PSC 2442 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: International Criminal Court, Middle Power, United Nations Secretariat
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October 11th, 2017: Middle Powers and International Organizations
● Introductory Thoughts
○ Power is vested in money and military might
○ Middle powers have less of these two things
○ They work together, with greater powers, and even against greater powers to
make change, even when they are less powerful
● Defining middle powers
○ Very difficult, most simply, somewhere in the middle in a hierarchy of power
(realism)
○ May be traditionally middle powers or “rising” powers
○ Flexible and often changing
○ They are mostly self-defined
● Working Definition: Keohane
○ “Middle power a state whose leaders consider that it cannot act alone effectively,
but may be able to have a systemic impact in a small group or through an
international institution”
○ There are three major ways of characterizing middle powers
■ Hierarchically
■ Normatively
■ Functionally
● What do middle powers do
○ Use soft power instead of military power → spread culture and influence
○ Come together in coalitions, most aren’t formally institutionalized
■ Coalition examples
● Ottawa treaty - anti personnel mines
● International criminal court
● Responsibility to protect
● Middle Power Initiative
● These all reflect both normative and functional characteristics
● Other Middle power influence
○ Contributions to alliance → active, engaged, committed, give money and supplies
■ MP without lots of money often have highly educated people that care
about these causes
○ UN Secretariat
○ Diplomatic Groups
○ Peacekeeping
● Canada
○ Tiny in terms of population, not that economically powerful