The International Court of Justice consists of 15 independent judges elected, regardless of their nationality, by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council for a term of nine years with the right of re-election.
UN Secretariat Performs administrative and technical functions of the UN, and also serves the work of other UN bodies. It is headed by the Secretary General, appointed by the UN General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council for a period of five years. He has the right to bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which, in his opinion, may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.
The Secretary General appoints his deputies and other officials of the Secretariat to head the various offices, departments and bureaus. The main divisions of the Secretariat are the departments for political affairs, disarmament issues, economic and social affairs, affairs of the General Assembly, legal affairs, etc. The functions of the Secretariat include servicing conferences, as well as interpretation and translation of speeches and documents and distribution of documentation.
As for regional international organizations, we should agree with the point of view of I.V. Timoshenko and A.N. Simonov that in Ch. VIII of the UN Charter provides for the legality of the creation and activities of regional security organizations, but some international organizations do not fully comply with the goals and principles of the UN Charter, and are not states of the same region. Traditionally, a regional international organization is usually considered to be the belonging of the member countries of the organization to one geographical region.
The UN Charter identifies regional international organizations of a political nature aimed at maintaining peace and security, but does not contain any definitions of such organizations. The main requirement is the provisions of paragraph 1 of Art. 52 of the UN Charter: Regional international organizations shall be established "to deal with such questions relating to the maintenance of international peace and security as are appropriate for regional action, provided that such... bodies and their activities are consistent with the Purposes and Principles of the Organization." Collective coercive actions of a regional international organization against any states in accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 53 of the UN Charter can be applied by these organizations only on behalf of the UN Security Council and under its leadership. However, a number of regional international organizations provide for the possibility of resorting to coercive measures against any state at their discretion without instructions from the Security Council (for example, the European Union, OSCE). Therefore, they cannot be considered as part of the UN system.
Most complies with the requirements of the PLO Charter among modern regional international organizations Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). This international regional organization was created by a number of states from among the former republics of the USSR. Its constituent documents are the Agreement on the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States in 1991, signed in Minsk by Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, as well as the Protocol to the agreement, signed in 1991 in Almaty by 11 states (all former republics of the USSR, except three Baltic republics and Georgia). At a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the CIS in Minsk on January 22, 1993, the Charter of the Commonwealth was adopted, which Ukraine and Turkmenistan did not sign and thus de jure are not member states of the CIS, but can be classified as member states of the Commonwealth. Turkmenistan at the Kazan CIS summit in August 2005 announced that it would participate in the Commonwealth as an “associate member.” A year after the adoption of the Charter, it came into force. According to Art. 2 of the Charter of the Commonwealth, the goals of the CIS are:
- – cooperation in political, economic, environmental, humanitarian, cultural and other fields:
- – comprehensive and balanced economic and social development of the member states within the framework of a common economic space, interstate cooperation and integration;
- – ensuring human morals and fundamental freedoms in accordance with generally recognized principles and norms of international law and CSCE documents;
- – cooperation between member states in ensuring international peace and security, implementing effective measures to reduce armaments, eliminate nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction, and achieve general and complete disarmament;
- – assistance to citizens of Member States in free communication, contacts and movement in the CIS;
- – mutual legal assistance and cooperation in other areas legal relations;
- – peaceful resolution of disputes and conflicts between the states of the Commonwealth.
To achieve the goals of the CIS, member states must build their relations in accordance with the generally recognized principles of international law and the Helsinki Final Act:
- – respect for the sovereignty of member states, the inalienable right of peoples to self-determination and the right to control their own destinies without outside interference;
- – inviolability of state borders, recognition of existing borders and renunciation of illegal territorial acquisitions;
- – territorial integrity of states and refusal of any actions aimed at dismembering foreign territories;
- – non-use of force or threat of force against the political independence of a Member State;
- – resolution of disputes by peaceful means in a manner that does not jeopardize international peace, security and justice;
- – the supremacy of international law in interstate relations;
- – non-interference in each other’s internal and external affairs;
- – ensuring human rights and fundamental freedoms for everyone, without distinction of race, ethnicity, language, religion, political or other beliefs;
- – conscientious fulfillment of assumed obligations under CIS documents, including the Charter;
- – taking into account the interests of each other and the CIS as a whole, providing assistance in all areas of their relations on the basis of mutual agreement;
- – joining forces and providing support to each other in order to create peaceful living conditions for the peoples of the CIS member states, ensuring their political, economic and social progress;
- – development of mutually beneficial economic, scientific and technical cooperation, expansion of integration processes;
- – the spiritual unity of their peoples, which is based on respect for their identity, close cooperation in the preservation of cultural values and cultural exchange.
The Charter notes that a state can become a member of the CIS if it shares the goals and principles of the CIS and assumes the obligations contained in the Charter by joining it with the consent of all member states.
Article 9 of the Charter gives a member state the right to withdraw from the CIS. The Member State shall notify such intention in writing 12 months prior to withdrawal. At the same time, the member state must fulfill all obligations that arose during the period of its stay in the CIS.
Georgia took advantage of this right by submitting a note from the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on August 18, 2008 to the CIS Executive Committee on secession from the CIS. At a meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers in Bishkek on October 9, 2008, on the initiative of Kyrgyzstan, which chairs the CIS, a technical decision was made on Georgia’s membership in the CIS, according to which Georgia’s withdrawal from the Commonwealth will take place 12 months after written notification of the depositary of the CIS Charter. Thus, in accordance with the CIS Charter, on August 18, 2009, Georgia officially ceased to be a member of this international organization.
Charter of the CIS in Part 3 of Art. 1 states that the CIS is not a state and does not have supranational powers. In 2011, the CIS celebrated its 20th anniversary. The Commonwealth of Independent States, which currently unites 11 countries, took place as a form of cooperation of equals independent states, recognized international community regional interstate organization, distinctive features which are interaction in various areas of interstate communication, flexibility of mechanisms and formats of cooperation. The Commonwealth plays its role in ensuring the security, stability and interaction of member states, which is carried out through its statutory bodies: the Council of Heads of State, the Council of Heads of Government, the Council of Foreign Ministers, the Economic Council, the Council of Defense Ministers, the Council of Border Force Commanders, the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, Economic Court.
Council of Heads of State (SGG) is supreme body The CIS, in which fundamental issues related to the activities of member states in the area of their common interests are discussed and resolved at the level of heads of state.
Council of Heads of Government (SGP) coordinates the cooperation of executive authorities in economic, social and other areas of common interests. At its meetings, the most important issues of economic, humanitarian, social, and military cooperation of the participating states are discussed, projects are agreed upon important documents, which are submitted for subsequent consideration by the Council of State Duma.
Council of Foreign Ministers (CMID) is the main executive body ensuring cooperation in the foreign policy activities of the CIS member states on issues of mutual interest in the period between the meetings of the CHS and the Commonwealth CSP.
Economic Council – the main executive body that ensures the implementation of agreements adopted within the CIS, decisions of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Commonwealth on the formation and functioning of a free trade zone and on other issues of socio-economic cooperation. The Economic Council consists of deputy heads of government of the CIS member states.
Operates under the Economic Council on a permanent basis Economic Affairs Commission, consisting of authorized representatives from all CIS member states, except Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It ensures comprehensive development and consideration of draft documents prepared by the CIS Executive Committee and sectoral socio-economic bodies, as well as coordination of the positions of states.
Council of Defense Ministers (SMO) is the body of the CHS on issues military policy and military development of the CIS member states. Members of the CFR are the ministers of defense of the CIS member states (except Moldova, Turkmenistan and Ukraine).
Council of Commanders of the Border Troops (SKPV) is the body of the Commonwealth of Independent States for coordinating the protection of the external borders of the CIS and ensuring a stable situation on them. The members of the SKPV are the commanders (chiefs) of the Border Troops (or other authorized representatives) of the CIS member states, as well as the Chairman of the Coordination Service of the Council of Commanders.
Interparliamentary Assembly (IPA) conducts inter-parliamentary consultations, discusses issues of cooperation within the CIS, and develops joint proposals in the field of activity of national parliaments. The CIS Assembly was formed and operates on the basis of the Agreement on the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly of March 27, 1992 and the Convention on the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly of May 26, 1995. The parliaments of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Ukraine.
Economic Court of the CIS created in order to ensure obligations arising from economic agreements and treaties concluded between the CIS states, by resolving disputes arising in the process of economic relations. Formed from equal number judges from each state party to the Agreement on the CIS Economic Court (initially – 8, currently – 5, one judge each from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan).
Council of Permanent Plenipotentiary Representatives of the Commonwealth member states to the statutory and other bodies of the CIS is a permanent body of the CIS. The Council, during the period between the meetings of the CHS, the CST and the Council of Foreign Ministers, promotes interaction between states on issues of mutual interest; discusses and submits proposals to the participating states on the development prospects and priorities of the CIS; forms draft agendas for the Council of State Duma, the State Duma and the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs; within the framework of its competence, exercises control over the implementation of instructions from the highest statutory bodies of the CIS. Representatives of all 11 member states of the Commonwealth work on the Council.
Along with the reviewed CIS bodies, more than 70 bodies have been created industry cooperation. They coordinate the joint efforts of the participating states in the most important sectors of the economy and social development, issues of humanitarian cooperation, the fight against crime and terrorism, and in other spheres of life of the CIS member states.
The single permanent executive, administrative and coordinating body of the Commonwealth is determined CIS Executive Committee with headquarters in Minsk and a branch of the Executive Committee in Moscow. Representatives of the CIS Executive Committee take part in the work of major meetings and forums held by the UN, EU, OSCE, EEC, ESCAP, ASEAN, UNESCO, FAO, OAS and other international organizations.
The basic law of evolution states that nothing is more fickle than success. Paradoxically, the most prosperous firms today become the most vulnerable tomorrow. A company whose core competencies, assets, distribution channels and mentality are perfectly aligned with meeting existing needs and fending off competitors risks losing ground as consumer needs change.
Strategy determines the direction in which the company moves to achieve its goals. At the center of the strategy are decisions in the field of marketing and innovation. The most important strategic decision is the choice of markets, the development of which will be focused on. The second most important decision is the decision about positioning, about what competitive advantages will provide the company with a leading position in the market. Strategic decisions determine the core competencies required by the company, the set of its product lines, and the production and distribution infrastructure.
Typically, the mission statement of multi-industry companies is formulated in fairly general terms, which are often perceived as parental instructions, devoid of specific content and development incentives. Many business unit managers develop their own mission statements that describe in more detail the unit's goals, prospects, core competencies of employees, and competitive advantages. Similar to the company's mission statement, they are aimed at instilling in employees a sense of pride in their work, involvement in common goals, as well as determining the direction of SBU development and developing internal priorities.
Once the company's management has determined the strategic direction of development and the required core competencies, the company begins work on acquiring new skills.
Increased competition has forced companies to concentrate their efforts on their core activities. During the economic boom of the 1960-1970s. many companies were engaged in a wide variety of completely unrelated activities. Oil companies became interested in retail trade, tobacco companies became interested in insurance, grocery companies acquired enterprises that produced electronics. However, as competition and economic conditions intensified, conglomerates found themselves lacking core competencies. Business leaders have realized that maintaining competitive advantage is determined by concentrating efforts on core competencies in a limited area of market and technology.
First, firms maximize the return on internal resources by focusing their investments and efforts on what the enterprise does best. Second, a well-developed core competency creates difficult barriers to entry for existing and potential competitors to enter the company's domain, thereby maintaining and protecting the strategic advantages of market share. Thirdly, it is possible greatest effect is achieved by ensuring that the company gets maximum benefit from the investments, innovations and specific professional capabilities of suppliers, which would be prohibitively expensive or even impossible to duplicate on its own. Fourthly, in the context of rapidly changing markets and technological features, cooperation strategies reduce risks, reduce the duration of technological cycles, reduce the level of required investments and create conditions for more effective response to customer needs.
The manager's current understanding of reality may turn out to be erroneous not only as a result of changes that have occurred in the world around him, but also because the company has moved into a new area of activity, where the game is played by different rules. When a company achieves significant success in a sector that does not offer opportunities for further growth, it often tries to apply its core competencies to other markets that at first glance appear very similar. At the same time, she does not notice the hidden differences of the new market, which require a different approach from her than before.
The search and mobilization of factors for increasing income is, in a certain sense, within the competence of the company’s top management, as well as its marketing service. The role of the financial service comes down mainly to justifying a reasonable pricing policy, assessing the feasibility and economic efficiency of a new product, monitoring compliance with internal benchmarks for profitability indicators in relation to existing and new production facilities.
This model takes into account three parameters for selecting a business - market attractiveness, competitiveness of the business, and the degree of connection with the core competencies of the corporation. In Fig. Figure 5.1 shows an example of the business portfolio of one of the small Russian machine-building plants. The main production - machines - is in an area of low attractiveness, although it is part of the company's core competencies and the company's strength is great. Another type of production and, accordingly, a different business is the production of automobiles.
A classic example of integrated analyzer companies can be the branches of the world's leading auditing and consulting companies (PriceWaterhouseCooper, Deloitte&Touche and others) operating in the Russian market. The main competence of such companies is the availability of proven operating algorithms and a high level of trust on the part of Western investors. This is what allows companies to set prices for their services that, on average, significantly exceed the prices of Russian auditing and consulting firms.
By viewing the firm as a set of core competencies and focusing on products and markets that are peripheral or indirect to the firm's core organizational units, it is possible to move beyond the firm's existing market. For example, Motorola was considered the leader in the wireless communications market (core competency). Then, in addition to its existing products and markets (such as mobile phones and pagers), it explored other markets for opportunities to leverage its core competency of global positioning of satellite signal receivers. Similarly, the search for "white space" between major organizational units allowed Kodak to explore the area between traditional chemical products (photographic film) and electronic imaging devices (photocopiers) and identify a new market for photo storage and viewing. Accordingly, the company's concept is to develop a process that allows photographs to be viewed on television.
The third favorable condition for creating your share of a new market is the ability to realize the company’s existing strengths. For example, ASIO used its core competencies in microelectronics to move from producing calculators to producing watches. Marx and Spen's reputation as a reliable and trustworthy retailer allowed it to create investment trust funds with a low degree of risk and an average return on capital invested.
Among the most important Danish companies, the concept of technology ratings has attracted interest from managers, who have found such ratings to be an important tool that they lack. Although some financial institutions have rated technologically advanced firms using their own methodology, they have often focused on technology rather than other aspects. Traditionally, financial institutions in the Netherlands served the market only for a small number of technologically advanced firms, either through government incentives or as part of their core competence. And now, however, they have decided to change their approach to technologically advanced firms. Technology ratings have come to be seen by these financial institutions as adding value to the market, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises.
White spots. These opportunities include creating new products or services and entering new markets by leveraging the company's core competencies in other ways. The Walkman audio player provided such an opportunity for Sony. The parent company transferred its business capabilities to business units engaged in the production of tape recorders and headphones.
One of the ways to prolong the period of obtaining excess profits from technological leadership is innovative competence. The more numerous and complex the technological parameters of a new product, the more difficult it is for competitors to determine the main characteristics with which to compete. And if you add to complex technologies the special internal culture of the company, which in itself generates innovation, it is almost impossible to imitate this product. In addition to this, innovators always strive to establish close relationships with suppliers and distributors, which enhances the company's competence and know-how. The main competitive strategies to maximize the profitability of innovations are discussed in detail in Chapter 3, Innovation Planning.
By using other firms as suppliers of a variety of resources, a company can achieve benefits in a variety of ways. Considering that resources for any firm are limited, there is a need to collaborate with other organizations. Modern business requires a focus on areas of core competence where competitive advantage can be developed (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990). The company needs to invest its resources in the area of its core, core activities. Those areas of activity that are not key can be quite easily delegated (or transferred within the framework of alliances) to external organizations that are capable of producing the required product or service at the proper level. Even within core competencies, there may be opportunities for cooperation where it is much more difficult to manage alone, or where the firm's internal resources are simply insufficient. An important advantage that firms should not easily ignore is being first to market with a new or improved product or service. By concentrating on areas of core competence and collaborating with other organizations that specialize in other areas, a firm can simultaneously benefit from both economies of scale and economies of differentiation or product line variety. Alliances and partnerships can free up scarce resources for core functions, allowing them to be performed more efficiently by those organizations that focus more efforts on core competency areas. It is important to understand that other companies that have already explored this area may be able to perform some functions more effectively. Duplicating work already done by others and reinventing the wheel are unlikely to lead to significant company growth and increased profitability. And, although in most cases this conclusion may sound paradoxical, dependence on external organizations may well be the basis of a firm's independence (Lewis, 1995). Following or relying on an organization's internal, or organic, growth is just one possible alternative. There is a very diverse range of options, formed on the basis of general self-confidence, on the one hand, and on the basis of trust in resources, on the other hand. Firms must consider all options and choose the best one that can contribute to the development and maintenance of long-term competence in the areas of key activities for the company.
Competencies that are most likely to predict long-term career success for candidates that are difficult to develop through training or work experience. These include core competencies, such as achievement orientation or impact and influencing, which are better made as selection criteria rather than developed later. For example, a company hiring technical talent might want to hire 10% of new recruits for impact and influence competencies. By selecting some candidates who not only have good grades, but also have previously served as captain of a sports team or leader of a student organization, the company will receive a pool of technical employees with the competencies sufficient to become managers in the future.
In addition, as we analyzed the information we received, we also revised our initial assumptions about whether, in a particular case, there really was a serious corporate error that caused the company's failure. For example, many say that when developing the original concept of the PC in 1979, IBM made a blunder by outsourcing the operating systems to Microsoft and the microprocessors to Intel. While there is no doubt that the lion's share of value in this industry comes from operating systems and microchips, we think it's not entirely reasonable to assume that IBM should have figured this out almost twenty-five years ago. Few of us, no matter who we are, have insight into the future. magic crystal. In addition, IBM's strategy of outsourcing operating system and microprocessor work—both areas outside the company's hardware core competencies—reflects a desire to concentrate on the core business component of hardware.
The company's core competency - product innovation - laid the foundation for its resounding success. Rubbermaid's pioneering spirit and ability to bring innovations to market quickly gave them a monopoly in many product categories, allowing their products to gain a foothold before competitors could even copy their designs. By the end of the 1980s, Rubbermaid was producing 365 products a year, a record that reflected a well-established new product development process that allowed the company to narrow the gap between the time an idea was conceived and its actual implementation on the shelf. The core ingredients of this process—close customer contact, minimal market testing, and cross-functional teams—provided a killer combination of speed and innovation.
Is M&A a Core Competency Successful companies always have core competencies that help them execute their chosen competitive strategies. Accordingly, M&A companies must develop core competencies that will enable them to become effective acquirers. This problem cannot be solved if you treat each acquisition as an exceptional phenomenon. The experience gained by the people involved in a given transaction needs to be captured, shared, and complemented by knowledge gained from subsequent mergers and acquisitions, as is the case with ISO, GE, Eaton, and other established experts in the field.
This concludes our story about negative transference. It is quite possible that many of our readers will be able to draw a parallel between these stories and what is happening in their own companies, for the sake of which, in fact, this whole conversation was started. Getting to know negative transference helps us learn a serious lesson: experience and intellectual potential are not always beneficial, moreover, in some cases, experience becomes a source of great trouble. Negative transference can exist in a wide variety of forms, sometimes masked by the impeccable logic of core competencies. Therefore, we should always remember how carefully we need to approach the definition of these competencies. In the next section we will move from negative values to zero, and consider
Despite the solidarity with the Libyan side, expressed by eight OPEC members and including practical proposals from the ADR, Iran, Kuwait and the UAE to provide immediate assistance to it by sending oil personnel, Saudi Arabia vetoed the draft resolution, saying that due to its political nature, this issue is not included within the competence of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. However, the most important real significance, in our opinion, is not Saudi demarches of this kind, but the preservation for Aramco shareholders of the advantages enjoyed by the privileged counterparties of this Arabian monarchy. It seems that the access of outsider firms in one form or another to the development of its oil resources, the largest in the capitalist world, is not facilitated in any significant way as a result of the nationalization of the main concession. Having a strong rear here and being largely protected from competition, leading American energy concerns can afford a more stringent raw materials policy in relation to other liberated states than the bulk of independent companies.
At the end of the 1990s. A survey of the world's leading companies was conducted on the identification and development of core competencies1. CEOs and other executives from companies such as Boeing, Citicorp, Lockheed Martin, Okidata, and others have attempted to articulate their core technology competencies, processes, and key relationships and envision ways to strengthen and develop core competencies. The most popular way to maintain process reliability was found to be the creation of a corporate culture aimed at maintaining operational standards and minimizing waste in every sense. The most popular method of strengthening external relations was the acquisition of other companies and the use of the relationship potential they had accumulated. As for technological competencies, here the opinions of the leaders of the world's leading corporations are most divided. A significant portion of managers pointed out the need to fully take into account all factors of the economic and technological environment when planning and developing technological know-how. However, almost the same proportion of managers emphasized the need to partially or completely ignore prevailing opinions about existing technological or operational limitations in the production and distribution of products.
Particular attention should be paid to the analysis of the third question. Here it can be pointed out that KUR tends to increasingly turn into a purely investment company, concentrating on investments in high technology areas. This is both the strength and weakness of the chosen development model. Concentration of all investments in one, albeit very promising sector ( high tech), makes the company vulnerable to all fluctuations in this sector. And, indeed, in March 2001, KUR Industries released its financial results Marketing Management (2001) - [
FEDERAL FISHERIES AGENCY
KAMCHATKA STATE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
CORRESPONDENCE FACULTY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT
CONTROL WORK ON DISCIPLINE
"WORLD ECONOMY"
OPTION NUMBER 4
SUBJECT:International organizations of general competence and their activities in the field of economic cooperation: Council of Europe; Commonwealth of Nations; Arab League; Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe - OSCE.
Performed I checked
Student of group 06AUs acting as head
Distance learning of the Department of Economics and Management
Miroshnichenko O.A. Eremina M.Yu.
grade book code 061074-ZF
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
Introduction. pp. 3 - 5
Council of Europe. pp. 6 - 12
Commonwealth of Nations. pp. 13 – 15
League of Arab States. pp. 15 – 18
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe - OSCE
pp. 19 – 26
Bibliography.
Introduction.
In modern international relations, international organizations play a significant role as a form of cooperation between states and multilateral diplomacy.
Since the creation of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine in 1815, international organizations have been given their own competence and powers.
Modern international organizations are characterized by further expansion of their competence and complication of structure.
Currently, there are more than 4 thousand international organizations, of which more than 300 are intergovernmental. At their center is the UN.
An interstate organization is characterized by the following features:
membership of states;
existence of a constituent international treaty;
permanent organs;
respect for the sovereignty of member states.
Taking these features into account, it can be stated that an international intergovernmental organization is an association of states established on the basis of an international treaty to achieve common goals, having permanent bodies and acting in the common interests of member states while respecting their sovereignty.
The main feature of non-governmental international organizations is that they were not created on the basis of an interstate treaty (for example, the Association of International Law, the League of Red Cross Societies, etc.).
Based on the nature of their membership, international organizations are divided into interstate and non-governmental. Based on the range of participants, international organizations are divided into universal (UN, its specialized agencies) and regional (Organization of African Unity, Organization of American States). International organizations are also divided into organizations of general competence (UN, OAU, OAS) and special ones (Universal Postal Union, International Labor Organization). Classification by the nature of powers allows us to distinguish between interstate and suprastate organizations. The first group includes the vast majority of international organizations. The goal of supranational organizations is integration. For example, the European Union. From the point of view of the procedure for joining them, organizations are divided into open (any state can become a member at its own discretion) and closed (admission with the consent of the founders).
International organizations are created by states. The process of creating an international organization takes place in three stages: the adoption of a constituent document, the creation of the material structure of the organization, and the convening of the main bodies.
The first step involves convening an international conference to develop and adopt the text of the treaty. Its name may be different, for example, statute (League of Nations), charter (UN, OAS, OAU), convention (UPU, WIPO).
The second stage involves the creation of the material structure of the organization. For these purposes, specially trained bodies are most often used, which prepare draft rules of procedure for future organs of the organization, process the entire range of issues relating to the creation of headquarters, etc.
The convening of the main bodies completes the efforts to create an international organization.
Council of Europe.
This is an international regional organization uniting European countries. The Charter of the Council was signed in London on May 5, 1949, and came into force on August 3, 1949. The Council of Europe arose in 1949 and currently includes 41 states. The purpose of this organization is to achieve rapprochement between member states by promoting the expansion of democracy and the protection of human rights, as well as cooperation on issues of culture, education, health, youth, sports, law, information, security environment. The main bodies of the Council of Europe are located in Strasbourg (France).
The Council of Europe plays an important role in the development of pan-European legislation and, in particular, in solving legal and ethical problems arising in connection with scientific and technological progress. The activities of the Council of Europe are aimed at developing conventions and agreements, on the basis of which the unification and changes in the legislation of member states are subsequently carried out. Conventions are the main elements of interstate legal cooperation, which are binding on states that ratify them. The conventions related to the legal support of business activities include the Convention on Laundering, Identification, Seizure and Confiscation of Proceeds from Crime.
Meetings of the heads of state and government of the Council of Europe countries were held twice (in 1993 and 1997). Within the framework of the Committee of Ministers, which is the highest body of the organization and meets twice a year as part of the foreign ministers of member countries, political aspects of cooperation in these areas are discussed and recommendations are adopted (based on unanimity) to the governments of member countries, as well as declarations and resolutions on international political issues relevant to the sphere of activity of the Council of Europe. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, recently established as a body of the Council of Europe, aims to promote the development of local democracy. Several dozen expert committees organize intergovernmental cooperation in areas within the competence of the Council of Europe.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which is the advisory body of the Council of Europe, and in which parliamentarians of national legislative bodies (including from opposition parties) are represented, functions very actively. The Parliamentary Assembly is an advisory body and has no legislative powers. It consists of representatives of the parliaments of member states of the Council of Europe. Each national delegation is formed in such a way that it represents the interests of various political circles of its country, including opposition parties. It is the main initiator of the activities carried out by the Council of Europe and holds its plenary meetings three times a year, adopting recommendations to the Committee of Ministers and national governments by a majority vote, organizing parliamentary hearings, conferences, colloquia, forming various committees and subcommittees, study groups, etc. , supervising the following economic and social areas:
economic and development issues;
agriculture and rural development;
science and technology;
social issues;
environment.
The political role of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, who is elected by the Parliamentary Assembly, organizes the daily work of the organization and acts on its behalf, carrying out various contacts in the international arena, is significant.
In all the main areas of its activity, the Council of Europe carries out numerous activities that promote not only the development of cooperation between member states, but also the formation of some common guidelines for them in the organization public life. The number of representatives from each country (from 2 to 18) depends on the size of its population. The Assembly Council consists of a Chairman and 17 deputies. Elections for the Chairman of the Assembly are held every year. The Parliamentary Assembly holds its plenary sessions three times a year. It adopts, by a majority vote, recommendations to the Committee of Ministers and the governments of member states, which form the basis for specific areas of activity of the Council of Europe. The Assembly organizes conferences, colloquia, open parliamentary hearings, elects the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and judges of the European Court of Human Rights. In 1989, the Parliamentary Assembly established specially invited country status to be granted to Central and Eastern European countries prior to their admission to full membership. This status is still retained by the Republic of Belarus.
The structure of the Council of Europe includes an administrative and technical secretariat, headed by the Secretary General, who is elected for five years.
The international political confrontation that existed on the continent made participation in the Council of Europe impossible socialist countries. With the end of the Cold War, a new impetus was given to the activities of this organization, prompting it to focus on issues of democratic transformation. As a result, even joining the Council of Europe itself became an additional incentive for their implementation. Thus, states newly admitted to the Council of Europe had to undertake the obligation to sign the European Convention on Human Rights, which came into force in 1953, and to accept the entire set of its control mechanisms. Conditions for new members to join the Council of Europe are also the existence of a democratic legal system and the holding of free, equal and general elections. It is also important that many issues of development civil society in post-socialist countries have become the subject of attention within the Council of Europe. These include problems of protecting national minorities and issues of local self-government.
The Council of Europe is an authoritative international organization, the very participation in which serves as a kind of evidence for all member states of their compliance with the high standards of pluralistic democracy. Hence the possibility of influencing those countries that are members of the Council (or candidates for accession to the Council of Europe), where certain problems arise on this basis. At the same time, this may raise concerns in the countries concerned regarding unacceptable interference in their internal affairs. In other words, the activities of the Council of Europe often find themselves embedded in one or another international political context and are viewed by participants primarily through the prism of their immediate foreign policy interests; Naturally, quite serious collisions can arise as a result. This has happened more than once in practice, for example, in connection with the internal political situation in Turkey and Belarus, the problem of the rights of the Russian-speaking population in some Baltic countries, the separatist movement in Chechnya (Russia), and when discussing the issue of Croatia joining the Council of Europe.
Source: Electronic catalog of the industry department in the direction of “Jurisprudence”
(libraries of the Faculty of Law) Scientific Library named after. M. Gorky St. Petersburg State University
Makarenko, A. B.
OSCE - Pan-European International
organization of general competence /A. B. Makarenko.
//Jurisprudence. -1997. - No. 1. - P. 156 - 165
- OSCE - Pan-European international organization of general competence.
Makarenko, A. B.OSCE – Pan-European International Organization of General Competence
A. B. Makarenko*
Adopted at the Summit of the States Parties to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in Budapest (5-6 December 1994) package of documents (Political Declaration “Towards a Genuine Partnership in a New Era” and “Budapest Decisions”) 1 contains a number of important decisions aimed at restructuring the CSCE in accordance with the dictates of the times, significantly increasing its effectiveness and efficiency. The direction of development of the CSCE along the path of transforming it into a full-fledged regional organization is clearly indicated. The first part of the “Budapest Decisions” - “Strengthening the CSCE” - is actually a detailed summary of the Charter of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
An event of enormous significance was the renaming of the CSCE into the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is a recognition of the fact that today the CSCE actually has all the features of a regional (uniting Europe with the integrated inclusion of the USA and Canada) international organization of a common competencies.
The peculiarity of the OSCE is that it does not have a single document - a constituent act. The process of creating the organization took a long period of time and is still ongoing, and the role of the founding act is a set of decisions taken at the summit meetings of the participating states.
The history of the OSCE began on August 1, 1975, when the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), held in Helsinki, ended with the signing of the final document of the meeting, the Final Act, by the leaders of 33 European states, the United States and Canada. The participation of the United States and Canada in the European regional meeting was due to the presence of military contingents and military bases of these countries in Europe, as well as the fact that the participation of the United States, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, is of great importance for ensuring security in Europe.
The Final Act is rightfully considered one of the most important international documents of our time, since its content includes the following: firstly, the establishment of general principles of international relations between the participating states, which at the same time represent the principles of international law; secondly, a set of agreements to ensure European security and strengthen confidence; thirdly, agreements on cooperation in the field of economics, science and technology and the environment, humanitarian and other fields; fourth, a statement of determination to continue the multilateral process initiated by the Meeting and an agreement on activities carried out by participating States after the Meeting; fifthly, creating the basis of a system of collective security and cooperation.
The final act has a complex, multifaceted structure. In addition to establishing the legal principles of relations between states, it records the goals and intentions of its participants, collectively developed and agreed upon recommendations, and also contains specific legal norms.
The Final Act is unique in its legal nature, and this has given rise to numerous discussions q: legal force of this document, and subsequently - other agreements within the CSCE. As V.K. Sobakin noted, this uniqueness makes it impossible to subsume the Meeting and the Final Act under the traditional classifications of international meetings and international legal documents. 2
Without a doubt, the Final Document of the Helsinki Meeting is not an international treaty. 3 This conclusion can be made based on the text of the Act itself, which states that it “is not subject to registration under Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.” In accordance with this article, all treaties and international agreements concluded by members of the UN must, as soon as possible, be registered with the Secretariat and published by it. The refusal to register deprived the participants of the Meeting of the right to refer to the Final Act as a treaty in any of the UN bodies, from which it can be concluded that the states participating in the CSCE decided not to give this agreement a treaty form.
This fact was a prerequisite for differences of opinion regarding the obligation of the Act for the participating countries. The American International Law Association, when publishing the text of the Final Act, provided it with an explanation stating that the Final Act has no binding force. 4 This approach received a negative legal assessment from the international legal community. Both the Final Act itself and the final documents of all subsequent summit meetings within the CSCE are permeated with statements by the participating countries of the “intention to implement”, “determination to give full effect” to the provisions of the Final Act of the Conference. The section of the Act dedicated to the principle of faithful fulfillment of obligations under international law states that participants “will ... take due account and fulfill(emphasis mine. - A.M.) provisions of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe." 5 The wording of the Madrid Final Document is more decisive: confidence- and security-building measures will be “mandatory and will be ensured by adequate forms of verification consistent with their content.” 6 In the Final Document of the Vienna Meeting, the participants expressed their determination “to accept responsibility for the full implementation of the commitments contained in the Final Act and other CSCE documents.” 7
Currently, it has become generally accepted to view agreements within the CSCE as being of a binding nature. However, the question of the nature of the binding force of these documents still causes controversy.
Two main points of view on this issue can be distinguished: according to the first, CSCE acts are in the nature of political agreements, and their binding force is of a moral and political nature; 8 the second recognizes the legal force of these associate professors and the content of international legal norms in them. 9 Recent trends in the development of the CSCE process, qualitative changes in it, the essence of which will be outlined below, have proven the correctness of the second point of view.
International legal doctrine is based on the theory of coordination of the wills of states as a way of creating international legal norms. The most common source of international law is an international treaty, but it cannot be considered as the only form of coordination of wills. In addition to this, there are other generally accepted sources, such as international customs and mandatory regulatory resolutions of international organizations, as well as special shape coordination of the wills of states - the final documents of international conferences, to which the Final Act relates. Its legal force is not diminished by the fact that the instructions it contains differ in the nature of their binding nature. It contains both legal norms and non-normative provisions; there are both mandatory and recommendatory provisions. But the combination of normative and non-normative provisions in one document does not eliminate its qualification as a source! rights, since the rules of law are still present in it. 10
The interpretation of CSCE documents as sources of international law acquires particular importance in connection with the gradual transition of the CSCE to a new quality - the quality of an international organization of a regional nature. Throughout the history of the CSCE, a sequence of steps in this direction can be traced.
The meeting in Helsinki marked the beginning of the organizational process of building a system of security and cooperation in Europe. In the section of the final document “Next steps after the Meeting,” the participating states stated their desire to continue the multilateral process initiated by the Meeting and to implement the provisions of the Final Act.
A whole series of meetings of state representatives at various levels was planned. Even then, in the totality of these meetings, a certain organizational unity was seen, as well as the possibility of giving the process a more organized form.
The first was the Belgrade meeting of the participating states of the pan-European Conference, held in the capital of Yugoslavia from October 4, 1977 to March 9, 1978. At this meeting, an in-depth exchange of views took place on the implementation of the Final Act and on the development of the détente process in the future. The final document of the Belgrade meeting, adopted on March 8, 1978, emphasized the determination of the participating countries “to implement all the provisions of the Final Act unilaterally, bilaterally and multilaterally.” eleven
At the Madrid meeting, the participating states managed to reach agreements that create new opportunities for expanding their cooperation in a variety of areas, to intensify their efforts in the interests of strengthening European and world peace. The meeting ended on September 9, 1983 with the adoption of a final document, which was fully based on the principles and provisions of the Helsinki Final Act. The final document confirmed that it is necessary to strictly and strictly respect and implement in practice the ten Helsinki Principles, which the states participating in the pan-European conference pledged to guide their relationships. The intention was also confirmed to take further steps to reduce or gradually eliminate all kinds of obstacles to the development of trade, and to expand economic, scientific and technical ties.
An important agreement of the Madrid meeting was the decision to convene a conference of states on confidence-building measures, security and disarmament in Europe, which began work on January 17, 1984 in Stockholm. The main achievement of this conference was the adoption of a set of mutually reinforcing confidence- and security-building measures. The Stockholm Conference document is a politically significant achievement, and the measures it contains are an important step in efforts to reduce the risk of military confrontation in Europe. 12
The next main stage of the CSCE process was the Vienna meeting of representatives of the participating states of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. The meeting took place from November 1986 to January 1989. It brought to the fore one of the main elements of the CSCE process - the human dimension, which had not previously been the focus of attention, unlike military issues. The final document of the Vienna meeting significantly expanded the provisions of the Final Act relating to human rights and humanitarian cooperation. 13 It is fundamentally important that a permanent mechanism was created to monitor the implementation of obligations in this area by participating states - the so-called Vienna Mechanism. On this issue, significant differences arose between East and West. The question arose: would the human dimension mechanism contradict the basic principle of international law - non-interference in the internal affairs of other states. This principle continues to be one of the fundamental principles of international communication. However, states, voluntarily accepting relevant obligations, can to a certain extent limit the scope of their internal competence that is not subject to interference. The primacy of universal human values over national or group ones is also directly related to ensuring human rights. The above is of particular importance in connection with the issue of recognizing the binding force of agreements within the CSCE.
The essence of the Vienna Mechanism was the decision of the participating states:
1) exchange information and respond to requests for information and to representations made to it by other participants on issues relating to the human dimension of the CSCE;
2) hold bilateral meetings with other participating States for the purpose of studying issues relating to the human dimension of the CSCE, including situations and specific cases, with a view to resolving them;
3) that any participating State which deems it necessary may draw the attention of other participating States through diplomatic channels to situations and cases relating to the human dimension of the CSCE;
4) that any participating State may provide information on contacts in accordance with the above points at CSCE meetings. 14
The Vienna Conference decided that three meetings should be held on the human dimension. Three meetings and conferences on the human dimension took place: in Paris in 1989, in Copenhagen in 1990 and in Moscow in 1991. These meetings significantly strengthened and expanded the Vienna Mechanism, creating a system of international non-violent action to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
The Copenhagen Document strengthened the Vienna Mechanism by setting specific deadlines for responses to requested information. 15 It was followed by the Moscow Document, the three main parts of which, dealing respectively with strengthening the human dimension mechanism, the rule of law and human rights obligations, complemented and strengthened the Copenhagen Document. Its preamble stated unequivocally for the first time that “questions relating to freedoms, democracy and the rule of law are of an international nature” and that “the obligations assumed by them V areas of the human dimension of the CSCE, are issues of direct and legitimate interest to all participating States and are not exclusively the internal affairs of the State concerned,” 16 The innovation of the Moscow Conference was the possibility of sending independent missions of experts and rapporteurs to including against the will of the state that violates human rights. To achieve this goal, the participating states took the important step of contradicting an important CSCE principle: the rule of consensus (see below). Thus, the foundations for the international control procedure were laid.
On November 19-21, 1990, a meeting of heads of state and government of 34 CSCE participating countries took place in Paris. The main question that was discussed at it was: what should be the future of Europe and pan-European cooperation.
The result of the meeting was the adoption of a document called the “Charter of Paris for a New Europe”. It noted the profound changes and fundamental socio-political changes that had occurred in Eastern Europe, and contained the statement that “the era of confrontation and division in Europe is over.” 17 The meeting participants once again confirmed their commitment to the ten principles of the Final Act and stated that from now on their relations will be based on mutual respect and cooperation. The Charter clearly states the right to equal security for everyone and the freedom to choose how to ensure one’s own security.
We especially note this meeting due to the fact that it marked the beginning of a new stage in the institutionalization of the pan-European process and the transition of the CSCE to a new quality. In the section of the Paris Charter entitled “New Structures and Institutions of the CSCE Process,” the participating States stated that “joint efforts to ensure respect for human rights, democracy and the promotion of unity in Europe require a new quality of political dialogue and cooperation and thus , development of CSCE structures." The organizational and procedural conditions for the creation of these structures were contained in the “Additional Document”, which was adopted along with the Charter of Paris. Thus, there was a transition from the general principles of creating a system of security and cooperation in Europe, proclaimed by the Final Act of 1975, to the construction of specific structures of the system.
One of the bodies created at the Paris meeting was the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the CSCE participating States. On January 30-31, 1992, a meeting of the Council took place in Prague, at which the process of institutionalization was continued and changes were made regarding certain bodies and procedures.
This important milestone was followed by the next one - the Helsinki Meeting of Heads of State and Government of the CSCE participating countries, which took place in the capital of Finland on July 9-10, 1992 (Helsinki 2). The document “Challenge of the Time of Change” adopted at the Helsinki meeting consolidated the main results of the first stage of the CSCE's transition to a new quality - the quality of an international organization. 18 The CSCE received broad powers to take practical measures and various means of their implementation. The Helsinki Document includes the Declaration of the Summit and a package of decisions on the structure and main areas of activity of the CSCE. The Helsinki Document continues to develop structures to ensure that crises are overcome through political means and creates new mechanisms to prevent conflicts and overcome crises.
In the human dimension, the meeting in Helsinki demonstrated the growing concern of the participating States about violations of the rights of persons belonging to national minorities and the growing number of refugees and displaced persons. Provisions aimed at strengthening the obligations of participating States in these areas took an important place.
Agreements were reached regarding the intensification of economic, scientific, technical and environmental cooperation in the CSCE region.
The meeting in Helsinki-2 occupied an important place in creating the necessary preconditions for the practical use of the CSCE as an instrument for maintaining peace, stability and security in the region.
On December 14-15, 1992, the next meeting of the CSCE Council took place in Stockholm. At this meeting, a document was adopted that summed up the 20-year efforts of the participating states of the pan-European process to develop a comprehensive system for the peaceful settlement of international disputes. 19 Work on it was carried out at regular meetings of CSCE participants, as well as at four special meetings of experts (Montreux, 1978; Athens, 1984; La Valletta, 1991; Geneva, 1992). At the last meeting, final recommendations were developed, which were adopted by the CSCE Council at the Stockholm meeting.
And finally, on December 5-6, 1994, another meeting took place in Budapest, in which the heads of state and government of 52 CSCE countries, as well as Macedonia as an observer, participated, and which today is the last major step towards the establishment OSCE.
The process of transforming the Helsinki process from a forum of predominantly political dialogue into a regional Euro-Atlantic organization for maintaining military-political stability and developing cooperation is characterized by three main features: institutionalization of the CSCE, changes V his powers and changes in procedure.
As noted above, the beginning of a new stage of institutionalization, namely, the creation of permanent bodies, the presence of which is one of the main features of an international organization, was laid at the Paris Summit in 1990. Then the following permanent bodies were created:
1. Council of Foreign Ministers - a central forum for regular political consultations within the CSCE process. His competence included the consideration of issues related to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the adoption of relevant decisions, as well as the preparation of meetings of the Heads of State and Government of the participating states and the implementation of decisions taken at these meetings,
2. Committee of Senior Officials (SCSO), whose functions included preparing meetings of the Council, drawing up the agenda and implementing its decisions, reviewing current problems and considering issues of the future work of the CSCE with the right to make decisions on them, including in the form of recommendations to the Council.
3. Secretariat- administrative service body for consultations at all levels.
4. Conflict Prevention Center to assist the Council in reducing the risk of conflict. Its role was to promote the implementation of confidence and security measures developed at the Stockholm Conference. These measures included a mechanism for consultation and cooperation regarding unusual military activities, exchange of military information, a communications network, annual implementation assessment meetings, and cooperation regarding dangerous incidents of a military nature.
5. Bureau for Free Elections to facilitate contacts and exchange of information about elections in participating States.
6. Parliamentary Assembly as a body that unites members of parliaments of all participating states.
Subsequently, the composition of the bodies and their powers were repeatedly changed towards expansion in order to make them more effective.
Thus, at the Prague meeting, the Council of Foreign Ministers of the CSCE participating States transformed the Office for Free Elections into Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) giving it additional functions. 20 This was done with the aim of expanding practical cooperation between participating States in the field of the human dimension.
At the Prague meeting it was created within the Committee of Senior Officials Economic Forum, to give political impetus to dialogue on issues of transition to free market economy and its development and with the aim of proposing practical steps aimed at developing free market systems and economic cooperation.
The Prague Document set new tasks and measures for the Conflict Prevention Center created at the Paris meeting to strengthen the functions and improve the working methods of the CPC.
At the meeting of heads of state and government in Helsinki in 1992, decisions were taken according to which the Council and the Committee of Senior Officials as an agent of the Council became the institutional core of the CSCE. 21 The Council was assigned the role of the central and governing body of the CSCE, and the CSO, along with making operational decisions, was entrusted with management and coordination functions. Manage the ongoing activities of the CSCE was entrusted to the Chairman-in-Office, which must bring the decisions of the Council and the CSO to the attention of the CSCE institutions and give them, if necessary, appropriate recommendations on these decisions.
To assist the Chairman, it was established Troika Institute(consisting of the previous, current and subsequent chairmen acting jointly), as well as special task forces created on a case-by-case basis, in particular for conflict prevention, crisis management and dispute resolution, and the personal representatives of the Chairperson.
A post was established CSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, which operates under the auspices of the CSO and should contribute to the prevention of conflicts at the earliest possible stage.
CSCE Forum for Security Co-operation was created as a permanent body of the CSCE to solve the following main tasks: holding new negotiations on arms control, disarmament and strengthening confidence and security; expanding regular consultations, intensifying cooperation on security-related issues; reducing the risk of conflict.
An important milestone in the process of institutionalization and expansion of the powers of the CSCE was the Convention on Conciliation and Arbitration within the CSCE and the Statute of the CSCE Reconciliation Commission adopted on December 14-15, 1992 in Stockholm. 22 The Convention provides for the creation Courts of Conciliation and Arbitration for the settlement by conciliation and, where appropriate, arbitration of disputes referred to it by the CSCE participating States.
At the Budapest meeting the Committee of Senior Officials was transformed into Governing Council. Its functions include discussing and formulating guiding principles of a political and general budgetary nature. The Governing Council is also convened as an Economic Forum.
In addition to the institutionalization of the CSCE process and the acquisition of new powers, one more main sign of its acquisition of a new quality can be cited: there has been a dynamic development of both formal and internal principles and procedures of the CSCE, which have undergone significant changes.
Let us consider the fundamental changes that have undergone the cornerstone of the CSCE - the rule of consensus.
As mentioned above, the rules of procedure developed in the Final Recommendations of the Helsinki Consultations stipulated that decisions at the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe would be taken by consensus. This was of great importance as it encouraged member states to eliminate differences of opinion regarding the content of any provisions. As a result, there were always formulations that no state opposed, although it took a lot of time to achieve this.
The use of consensus in resolving critical issues is generally positive. “The use of consensus,” writes A. N. Kovalev, “is intended to serve to prevent the imposition of someone else’s will on states with the help of a mechanical majority. At the same time, the rule of consensus contains the potential for its abuse by those who seek to delay, slow down the adoption of agreements, and obstruct the achievement of agreement.” 23 However, given the potential for unproductive use of consensus, the CSCE participating States agreed that the rules of procedure for the Helsinki meeting would be applied at subsequent meetings.
The rule of consensus is closely related to another fundamental principle of the CSCE - the principle of non-interference in internal affairs (principle VI of the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference). 24 This principle was often used as a kind of caveat: some states considered the exposure of human rights violations in these countries as unacceptable interference in their internal affairs. In addition, the special nature of territorial conflicts, as well as conflicts related to minority problems and the collapse of states, requires the ability of international organizations to participate in their elimination in order to protect peoples and people.
With the creation of the Vienna Mechanism (1989), the foundations for the international control procedure were laid. The emergence of the mechanism of emergency and preventive measures meant that “there was an opportunity for international non-violent action to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law.” 25 The end of the period of confrontation between the two systems made possible further progress in this direction: the result of the Moscow Conference on the Human Dimension was the possibility of sending a commission of experts also against the will of a state that violates human rights. To achieve this goal it was necessary to come into conflict with the above-mentioned CSCE principle: the rule of consensus.
The next important step towards modifying the principle of consensus was the Prague meeting of the CSCE Council, at which, in order to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law, it was adopted important decision that “The Council or the Committee of Senior Officials may, if necessary - and without the consent of the State concerned, in cases of clear, flagrant and uncorrected violation of relevant CSCE commitments - take appropriate action.
Such actions will consist of political statements or other political steps that will be taken outside the territory of such state.” 26 As we see, a new mechanism has emerged, called “consensus minus one.”
Returning to the principle of non-interference in internal affairs, it should be noted that the participating states formulated their attitude to this issue in the preamble of the Moscow Document of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, which stated that “issues relating to human rights, fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law law are of an international character" and that "the commitments they have undertaken in the field of the human dimension of the CSCE are matters of direct and legitimate interest to all participating States and are not exclusively the internal affairs of the State concerned" .
The principle of consensus does not apply when making decisions in the CSCE Parliamentary Assembly, where a majority vote is required, as well as when introducing the mechanism of emergency measures and the mechanism of preventive measures to resolve crisis situations adopted in Helsinki (the consent of 11 states is sufficient). gifts).
A major change is the adoption of the “Regulations on Directive Reconciliation” at the Stockholm meeting of the CSCE Council. 27 According to this document, the Council of Ministers or the Committee of Senior Officials may order any two participating States to resort to a conciliation procedure in order to assist them in resolving a dispute that they were unable to resolve within a reasonable period of time . In this case, “the parties to a dispute may exercise any rights that they ordinarily have to participate in all discussions within the Council or SAO regarding the dispute, but they will not participate in the adoption of a decision by the Council or SAO directing the parties to resort to conciliation proceedings " This element of the peace settlement system was called by the CSCE participants the “consensus minus two” procedure.
Using examples, one can trace an important trend in the development of the pan-European process - the modification of the rules of procedure during the transition of the CSCE to a new quality.
The above changes that have occurred in the pan-European process since the convening of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in 1975 to the present day give grounds to say that at present the CSCE corresponds to the characteristics of international organizations identified in international -legal research. Thus, according to H. Schermers, an international organization is characterized by three main features: 1) the contractual basis of the organization, i.e. the presence of an international agreement of states on the creation of an organization, defining its functions and powers; 2) the presence of permanent organs; 3) the subordination of its establishment and activities to international law. 28
E. A. Shibaeva noted that the concept of an international organization that she formulated allows us to talk about five of its constituent features: 1) contractual basis; 2) the presence of certain goals; 3) appropriate organizational structure; 4) independent rights;) and obligations; 5) establishment in accordance with international law. 29
It should be noted that the first and last signs in this definition repeat each other, since any international treaty must comply with international law.
The broadest definition was given by E. T. Usenko, who believes that the characteristics of an international organization developed by the theory and practice of international relations cover the following: 1) the organization was created and functions on the basis of an interstate treaty; 2) its members are the states themselves; 3) she has her own will; 4) she has organs that form and express her will; 5) it must be legal; 6) it promotes cooperation between states or organizes cooperation between states in the implementation of their sovereign rights. thirty
The main, integral and necessary features of an international organization are the contractual basis of the organization, the presence of permanent bodies and its own will. An international organization is characterized by organizational and legal unity of all member states, which can only be achieved on the basis of an agreement between them, which is usually called a constituent act. Although, as a rule, such a constituent act is an interstate treaty in the sense given to this concept by the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969, the creation of an international organization on the basis of a so-called “informal treaty” does not change the essence of the matter. 31 In the case of the CSCE, we have a whole series of interstate agreements and, although none of them is a constituent act in the direct sense, together they contain all the necessary provisions characteristic of constituent documents, namely: 1) the goals of an interstate association; 2) functions and powers; 3) conditions of membership; 4) organizational structure of the organization; 5) competence of the authorities; 6) the procedure for the adoption by bodies of acts within their powers.
The specificity of the CSCE process is that the transition to the quality of an international organization occurred gradually and most of the features of the founding act listed above appeared in the documents of the Conference only after the Paris Summit in 1990. At this meeting, permanent bodies were created, the presence which is one of the main characteristics of the organization. Another important condition characterizing the essence of an international organization is the compliance of its activities with international law.
According to Art. 2 of the UN Charter, the United Nations acts in accordance with the principles set forth in this article, that is, in accordance with the basic principles of international law. As for regional organizations, in paragraph 1 of Art. Article 54 of the UN Charter requires that “such agreements or bodies and their activities” be “compatible With Goals and Principles of the Organization.” A statement on this issue is contained in paragraph 25 of the 1992 CSCE Helsinki Summit Declaration, which states in particular that “reaffirming the commitment to the Charter of the United Nations that our States have proclaimed, we declare that we regard the CSCE as a regional a national agreement in the sense stated in Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations...Rights and obligations remain unchanged and are preserved in full. The CSCE will carry out its activities in close cooperation with the United Nations, especially in the field of conflict prevention and resolution.” 32
It is also necessary to note such a feature as the possession of an international organization of its own will. In this regard, the modification of the consensus rule discussed above becomes of great importance. With the change in this principle, the CSCE began to have its own will, which does not always coincide with the will of all its members.
Thus, the recent main meetings of the CSCE, namely the Paris Summit, which marked the beginning of a new stage of institutionalization, the Berlin, Prague and Stockholm meetings of the Council, the Helsinki and Budapest meetings of heads of state and government, summed up and consolidated the main results of the first stage transforming the OSCE, in terms of its capabilities, status and competence, into a regional organization for maintaining military-political stability and developing cooperation in Europe. A comprehensive vision of security issues is retained as a basis; accordingly, the OSCE mandate to intensify not only political and military cooperation, but also interaction in the human dimension is confirmed; in the field of economics, ecology, science and technology. The OSCE has received broad powers to take practical measures and a variety of means for their implementation.
Necessary adjustments will be made to the functioning of the OSCE as it gains relevant experience. Work will continue to improve mechanisms for resolving disputes and conflict resolution, and to improve interaction with other organizations. However, the necessary prerequisites have already been created for the practical use of the OSCE as an instrument for maintaining peace, stability and security in the Euro-Atlantic region.
*PhD student at St. Petersburg State University.
©A.B. Makarenko, 1997.
1 Meeting heads of state and government of the CSCE member countries // Diplomatic Bulletin. No. 1. 1995.
2 Sobakin V.K. Equal security. M., 1984.
3 Talalaev A. N. Helsinki: Principles and Reality. M., 1985.
4 For more details see: Mazov V. A. Helsinki principles and international law. M, 1979. P. 16.
5 In the name of peace, security and cooperation: Towards the results of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, held in Helsinki on July 30 - August 1. 1975 M., 1975.
7 Final document of the 1986 Vienna meeting of representatives of the participating states of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. M, 1989.
8 Lukashuk I. I. International political norms for the conditions of detente // Soviet state and law. 1976. No. 8.
9 Malinin S. A. Meeting in Helsinki (1975) and international law // Jurisprudence. 1976. No. 2. P. 20-29; Ignatenko G. V. The final act of the pan-European conference in Helsinki // Ibid. No. 3.
10 For more information about this, see: Malinin S. A. Helsinki Meeting (1975) and international law; Ig-natenko G.V. Final act of the pan-European meeting in Helsinki.
11 Talalaev A. N. Helsinki: Principles and Reality. P. 184.
12 For more details see: Alov O. Stockholm Conference on Confidence-Building Measures, Security and Disarmament in Europe // International Yearbook: Politics and Economics. M., 1985.
13 Final document of the 1986 Vienna meeting of representatives of the participating states of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
14 Ibid. pp. 50-51.
15 Document Copenhagen Meeting, 5-29 June 1990: CSCE Conference on Human Change. M., 1990.
16 For more details see: Kofod M. Moscow meeting on human change // Moscow Journal of International Law. 1992. No. 2. P. 41-45.
17 Pan-European Summit, Paris, November 19-21, 1990: Documents and materials. M.. 1991.
18 CSCE. Helsinki Document 1992 II Moscow Journal of International Law. 1992. No. 4. P. 180-204.
19 results CSCE meeting on the peaceful settlement of disputes (Geneva, October 12-23, 1992) // Moscow Journal of International Law. 1993. No. 3. P. 150 171.
20 Prague document about further development institutions and structures of the CSCE // Moscow Journal of International Law. 1992. No. 2. P. 165-172.
21 CSCE. Helsinki Document 1992.
22 results CSCE meeting on the peaceful settlement of disputes (Geneva, 12-23 October 1992).
23 Kovalev A. N. ABC of diplomacy. M., 1977. P. 251.
24 In the name of peace, security and cooperation: Towards the results of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, held on 8 Helsinki, July 30 - August 1. 1975, p. 20.
25 Kreikemeier A. On the way to a unified system of values within the framework of the CSCE // Moscow Journal of International Law. 1993. No. 3. P. 66.
26 Prague document on the further development of CSCE institutions and structures.
27 results CSCE meeting on the peaceful settlement of disputes (Geneva. October 12-23, 1992).
28 Schermers H. International institutional law. Leiden, 1972. V. I.
29 Shibaeva E. A. Law of international organizations. M., 1986.
30 Usenko E. T. Advice Economic Mutual Assistance- subject of international law // Soviet Yearbook of International Law, 1979. M, 1980. P. 20, 42.
31 For more details see: Ibid. pp. 22-23.
32 CSCE. Helsinki Document 1992.
Information updated:24.04.2000
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FEDERAL FISHERIES AGENCY
KAMCHATKA STATE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
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DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT
CONTROL WORK ON DISCIPLINE
"WORLD ECONOMY"
OPTION NUMBER 4
SUBJECT:International organizations of general competence and their activities in the field of economic cooperation: Council of Europe; Commonwealth of Nations; Arab League; Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe - OSCE.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Introduction. pp. 3 - 5
Council of Europe. pp. 6 - 12
Commonwealth of Nations. pp. 13 – 15
League of Arab States. pp. 15 – 18
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe - OSCE
Bibliography.
In modern international relations, international organizations play a significant role as a form of cooperation between states and multilateral diplomacy.
Since the creation of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine in 1815, international organizations have been given their own competence and powers.
Modern international organizations are characterized by further expansion of their competence and complication of structure.
Currently, there are more than 4 thousand international organizations, of which more than 300 are intergovernmental. At their center is the UN.
An interstate organization is characterized by the following features:
membership of states;
existence of a constituent international treaty;
permanent organs;
respect for the sovereignty of member states.
The main feature of non-governmental international organizations is that they were not created on the basis of an interstate treaty (for example, the Association of International Law, the League of Red Cross Societies, etc.).
Based on the nature of their membership, international organizations are divided into interstate and non-governmental. Based on the range of participants, international organizations are divided into universal (UN, its specialized agencies) and regional (Organization of African Unity, Organization of American States). International organizations are also divided into organizations of general competence (UN, OAU, OAS) and special ones (Universal Postal Union, International Labor Organization). Classification by the nature of powers allows us to distinguish between interstate and suprastate organizations. The first group includes the vast majority of international organizations. The goal of supranational organizations is integration. For example, the European Union. From the point of view of the procedure for joining them, organizations are divided into open (any state can become a member at its own discretion) and closed (admission with the consent of the founders).
International organizations are created by states. The process of creating an international organization takes place in three stages: the adoption of a constituent document, the creation of the material structure of the organization, and the convening of the main bodies.
The first step involves convening international conference for the development and adoption of the text of the agreement. Its name may be different, for example, statute (League of Nations), charter (UN, OAS, OAU), convention (UPU, WIPO).
The second stage involves the creation of the material structure of the organization. For these purposes, specially trained bodies are most often used, which prepare draft rules of procedure for future organs of the organization, process the entire range of issues relating to the creation of headquarters, etc.
The convening of the main bodies completes the efforts to create an international organization.
Council of Europe.
The Council of Europe plays an important role in the development of pan-European legislation and, in particular, in solving legal and ethical problems arising in connection with scientific and technological progress. The activities of the Council of Europe are aimed at developing conventions and agreements, on the basis of which the unification and changes in the legislation of member states are subsequently carried out. Conventions are the main elements of interstate legal cooperation, which are binding on states that ratify them. The conventions related to the legal support of business activities include the Convention on Laundering, Identification, Seizure and Confiscation of Proceeds from Crime.
Meetings of the heads of state and government of the Council of Europe countries were held twice (in 1993 and 1997). Within the framework of the Committee of Ministers, which is the highest body of the organization and meets twice a year as part of the foreign ministers of member countries, political aspects of cooperation in these areas are discussed and recommendations are adopted (based on unanimity) to the governments of member countries, as well as declarations and resolutions on international political issues relevant to the sphere of activity of the Council of Europe. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, recently established as a body of the Council of Europe, aims to promote the development of local democracy. Several dozen expert committees organize intergovernmental cooperation in areas within the competence of the Council of Europe.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which is the advisory body of the Council of Europe, and in which parliamentarians of national legislative bodies (including from opposition parties) are represented, functions very actively. The Parliamentary Assembly is an advisory body and has no legislative powers. It consists of representatives of the parliaments of member states of the Council of Europe. Each national delegation is formed in such a way that it represents the interests of various political circles of its country, including opposition parties. It is the main initiator of the activities carried out by the Council of Europe and holds its plenary meetings three times a year, adopting recommendations to the Committee of Ministers and national governments by a majority vote, organizing parliamentary hearings, conferences, colloquia, forming various committees and subcommittees, study groups, etc. , supervising the following economic and social areas:
economic and development issues;
agriculture and rural development;
science and technology;
social issues;
environment.
In all the main areas of its activity, the Council of Europe carries out numerous activities that promote not only the development of cooperation between member states, but also the formation of some common guidelines for them in the organization of public life. The number of representatives from each country (from 2 to 18) depends on the size of its population. The Assembly Council consists of a Chairman and 17 deputies. Elections for the Chairman of the Assembly are held every year. The Parliamentary Assembly holds its plenary sessions three times a year. It adopts, by a majority vote, recommendations to the Committee of Ministers and the governments of member states, which form the basis for specific areas of activity of the Council of Europe. The Assembly organizes conferences, colloquia, open parliamentary hearings, elects the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and judges of the European Court of Human Rights. In 1989, the Parliamentary Assembly established specially invited country status to be granted to the countries of Central and of Eastern Europe before their admission to full membership. This status is still retained by the Republic of Belarus.
The structure of the Council of Europe includes an administrative and technical secretariat, headed by the Secretary General, who is elected for five years.
The international political confrontation that existed on the continent made it impossible for socialist countries to participate in the Council of Europe. With the end of the Cold War, a new impetus was given to the activities of this organization, prompting it to focus on issues of democratic transformation. As a result, even joining the Council of Europe itself became an additional incentive for their implementation. Thus, states newly admitted to the Council of Europe had to undertake the obligation to sign the European Convention on Human Rights, which came into force in 1953, and to accept the entire set of its control mechanisms. Conditions for new members to join the Council of Europe are also the existence of a democratic legal system and the holding of free, equal and general elections. It is also important that many issues of the formation of civil society in post-socialist countries have become the subject of attention within the Council of Europe. These include problems of protecting national minorities and issues of local self-government.
The Council of Europe is an authoritative international organization, the very participation in which serves as a kind of evidence for all member states of their compliance with the high standards of pluralistic democracy. Hence the possibility of influencing those countries that are members of the Council (or candidates for accession to the Council of Europe), where certain problems arise on this basis. At the same time, this may raise concerns in the countries concerned regarding unacceptable interference in their internal affairs. In other words, the activities of the Council of Europe often find themselves embedded in one or another international political context and are viewed by participants primarily through the prism of their immediate foreign policy interests; Naturally, quite serious collisions can arise as a result. This has happened more than once in practice, for example, in connection with the internal political situation in Turkey and Belarus, the problem of the rights of the Russian-speaking population in some Baltic countries, the separatist movement in Chechnya (Russia), and when discussing the issue of Croatia joining the Council of Europe.
The European Commission of Human Rights operates within the Council of Europe. European Court of Human Rights, European Youth Centre. Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe, Social Development Fund.
The Council of Europe develops and adopts pan-European conventions on a variety of cooperation issues. More than 145 such conventions have already been adopted. Some of them, for example, the European Convention on Human Rights, can only participate in member states of the Council of Europe, while in others, for example, the European Convention on Culture, all European states can participate.
The Pompidou Group, an interdisciplinary body of cooperation at the ministerial level (including 28 member states), deals with issues of combating drug addiction and illicit drug trafficking.
In the field of environment and regional planning, the Council of Europe has provided a number of regulations aimed at protecting the environment in Europe and at developing integrated development and planning for territorial development.
The Convention on the Conservation of Wildlife and the Environment in Europe, known as the Berne Convention, covers all aspects of nature conservation. It came into force in 1982.
The European Conference of Ministers Responsible for Regional Planning (CEMAT), convened regularly since 1970, aims to pursue regional planning policies that will ensure continued economic and social development and environmental protection in an enlarged Europe.
The European Charter for Regional Planning puts forward a global, functional and long-term concept of regional planning, which, along with others, sets the following goals: harmonious socio-economic development of the regions; environmental protection and rational use of land.
In the social sphere, the Council of Europe aims to increase the level of social protection and promote employment, vocational training and the protection of workers' rights. In 1997 Two recommendations were accepted:
on the organization, activities and role of public employment services;
on the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
initiatives to create jobs outside the mainstream labor market;
social and economic consequences of structural changes in the economies of European countries.
creating jobs in small and medium-sized enterprises in economically disadvantaged areas;
for vocational training programs;
housing construction and creation of social infrastructures;
environmental protection: treatment facilities, waste processing;
modernization of rural areas - creation of basic infrastructures.
Commonwealth of Nations.
The main activities are:
support for political and economic cooperation;
promoting sustainable development of the economies of member countries;
performing consulting, representative and information functions;
development and implementation of Commonwealth programs, organization and holding of conferences, seminars, workshops and other events on the following issues: economic and social development, technology, science, education, vocational training, human rights, democracy and others. Declarations on various problems of world politics and economics are adopted at conferences. So, in 1987 the Declaration on World Trade was adopted; in 1989 – Declaration of the Environment; in 1991 – Declaration of Fundamental Rights and others.
Meetings of the heads of government of the Commonwealth countries are held once every two years. They discuss issues of the international situation, regional problems, economic, social, cultural issues, and Commonwealth programs. Decisions are made by consensus. Meetings of ministers of an advisory and consultative nature are held regularly with the participation of the ministers of finance, trade, education, health, labor, etc.
The central coordinating body and head of the intergovernmental structure is the Secretariat, created in 1965. and headed by the Secretary General. The Secretary General and his three deputies (for political affairs; for economic and social affairs; for technical cooperation) are appointed by the heads of government. The secretariat develops programs and organizes conferences, seminars and various events. The Secretariat maintains contacts with almost 300 organizations, of which 200 are non-governmental. In its work, the Secretariat relies on the Commonwealth Fund, which promotes the expansion of links between professional groups in member countries; encourages the creation of associations; provides support to conferences and assistance in organizing professional training.
The activities of the secretariat are financed by five different budgets and funds:
financial resources, allocated from the Commonwealth budget;
funds allocated from the budget of the Commonwealth Scientific Council;
at the expense of the Technical Cooperation Fund;
through the Commonwealth Youth Programme;
funded by the Technology Management Advisory Group.
League of Arab States.
The highest body of the League is the Council, which meets twice a year, in which each member state has one vote. , adopted unanimously, are binding on all countries; adopted by a majority vote - only for those who voted “for.” Since 1964, conferences of heads of state and government of the League countries have been regularly convened. The League's General Secretariat, located in Cairo, provides current activities. Within the framework of the Arab League, there are over two dozen different structures - the Economic Council, the Joint Defense Council, the Administrative Tribunal, specialized organizations (dealing with issues industrial development, agriculture, education, culture, science, telecommunications, crime control, etc.).
The Arab League has founded a number of institutes and specialized organizations, including those providing assistance to the development of entrepreneurship. This:
Arab Management Organization;
Arab Labor Organization;
Council of Arab Economic Unity;
Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development;
Arab Bank economic development in Africa;
Arab Organization for Agricultural Development;
Arab Organization for Standardization and Meteorology;
Arab Academy of Maritime Transport;
Arab Telecommunications Union;
Arab Monetary Fund;
Arab Petroleum Institute.
In order to resolve issues affecting the interests of Arab countries, special committees are formed within the Arab League (the “Committee of Eight” on the situation in the territories occupied by Israel, the “Committee of Three” on Lebanon, the “Committee of Three” on the Middle East settlement, the “Committee of Seven” on Libya, “committee on Jerusalem”, “committee of seven” on Iraq, etc.).
The member states of the League are simultaneously members of specialized agencies under the Arab League, such as: the Arab Organization for Industrial Development and Extractive Industries, the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, the Arab Organization for atomic energy, Arab Labor Organization, Arab Postal Union, Arab Satellite Communications Organization (ARABSAT), etc.
The Arab League provides financial assistance to controlled institutions and organizations. The Arab League also includes an Economic Council, including economic ministers and their representatives, who discuss and coordinate the economic and social policies of member countries.
Members of the Arab League are: Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Qatar, Comoros, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, UAE, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia.
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The political significance of the OSCE lies primarily in its uniqueness compared to other international governmental organizations in Europe. It is practically the only European security organization directly involved in early warning, conflict resolution and post-crisis reconstruction in crisis regions, as well as preventive diplomacy, election observation, and environmental security in Europe.
The fundamental document of the CSCE/OSCE is the Helsinki Final Act, signed on August 1, 1975 by the USSR, USA, Canada and 33 European states. This document was intended to consolidate the existing “status quo” on the European continent and continue further movement along the path of détente in relations between the West and the East. It contained the basic principles defining the norms of mutual relations and cooperation between the participating countries and consisted of three sections (or three “baskets”) corresponding to the number of main tasks of the Conference.
55 countries are members of the OSCE. Distinctive feature The CSCE/OSCE is the universal nature of this organization: not only almost all European states, but also the USSR, the USA and Canada became its participants, and the main basic provisions of the Conference/Organization are aimed at ensuring security in Europe. It is quite obvious that the universal character of the CSCE/OSCE was also ensured by procedural rules, namely: the principle of consensus in decision-making and the principle of equality of participating countries. The Final Act was also considered as documentary confirmation of the existing balance of power between the two military-political blocs ( NATO and ATS) and non-aligned countries.
After the collapse of the USSR and the end of the ideological confrontation between West and East, former opponents attempted to transform the CSCE (and then the OSCE) into a pan-European organization engaged in maintaining security in Europe, resolving conflicts, developing new arms control agreements, as well as measures to strengthen trust in the military field. It was at this time that such key documents as the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), the Treaty on Open Skies, documents on the “third generation of confidence- and security-building measures” and other agreements were developed and signed. Thus, the participating countries tried to “adapt” the OSCE to the new realities that emerged on the continent after the end of the Cold War.
NATO's expansion to the East and the increased level of cooperation between the North Atlantic Alliance and Russia have led to significant geopolitical changes without, however, calling into question the role of the OSCE as the only pan-European international governmental organization. This organization is practically inseparable from the “key link” between NATO and the EU; it is often used by individual member countries to indirectly “voice” their own national interests. For example, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mikhail Gorbachev and Francois Mitterrand tried to oppose the OSCE to NATO. In reality, Paris and Moscow were not interested in further strengthening NATO, since they did not have sufficient organizational resources to influence the decision-making process within NATO, which was heavily influenced by the United States. Moreover, in 1994, French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur proposed making the CSCE/OSCE the main peacekeeping organization in resolving the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Russia also supported this position and, right up to the 1999 Istanbul Summit, tried to “promote” the OSCE as the main actor in the field of European security. However, criticism of Russian actions in Chechnya at the Istanbul OSCE Summit, as well as increased cooperation between Moscow and NATO, ultimately led to a partial loss of Russian interest in the OSCE as an organization for maintaining security in Europe. At the beginning of the 21st century. Russia is implementing a pragmatic foreign policy and recognizes NATO as a key organization in the field of European security.
The OSCE Permanent Council consists of representatives of the participating states and, in fact, is the main executive body of the OSCE. The Council meets once a week at the Hofburg Congress Center in Vienna to discuss the current state of affairs in the OSCE area of territorial responsibility and make appropriate decisions. Like the Council, the Forum for Security Co-operation meets once a week in Vienna to discuss and make decisions on issues related to the military component of pan-European security. This is especially true for the Confidence and Security Measures. The Forum also deals with issues related to new security challenges and conflict resolution in the OSCE area of responsibility. In turn, the OSCE Economic Forum meets once a year in Prague to discuss economic and environmental problems affecting the security of participating countries.
The OSCE Summit or Summit is a periodic meeting of the heads of state or government of the OSCE member states. The main task of the summits is to determine political guidelines and priorities for the development of the Organization at the highest level. Each meeting is preceded by a preparatory conference, during which diplomats from the contracting parties monitor the implementation of the main legal obligations assumed by the OSCE. They coordinate the positions of the participants and prepare basic documents for the upcoming summit. During the existence of the OSCE, 6 summits were held. The most significant were:
the Helsinki Summit (1975), which ended with the signing of the Final Act, which is the fundamental document of the CSCE/OSCE;
The Paris Summit (1990), which culminated in the signing of the Charter for a New Europe and the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. The Charter confirmed the decisions of the Vienna OSCE meeting (1986) and documented the priority of international law over national law, which subsequently led to the strengthening of separatist movements in the USSR and Eastern European countries;
The Budapest Summit (1994) resulted in a number of institutional reforms. The CSCE was transformed into a permanent OSCE organization, the contracting parties paid additional attention to the issues of resolving the Karabakh conflict, etc.;
Istanbul Summit (1999), which ended with the signing of the Charter for European Security. During the meeting, the Russian delegation was subjected to severe criticism due to Moscow's policy in Chechnya. Russia has pledged to reduce its military presence in Transcaucasia and Transnistria.
The functions of the OSCE in the economic field are determined by the following provisions:
Strive to achieve sustainable economic development;
Strengthen contacts and practical cooperation on environmental protection;
To contribute to the strengthening of international peace and security, as well as to ensuring fundamental human rights, economic and social progress and the well-being of all peoples.
Cooperation between states;
Conscientious fulfillment of international legal obligations.
Within the OSCE structures dealing with human rights issues, attention should be paid to the Office of the High Commissioner on National Minorities (The Hague). This unit deals with early warning ethnic conflicts threatening stability, peace on the continent and friendly relations between CSCE participating States.
A special place in the organizational structure of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is occupied by Confidence and Security Building Measures. This program was created with the aim of easing tensions and strengthening mutual trust on the European continent. Within its framework, the following documents were signed: a) the CFE Treaty (Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe), establishing quotas on conventional weapons in Europe for the contracting parties; The Open Skies Treaty allows member states to exercise mutual control over each other's actions, especially in the security field. As part of the Confidence and Security Building Measures, the Chairman-in-Office appointed his personal representatives to monitor the implementation of a number of articles of the Dayton Peace Accords. To resolve conflict situations and disputes between participating States that have signed the internal OSCE Convention on Conciliation and Arbitration, the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, located in Geneva, was created.
In 2003, the OSCE budget amounted to 185.7 million euros and mainly consists of membership fees from participating States. About 84 percent of all funds are spent on military missions and projects carried out in the Organization's field.
About 370 employees work directly in the central office of the OSCE, and in various missions and projects of this organization there are more than 1,000 international employees and 2,000 citizens of the countries on whose territory these missions are carried out.
One of the fundamentally important issues in the activities of the OSCE concerns the determination of its future role. There is general agreement that it will occupy one of the central places in the organization of international political life in Europe. However, in practice, due to the desire of a large group of countries in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the Baltics, to join NATO and European Union, there is a tendency to marginalize the role of the OSCE. Attempts initiated by Russian diplomacy to increase the status and real significance of this organization are often seen only as aimed at opposing it to NATO. The Charter for European Security being developed within the OSCE could neutralize this trend and contribute to a more complete use of the potential of this organization in the interests of strengthening stability on the continent.
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