Functional Cooperation and Functional International Organization
The objective of functionalism towards global peace is achieved through functional cooperation by the work of international organizations (including intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations). The activities of functional international organizations involve taking actions on practical and technical problems rather than those of military and political nature. They are also non-controversial politically and involve a common interest to solve international problems that could best be tackled in a transnational manner. According to David Mitrany, dealing with functional matters provides the actors in the international community the opportunity to successfully cooperate in a non-political context, which might otherwise be harder to achieve in a political context. Further development would lead to a process called “autonomous development” towards multiplication, expansion, and deepening of functional international organizations. Ideally, this would ultimately result in an international government. Functionalists in this manner assume that cooperation in a non-political context would bring international peace. Eradication of existent non-political, non-military global problems, which Functionalists consider to be the very origin of conflict within the global community, is what they aim to pursue. However, critics point out some limitations of functionalist assumption: 1. In practice, dealing with functional matters does not nessarily and always facilitate cooperation. 2. Its simplified assumption overlooks different causes of state conflict.
The proliferation of functional international organizations has occurred without adequate reorganization and coordination efforts due to a lack of central global governance to ensure accountability of such organizations. As a result, a pattern of decentralization could be observed among functional international organizations to the present day. For example, the League of Nations’ effort to coordinate functional international organizations in the field of social and economic cooperation through establishment of UN Economic and Social Council has been futile. As a result, the idea of decentralization prevails to the present day except in cases of special cooperative relationships between Economic and Social Council and some functional organizations. Subsequently, summits such as the World Summit for Social Development in 1995, The Millennium Summit in 2000 and World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 were held to address and coordinate functional cooperation, especially regarding the social and economic aspects.
Substantive functions of functional international organizations include human rights, international communication, health, the law of the sea, the environment, education and information, international relief programs, refugee support, and economic development.
Read more about this topic: Functionalism In International Relations
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