1. OECD.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organization whose membership comprises mainly the economically advanced countries of the world. It originated in 1948 as the Organization for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) to help administer the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II.
Later its membership was extended to non-European states, and in 1961 it was reformed into the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
The OECD provides a regular forum for discussions amongst government finance and trade ministers on economic matters affecting their mutual interest, particularly the promotion of economic growth and international trade, and it coordinates the provision of economic aid to the less developed countries. The OECD is a main source of international economic data and regularly compiles and publishes standardized inter-country statistics.
Over the past decade, the OECD has tackled a range of economic, social, and environmental issues while further deepening its engagement with business, trade unions and other representatives of civil society. Negotiations at the OECD on taxation and transfer pricing, for example, have paved the way for bilateral tax treaties around the world
Among other areas, the OECD has taken a role in co-coordinating international action on corruption and bribery, creating the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, which came into effect in February 1999.
The OECD's structure revolves around 3 major bodies:
- the OECD member countries, each represented by a delegation led by an ambassador. Together, they form the council
- The OECD Secretariat, led by the Secretary-General (currently Angel Gurria). The Secretariat is organized in directorates.
- The OECD committees, one for each work area of the OECD. Committee members are subject-matter experts from member and non-member countries
2. OPEC
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (ОРЕС) is an organization established in 1960 to look after the oil interest of five countries: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. By 1973 a further eight countries had joined the OPEC.
The principle aim of the organization, according to its Statute, is the determination of the best means for safeguarding their interests, individually and collectively; devising ways and means of ensuring the stabilization of prices in international oil markets with a view to eliminating harmful and unnecessary fluctuations.
In 1973 OPEC used its power to wrest the initiative in administering oil prices away from the American oil corporations and the price of oil quadrupled. The effect of this was to produce balance-of-payments deficits in most oil-consuming countries and with it a period of protracted world recession. As the recession bit, oil revenues began to fall, to which OPEC responded by increasing prices sharply again in 1979.
OPEC is often cited as an example of successful producers` cartel. In a classical „cartel“ market supply is deliberately restrained in order to force prices up by allocating production quotas to each member. OPEC has been able to successfully increase prices in the past has been the demand for oil is highly price-inelastic. Recently, however, OPEC is under pressure for two reasons
- the total demand for oil has fallen (alternative forms of energy)
- the increased profitability of oil production has led to a high rate of investment in new oil fields (the North Sea)
These factors led to the introduction of limited production quotas which have raised oil prices in the early 1990.
5) Politics (different versions and views of politics)
Defining politics
The word ‘politics’ is derived from polis (Greek), literally meaning city-state. The modern form of this definition is ‘what concerns the state’. To study politics is in essence to study government, or more broadly, the exercise of authority.
Politics is what takes place within a polity, a system of social organizations centered upon the machinery of government.
Politics is engaged in by a limited and specific group of people. Those institutions which are not engaged in ‘running the country’ are in this sense ‘nonpolitical’.
The definition is narrowed further when one treats politics as equivalent of party politics.
Negative images have often been attached to politics because in the popular mind, politics is closely associated with the activities of politicians who are often seen as power-seeking hypocrites. Nevertheless one needs to acknowledge that without some kind of mechanism for allocating authoritative values, society would simply disintegrate. The task is therefore not to bring politics to an end, but rather to create a framework of checks and constraints to prevent abuse of political power.
Thus, politics is the activity through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live. Politics is also an academic subject.
Politics is also linked to the phenomena of conflict and cooperation. This explains why the heart of politics is often portrayed as a process of conflict resolution.
Different views of politics
1) Politics as the art of government (the exercise of control within society through the making and enforcement of collective decisions).
2) Politics as public affairs (politics is restricted to the activities of the state itself and the responsibilities which are exercised by public bodies).
3) Politics as compromise and consensus (politics as a means of resolving conflict by compromise, conciliation and negotiation).
4) Politics as power (politics as a struggle for scarce resources).
6) Governments, systems and regimes
“Government ” refers to an institutional processes through which collective decisions are made.
A political system or regime is a broader term that encompasses not only the mechanisms of government and the institutions of the state, but also the structures and processes through which these interact with the larger society.
We classify political systems, because classifications help in understanding of politics and government. But all systems of classification have their drawbacks.
-there is a danger of simplification -all systems are necessarily state-bound
But now this approach is viewed as incomplete in the light of the globalization.
Since the late 1980s, the regime-classification has been in a limbo.
There is no consensus about the criteria upon which such a system should be based. No system of classification relies on a single all-important factor. Nevertheless, systems have tended to prioritize sets of criteria (parameters):
-Who rules? -Is government power centralized or fragmented? -What is the balance between the state and individual? -What is the level of material development? -How is economic life organized? -How stable is a regime?
Nevertheless, five regime types can be identified in the modern world:
Western polyarchies. Western polyarchies are commonly equated to the “liberal democracies” or simply “democracies”. Countries holding multiparty elections have polyarchic features. However, western polyarchies also marked by capitalist economic organization and widespread acceptance of liberal individualism.
Postcommunist regimes. After the collapse of communism the Eastern European countries began their way to the liberal democracy. However, they have some features that allow us to treat them as distinct. First issue is connected with the fact that communism cannot discarded overnight. Secondly, the process of transition to laissez-faire capitalism advocated by the IMF, unleashed deep insecurity and other structural problems.
East Asian regimes. Rise of the East European Regimes changed the balance of the world economy. They are great examples of alternative path. Main features of such regimes are Confucian cultural features (both in politics and economy), low social spending and strong rule.
Islamic regimes. Islamic regimes are another example of alternative path that supposes strong theocracy and stems from the idea that Islam is not simple religion that encompasses different spheres of life.
Military regimes. Some countries survive through the exercise, above all, military power and systematic repressions. The key feature of such state is that leading positions are filled on the basis of the person’s position within the military chain of command. The classical examples of military regimes are military juntas in Latin America. However, military regimes may vary from the personalized dictatorships to the military-backed governments.
7) Political Ideologies.
Political ideology is one of the most controversial concepts encountered in political analysis. Although the term now tends to be used in a neutral sense, to refer to a developed social philosophy or “world view”, it had in the past heavily negative or pejorative connotations.
The term ideology was coined in 1796 by the French philosopher Destutt de Tracy, who used it to refer to a new “science of ideas” that set out to uncover the origins of conscious thought and ideas.
From a social-scientific viewpoint, an ideology is a more or less coherent set of ideas that provides a basis for organised political action, whether this is intended to preserve, modify or overthrow the existing system of power relationships.
At a “fundamental” level, ideologies resemble political philosophies; at an “operative” level, they take the form of broad political movements.
Any account of political ideologies must start with liberalism. This is because liberalism is, in effect, the ideology of the industrialised West, and is sometimes portrayed as a meta – ideology that is capable of embracing a broad range of rival values and beliefs.
The central theme of classical liberalism is a commitment to an extreme form of individualism. The state is regarded as a “necessary evil”. It is “necessary” in that, at the very least, it establishes order and security. However, it is “evil” in that it imposes a collective will upon society, thus limiting the freedom and responsibilities of the individual.
Modern liberalism is characterised by a more sympathetic attitude towards the state intervention. Modern liberals abandoned their belief in laissez-faire capitalism.
Neoliberalism is an updated version of classical political economy. The central pillars of neoliberalism are the market and the individual. The principal neoliberal goal is to “roll back the frontiers of the state”, in the belief that unregulated market capitalism will deliver efficiency, growth and widespread prosperity.
Conservative ideas and doctrines first emerged in the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century as a reaction against growing pace of economic and political change.
From the very outset, divisions in conservative thought were apparent. In continental Europe, a form of conservatism emerged that was characterised by the attitude rejecting out of hand any idea of reform. A more flexible, more cautious, and ultimately more successful form of conservatism developed in the UK and the USA that was characterised by belief in “change in order to conserve”.
Neoconservatism reassets nineteenth-century conservative social principles. One of the main aspects of neoconservatism is the tendency to view the emergence of multicultural and multireligious societies with concern on the basis that they are conflict-ridden and inherently unstable.
Ideological conflict in the twentieth century has forced major ideologies such as liberalism, conservatism and socialism to reexamen their traditional principles, and it has fostered the growth of the new ideologies, such as feminism, ecologism and religious fundamentalism.
Debate about the end of ideology has taken a number of forms. The “end of history” thesis suggests that liberal democracy has triumphed worldwide. Postmodernism implies that conventional ideologies are irrelevant, as they were product of an earlier period of modernisation.
8) Democracy.
Defining democracy.
The origins of the term democracy can be traced back to Ancient Greece. Like other words ending in 'cracy' (for example, autocracy, aristocracy and bureaucracy), democracy is derived from the Greek word kratos, meaning power, or rule. Democracy thus means 'rule by the demos' (the demos referring to 'the people', although the Greeks originally used this to mean 'the poor' or 'the many'). However, the simple notion of 'rule by the people' does not get us very far.
Amongst the meanings that have been attached to the word 'democracy' are the following:
•a system of rule by the poor and disadvantaged
•a form of government in which the people rule themselves directly and continuously, without the need for professional politicians or public officials
•a society based on equal opportunity and individual merit, rather than hierarchy and privilege
•a system of welfare and redistribution aimed at narrowing social inequalities
•a system of decision-making based on the principle of majority rule
•a system of rule that secures the rights and interests of minorities by placing checks upon the power of the majority
•a means of filling public offices through a competitive struggle for the popular vote
•a system of government that serves the interests of the people regardless of their participation in political life.
Conceptions of Democracy
Conceptions of democracy are based on the two main principles: government by the people and government for the people. The most popular is the first notion which understands democracy as ruled by people.
Thus, the principle of government by the people (popular participation) implies that people can and should govern themselves effectively and determine the fate of their society. This participation can take a number of forms:
• Direct democracy. In this case popular participation leads to direct involvement in the decision-making process via referendums, mass meetings, TV, etc.
• Representative democracy is a much more common form of democratic participation when citizens vote not to choose how to make their lives better, but to choose a person who is going to do it by making decisions for them. Vhat gives elections their democratic character is the possibility to ‘kick the rascals out’.
Government for the people (rule in the public interest) allows little scope for public participation (direct or indirect). There are also types of these regimes:
Totalitarian democracies. The democratic credentials of such regimes were based on the claim that the leader alone can decide what is best for the people, implying that a ‘true’ democracy can be equated with absolute dictatorship.
Plebiscitary democracies use rallies, marches and demonstrations to show submission of the people to the will of the leader.
There are also alternative views on democracy:
Radical democracy sees democracy as a general principle that is applicable to all areas of social existence.
Social or industrial democracy demands the democratization of family life and the right of everybody to participate in making decisions in the domestic or private sphere.
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