International Organisations
International organisations are the diplomatic equivalent of a group project where everyone has veto power. Created by treaties between sovereign states, they can coordinate but cannot compel. The UN Security Council demonstrates the core constraint: any P5 member can block action, so the institution optimizes for avoiding conflict rather than solving problems. This is colonial organism biology at scale. Like a Portuguese man-of-war—composed of specialized polyps that cannot survive alone—international organisations depend on member states for resources, legitimacy, and enforcement. Each 'polyp' (nation) retains veto power over collective action. The result is stasis, not dynamism: these organisms can drift with currents but cannot swim against them. The business parallel is the industry consortium or standards body. OPEC, ISO, industry trade associations—all share the same fundamental constraint: members join voluntarily and can exit when cooperation becomes inconvenient. This voluntary membership creates a 'lowest common denominator' problem: agreements must satisfy the least committed member, making ambitious action impossible. Yet international organisations persist because they solve specific coordination problems no other level can address. Climate, pandemics, nuclear weapons—these challenges cross borders by definition. International bodies provide forums, set agendas, and shame defectors even when they cannot compel compliance. The enforcement mechanism is reputational, not coercive. When exploring international organisations in this section, look for: consensus constraints (how does veto power shape behavior?), voluntary cooperation limits (what can't be achieved without enforcement?), and reputational enforcement (when does naming and shaming actually work?).
African Development Bank
The African Development Bank is the premier multilateral development finance institution for Africa, established in 1964. Unlike other regional develo...
African Union
The African Union is Africa's continental organization of 55 member states, successor to the Organisation of African Unity (1963-2002). Despite having...
ASEAN
ASEAN is a regional intergovernmental organization comprising 10 Southeast Asian countries, founded in 1967. Unlike the EU, ASEAN operates on principl...
ASEAN Secretariat
The ASEAN Secretariat is the administrative arm of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, with the smallest budget of any major regional organiza...
Asian Development Bank
The ADB is Asia's regional multilateral development bank, founded in 1966 with Japan and US as co-dominant shareholders (15.6% voting power each). Des...
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
AIIB is a China-led multilateral development bank launched in 2016 with $100 billion in authorized capital. It was created partly as an alternative to...
CFA Institute
CFA Institute administers the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, the 'gold standard' credential for investment professionals. With 200,000+ char...
ESMA
December 2025: crypto service providers without MiCA authorization received ESMA's final warning—activate wind-down plans or face enforcement. The tra...
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The EBRD is unique among MDBs: founded in 1991 to promote market economies in former communist states, with explicit political conditionality requirin...
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
EBRD is a unique development bank with a democracy mandate written into its founding treaty. Created in 1991 to support post-Soviet transition, it has...
European Court of Human Rights
December 2025: Russia's Supreme Court declared the European Convention on Human Rights void within Russian territory. This completed what began in Mar...
European Court of Justice
Sixty percent of cases arrive as questions, not disputes. A national court in Lisbon or Helsinki encounters EU law it cannot interpret, stops proceedi...
Financial Stability Board
The FSB is the immune system's signaling network without its killer cells. Born from the 2008 crisis wreckage, the G20 created a body to coordinate gl...
IAEA
ICSID
December 2025: A UAE investor filed a $28.9 billion claim against Guinea over a mining dispute. A German food company sought €90 million from China. A...
IEEE
IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization with 485,000+ members, dominating standards for networking (WiFi 802.11, Ethernet 802....
International Court of Justice
The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, settling disputes between states and issuing advisory opinions. Only 73 of 193 UN membe...
International Criminal Court
The ICC is the world's only permanent international court for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and aggression. In 25 years: only 10-11 c...
International Monetary Fund
The IMF is the central institution of the international monetary system, providing financial assistance to countries in crisis and surveillance of glo...
Mercosur
Mercosur is South America's customs union of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay (Venezuela suspended since 2017). Despite being a 'customs union...
OECD
The OECD publishes 500 reports annually. None of them are binding. This is the organization's defining feature: it wields influence without enforcemen...
OPEC
OPEC is a cartel of 13 oil-producing nations that attempts to coordinate petroleum production to influence global oil prices. Founded in 1960 by Iran,...
S&P Global
S&P Global is one of three dominant credit rating agencies (with Moody's and Fitch), whose ratings determine borrowing costs for $100+ trillion in glo...
SWIFT
SWIFT is the world's premier financial messaging network, connecting 11,500+ banking organizations across 235+ countries, processing ~45 million messa...
United Nations
Russia: 129 vetoes. United States: 89 (51 specifically protecting Israel). United Kingdom: 29. China: 19. France: 16. As of September 2025, the Securi...
World Bank
The World Bank is the world's largest multilateral development lender, providing financing and technical assistance to developing countries. Founded a...
World Health Organization
The WHO is the UN specialized agency for international public health, with 194 member states. It sets international health standards, monitors disease...
WTO Appellate Body
The WTO Appellate Body was the final arbiter of international trade disputes until December 11, 2019, when US blocking of all appointments killed it....