Page 193 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

1012 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

attacks such as that against the pound sterling in Sep- There is no clear line between what can be consid-
tember 1992.The adoption of the euro as a common cur- ered an international organization and what cannot.
rency, initially by eleven European countries at the start of Organizations such as the U.N. that are created by
1999, with a single monetary policy conducted by the treaties among countries and that count countries as
European Central Bank, eliminated the possibility of such their members clearly fit the definition. Multinational
speculative attacks, while leaving the euro floating against corporations and other for-profit enterprises, even
the U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, and other currencies. though there are ways in which they fit the definition,
are generally not considered international organiza-
Robert W. Dimand
tions as such. Not-for-profit organizations that have
individuals rather than countries as their members,
Further Reading often referred to as nongovernmental organizations
Bayoumi,T., Eichengreen, B, & Taylor, M.P. (Eds.). (1997). Modern per- (NGOs), are in the gray area of the definition. For the
spectives on the gold standard. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univer-
sity Press. purposes of this essay, not-for-profit organizations that
Bordo, M.D., & Eichengreen, B. (Eds.). (1993). A retrospective on the are clearly international in nature and that play a semi-
Bretton Woods system. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Eichengreen, B. (1996). Globalizing capital:A history of the international official role in the international system, such as the
monetary system. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), are
Einaudi, L. (2001). Money and politics: European monetary unification included in the definition.
and the international gold standard (1865–1873). Oxford, UK:
Oxford University Press.
James, H. (2001). The end of globalisation: Lessons from the Great War, Peace, International
Depression. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Spahn, H.-P. (2001). From gold to the euro: Monetary theory and the his- Organizations
tory of currency systems. Berlin: Springer Verlag. International organizations affect issues of war and peace
in a number of different ways. Some organizations are
designed to enhance collective security. Others work to
prevent conflict by ameliorating some of the conditions
that lead to war, such as poverty or ethnic conflict. Still
International others attempt to alleviate the suffering caused by war

once a conflict has already begun. And finally, some
Organizations— international organizations, called alliances, are designed
primarily to help their members win wars.The first two
Overview categories of activity, collective security and ameliorating

the conditions that lead to war, tend to be undertaken by
n international organization is an organization that the U.N. and affiliated organizations.The third category,
Ahas membership from or operates in a number of alleviating suffering, is undertaken both by U.N.-affiliated
different countries, and that plays some official role in the organizations, such as the Office of the United Nations
working of the international system.A definitional exam- High Commissioner for Refugees, and NGOs, such as
ple of an international organization is the United the ICRC. The fourth category, alliances, comprises
Nations (U.N.). The U.N. is an organization, meaning organizations that are intergovernmental but are not part
that it has its own staff, rules, headquarters, and so on. of the U.N. system.
Its members are countries rather than people, and almost At this point we should distinguish between collec-
all countries are members. And it plays several official tive security organizations and alliances. Alliances con-
roles in the international system, including the role of sist of two or more countries that agree to aid each
provider of collective security, as will be discussed below. other in time of war. This can be a purely defensive