Luna Angela Ono
How to avoid national interests hampering international cooperation?
When
we think about obstacles for realizing international cooperation activity,
there are problems of transparency, efficiency, necessity and so on, and these
problems, from my point of view, are caused by the insufficiency of national
interests for donors.
The realization of international
cooperation in national interests is one of the biggest global challenges in
terms of history of cooperation.[1] Actually,
when there are more barriers, such as lack of law, infrastructure and system,
the national interest through international cooperation will be more decreased.
Therefore, when it comes to realize
international cooperation, maximizing national interests, there must be several
considerations; to define clearly what is in and what is out of the project, to
analyse well the actual situation and priorities at the national, regional, and
global levels, to design the effective agenda for implementation, to introduce
prioritization criteria thinking about the cost and to plan well the finance of
projects.[2]
On the other hand, there are
assessments and recommendations in six critical areas – trade, knowledge, peace
and security, financial stability, global commons, and control of infectious
diseases –[3] with
the aim of motivating the states to carry out international cooperation.
Firstly, the improvement of
international trade environment for maximizing the gains through trades will
raise the efficiency and effectivity of the rules of the game of the international
trading system.[4]
Eventually, when there is an unjust protectionism, which may disturb efficient
management of projects.
Secondly, re-enforcing protection of
intellectual property will enhance the incentives for producing and
disseminating knowledge, risk management and capacity-building.[5]
Thirdly, utilizing international
organizations such as the Security Council of United Nations can be effective,
in order to develop arguments about the eradication of extreme poverty,
terrorism, piracy and so on.[6]
Fourthly, preserving financial
stability is indispensable as well, in order to maintain or increase the
quantity and quality of international cooperation. Indeed, the global financial
crisis in 2009 caused heavily the decrease of its budget, so that the
prevention of other financial crisis will be one of the most important mission
in the international society. The enhancement of supervision system, to improve
t of the effectiveness and legitimacy of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and
assistance for developing countries would be effective for realizing it.[7]
Fifthly, to expand the consideration
about environment, there is need for integration of opponent countries,
institutional consolidation and strengthening and improved effectiveness of
technical assistance programs.[8]
Sixthly, preventing the spread of
communicable diseases and developing R&D in international institutions for
it are considerable for maintaining the good environment to realize
international cooperation.[9]
In summary, it is well
understandable that it is importance to analyse profoundly current affairs,
priorities and requirements, to make concrete agendas with the consideration of
the measure for financing in national level. On the other hand, in international
level, these are considerably significant, rule-making, capacity-building, and
to reinforce the legitimacy of international institutions.
Through it, national interest will
be protected and the motivation for carrying out international cooperation will
be enhanced. However, we cannot ignore the importance of the self-enforcement
of recipient countries, when it comes to motivate the donors. The mentioned
considerations and criterions must be well considered and tried to be
controlled by the recipient, as well, since it will lead to build a confidence
between donors and recipient.
In conclusion, although national
interests will be different depending on the country, the way for preventing
national interests to hamper international cooperation will be composed of the
enforcement of recipient, donor and the international society. Nothing of them
must be lacked in order to achieve an international goal, such as eradication
of extreme poverty, terrorism and piracy and minimizing victims of natural
disasters, and so on.
Luna Angela. When I saw the title of your blog, I was intrigued because it seems to be a very relevant issue. However, I was left confused about what exactly you are trying to say. Specifically, it is not clear why you think national interests are a problem for international cooperation. I am not even sure whose interests you are referring to. At times it seems like you refer to donors, but at other moments it could be the Southern countries. Could you please clarify this? Prof. C. Freres
ResponderEliminarLuna Angela: I was focusing on the national interes, thinking about the good international system both for recipient and donor countries, in which all countries can have coherence in their each policy.
EliminarThe efficiency of trades would serve for the effectivity of economic cooperations.
The reinforcement of protection of intellectual property would help donor countries to be well protected when they share their technology to recipients and so on.
Sorry for confusing you with the title, but the idea was making a better international system for all countries.