Unit 2 of Political Science – III (International Relations) (syllabus: Module 2 — the sovereign state and diplomacy, non-state actors, multinational companies, international NGOs, intergovernmental organisations, national liberation movements and violent non-state actors). Below: what the unit covers, the provisions it turns on, and the cases an examiner expects you to name.
What this unit covers
- Are States still the primary actors in international relations?
- What are the sovereign attributes of treaty-making and of declaring war and concluding peace?
- What is diplomacy and what functions does a diplomatic mission perform?
- How do public diplomacy, Track II diplomacy and para-diplomacy differ from official diplomacy?
- How do multinational corporations relate to home and host States, and what do the case studies establish?
- What is the legal character of international non-governmental organisations and how do they exert influence?
- Why have violent non-State actors risen so rapidly, and why are they a threat to world peace?
- On what terms do non-governmental organisations enter the United Nations through the Economic and Social Council?
Treat that list as a self-test: recite each topic's rule from memory before you open its cases.
Provisions
- Actors in international relations, s. The State as primary actor; definition of a non-State actor
- Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969, with the Charter of the United Nations, s. Article 6; Charter Articles 2, 51 and 102
- Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961, s. Article 3
- Forms of diplomacy, s. Track I, public diplomacy, Track II and para-diplomacy
- Multinational corporations as non-State actors, s. Home and host State relations; carbon lobbying; labour standards
- International non-governmental organisations, s. Legal character; the Geneva Conventions mandate of the Red Cross Committee
- Violent non-State actors, s. Trafficking in Persons Protocol, Article 3(a)
- Charter of the United Nations, s. Article 71
Leading cases
- Milieudefensie and others v. Royal Dutch Shell