International Institutions, Agencies and Fora

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, Paper III: General Studies II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations):

• Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

Topics in detail

What to know for each

• Year of founding, headquarters, membership, structure (governing body, voting, secretariat), mandate, main reports, India’s role and reform debates

The United Nations

• UN Charter (1945): purposes and principles; India a founding member
• Principal organs: General Assembly (one country, one vote), Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice (15 judges, The Hague), Secretariat headed by the Secretary-General
• Security Council: 15 members, five permanent members and the veto, ten non-permanent members elected for two years; reform and the G4; India’s terms as a non-permanent member
• UN peacekeeping and India’s contribution of troops
• Human Rights Council; UN programmes and funds: UNDP, UNEP, UNICEF, UNHCR, WFP, UN Women

Specialised agencies

• WHO: World Health Assembly, International Health Regulations (2005)
• ILO (India a founding member, 1919): tripartite structure of governments, employers and workers; core conventions
• UNESCO: the World Heritage Convention (1972); FAO, IFAD, UNIDO
• ITU, ICAO, IMO, UPU, WMO, WIPO
• IMF: Board of Governors and Executive Board, quotas and voting shares, Special Drawing Rights, Article IV consultations, quota reviews
• World Bank Group (IBRD, IDA, IFC, MIGA, ICSID): lending, India’s graduation from IDA, governance reform

Trade and finance

• World Trade Organization (1995): principles (most-favoured nation, national treatment, special and differential treatment); Ministerial Conference, General Council, dispute settlement and the Appellate Body impasse
• Agreement on Agriculture and its boxes of subsidies; the peace clause on public food stockholding (Bali, 2013); fisheries subsidies; issues for India
• Asian Development Bank (1966, Manila), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (2016, Beijing), New Development Bank (BRICS, 2015, Shanghai)
• Financial Action Task Force (1989; India a member since 2010) and its grey and black lists; Bank for International Settlements

Security, nuclear and justice bodies

• International Atomic Energy Agency: safeguards, India’s safeguards agreement for civilian facilities (2008)
• Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (Chemical Weapons Convention)
• International Criminal Court (India not a party); Interpol and its notices

Environment and other fora

• UNFCCC and its Conference of the Parties; IPCC
• International Solar Alliance (headquarters in India); Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure
• Regional bodies with an institutional structure: ASEAN, the African Union, the European Union

Reform of multilateral institutions

• Under-representation of developing countries; the call for reformed multilateralism
• Financing and effectiveness; rising role of minilateral groupings

Overlaps

• General Studies III: the WTO and agriculture, intellectual property rights, money-laundering (FATF).