Text 2. Conducting international relations part II

Stage A

Mind the differences between

Embargo (n) – (pl. -oes) – on smth. – an official order that forbids something, esp. trade, the movement of ships, etc.: an oil / arms embargo (that is one that restricts or forbids the buying or selling of oil / arms); lift / raise / remove an embargo on something (that is start trading in something again); a trade / economic (that is against another country).

Boycott (n) – 1) is a refusal to handle or buy goods as a punishment or in protest; 2) an act of boycotting somebody / something;

place / put something under a boycott.

To boycott (v) – to refuse to take art in something (usually of a group of people) or to have special contact or do business with a person, company, country, etc. either as a punishment or as a way of protesting about something.

Treaties. A treaty is a formal agreement made by national governments. The agreement may be bilateral (signed by two countries) or multilateral (signed by more than two countries). Only the official representatives of independent countries may draw up a treaty. Before the agreement can go into effect, it must be approved by the governments of the countries involved. A nation may sign a treaty to promote its own economic interests. For example, two or more governments may agree to remove tariffs and other trade barriers between their countries. A number of European countries have signed such a treaty to form the European Economic Community.

Governments may sign treaties of alliance to provide military protection for their countries. Such a treaty may require that the signing countries help one another if any of them is attacked. In 1949, the United States, Canada, and a number of European nations signed a treaty of alliance called the North Atlantic Treaty.

Countries may sign arms-control treaties to limit, regulate, reduce, or eliminate certain weapons or armed forces. Since 1960, a number of treaties to control nuclear weapons have been signed by the United States, the Soviet Union, and other countries.

International law consists of rules that governments are expected to observe in their relations with one another. Some rules have developed through custom. Others have been established in treaties.

International law deals with both war and peace. It includes rules regarding the conduct and treatment of neutral nations during wartime. In addition, international law deals with such matters as the rights of persons travelling abroad, the rights of merchant ships outside their own waters, and the rights of aircraft flying through a foreign country's airspace. The International Court of Justice, an agency of the UN, settles certain international disputes on the basis of international law. But no country has to appear before the court unless wishes to do so.

Nonmilitary sanctions may be used by one country, to pressure another country to change its policies. Such sanctions include boycotts and embargoes. Sanctions also include the suspension of financial assistance.

Embargo is an order designed to stop the movement of goods to another country by land, sea, or air. An embargo, issued by a government, may forbid certain merchant ships to enter or leave its ports.

A government may impose an embargo to hamper the military efforts of another government. Sometimes a government imposes an embargo to express its disapproval of actions taken by another government. The embargo is intended to pressure the offending government to change its actions.

The use of embargoes is recognized by the United Nations. In 1951, UN member countries were urged to support the UN forces in the Korean War by not sending weapons to areas controlled by Chinese and North Korean communists.

Boycott is a refusal to deal with an individual, organization, or country. Most boycotts involve a refusal to buy a firm's or country's products. The use of boycott is commonly employed by trade unions, consumer groups, and governments to force a company or government to change its policies.

The word boycott comes from the name of Charles C. Boycott, a British land agent of the 1805. Boycott demanded such high rents that his tenants refused to have anything to do with him.

Trade unions have used boycotts to gain better working conditions for their members. There are two main kinds of labour boycotts, primary and secondary. In a primary boycott, employees refuse to purchase their company's products. Such boycotts are usually ineffective because relatively little of a firm's output is bought by its own workers. In a secondary boycott, striking employees bring pressure on workers in other companies to stop doing business with their employer. In many countries, secondary boycotts are illegal.

Consumer groups use boycotts as an effective form of protest in Europe after World War II (1939-1945), many people in the countries that had been occupied by the Germans would not buy goods produced in Germany. In the United States in 1955 and 1956, blacks in Montgomery, Alabama, boycotted the city bus system and forced an end to its segregated seating policy. Since the 1960’s, consumers in several countries have refused to buy goods from South Africa as a protest against the South African government's policy of apartheid.

Governments have used boycotts for various purposes. For example, many Arab nations boycott Israel because they oppose the existence of a Jewish state in the Middle East. The United States and several other countries refused to attend the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow to protest against the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.