Intergovernmental organisations (IGOs)

The big idea: An IGO is an organisation whose members are states. States set it up by a treaty to work together on shared goals.

When states want to work together — on peace, trade or health — they often create an organisation to do it. Because its members are governments, we call it intergovernmental ('between governments').

The biggest IGO is the UN. But there are many others, each with its own job.

• Peace & security — the UN and NATO try to keep the peace.
• Economy & trade — the WTO, IMF and World Bank shape money and trade.
• Regional blocs — the EU, African Union (AU) and ASEAN link nearby states.
• Health & aid — the WHO and UNICEF work on health and children.

State actors, made of states: An IGO is a state actor — it is built out of states. That makes it different from an NGO (a charity) or a company, whose members are not governments.

IGOs can do a lot — but they also depend on their members. The COVID-19 pandemic is the clearest recent example of both sides at once.

Case study — the WHO and COVID-19: The WHO is the UN's health agency, and its members are states. In the COVID-19 pandemic it did what an IGO does best: it declared a global health emergency in early 2020 to alert every country, published guidance on testing, masks and lockdowns, tracked the virus and shared data across borders, coordinated the research into treatments and vaccines, and co-led COVAX to get vaccines to poorer countries that could not outbid rich ones.

But here is the catch: the WHO could not force any country to act. It has no army, police or courts — it relied on states to share honest information, follow its advice and pay in. In practice, some states ignored or delayed its guidance, some were slow to share early data, and wealthy countries bought up vaccine supplies for themselves, so COVAX fell far short of its targets and poorer countries waited many months longer for doses. The WHO could advise, warn and coordinate — but the real decisions, and the money, stayed with the states.

The key point: An IGO can coordinate states and share resources, but it cannot command them. Its power comes from what its members agree to give it — so it is strong when they cooperate and weak when they don't.

So how powerful are IGOs really? Weigh their strengths against their limits.

Link it up: IGOs show interdependence — states cooperating — but also its limits. Their power is borrowed from members, so always ask: what did the states actually let this IGO do?

How IGOs come up in Paper 1: A Paper 1 source might show an IGO like the UN or WHO trying to tackle a problem. To answer well, remember the one big idea: an IGO can bring states together to act, but it cannot force them — so it coordinates rather than commands.

Easy marks to lose: 1. Confusing IGOs with NGOs. An IGO's members are states; an NGO's are not.



2. Saying IGOs 'rule' states. They coordinate; they cannot force.



3. No real example. Use the WHO/COVID-19 or the UN.



4. Ignoring the limits. Always weigh strengths against dependence on members.