A comprehensive guide to the world body's institutions, procedures, policies, specialized agencies, historic personalities, initiatives, and involvement in world affairs, The New United Nations is organized thematically, blending both topical and chronological explanations making reference to current scholarly terms and theories. The first textbook of its kind on the market, it presents the UN in its evolving role in this new era since the Cold War and shows its responsibilities for meeting challenges to the global community.
During his momentous time as Secretary-General of the UN, Kofi Annan played a decisive role in launching the Millennium Development Goals, establishing the International Criminal Court, and articulating the Responsibility to Protect as a guiding principle for international action. In 2001 - just after 9/11 - he and the UN jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize, 'for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world.' These and other crucial events - including the crises over Kosovo and East Timor, and the war in Iraq - are encapsulated in this book of Kofi Annan's key speeches from throughout his term of office. The selection gives a broad view of Annan's most pressing concerns, and the eloquence with which he addressed them. Covering subjects from development, health, and climate change to the prevention of genocide and the ideal of diversity, these statements show how deeply involved the UN was in the most important issues of the era. We the Peoples is a timely and much-needed reminder of Annan's ideas and priorities; his words on war, peace, humanity, and 'man's inhumanity to man' still resonate today. This book will offer many pointers for maintaining and developing the UN as a vital instrument for humanity in the coming decades.
The United Nations in the 21st Century, Sixth Edition, provides a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the UN. It explores the historical, institutional, and theoretical foundations of the UN as well as major global trends and challenges facing the organization today, including changing major power dynamics, new threats to peace and security, the migration and refugee crises, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the existential challenges of climate change and sustainability. Thoroughly revised and expanded, it contains two new chapters on the UN and the environment and on human security, including issues of health, food security, global migration, and human trafficking. There is enhanced analysis of theoretical perspectives on post-colonialism, feminist theory, constructivism, and non-Western views. New content has also been added on the UN's budget crisis, public-private partnerships, and the role of women in the organization. By examining the UN as an intergovernmental organization facing the broader need for global cooperation to address economic, social, and environmental interdependencies alongside the threats posed by rising nationalism and populism, this popular text is the perfect reference for all students and practitioners of international organizations, global governance, and international relations.
The United Nations is confronting a severe crisis at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Its capabilities have been called into question amid a rash of recent scandals and charges of leadership mismanagement, bureaucratic ineptitude, and corrupt activities. Current world opinion seems to express elevated concern about the organization's ability to deal with the complexity of international relations in the new millennium. Despite six decades of survival, its membership still appears unable to maintain a consistent focus or set of practices to pursue common goals. The United Nations in the Twenty-First Century analyzes the significance of the many forces and events affecting the UN's efforts at reform. It provides a detailed examination of these processes for all of the major UN organs and agencies, including chapters on the Secretaries-General, the Secretariat, the General Assembly, the Security Council, and ECOSOC. The chapters on the Secretaries-General are the only detailed discussion that compares, contrasts, and evaluates the tenures of the seven people who have headed the UN. The book's concluding chapters focus on Kofi Annan's reform agenda as it relates to previous UN reform experiences and assess the future impact of recent UN-related scandals and charges of mismanagement.
The United Nations in the 21st Century provides a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the United Nations, exploring the historical, institutional, and theoretical foundations of the UN. This popular text for courses on international organizations and international relations also discusses the political complexities facing the organization today. Thoroughly revised throughout, the fifth edition focuses on major trends since 2012, including changing power dynamics, increasing threats to peace and security, and the growing challenges of climate change and sustainability. It examines the proliferating public-private partnerships involving the UN and the debates over reforming the Security Council and the Secretary-General selection process. This edition also includes new case studies on peacekeeping and the use of force in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali, transnational terrorism and the emergence of ISIS, the Security Council's failure to act in Syria, the Syrian and global refugee/migrant crisis, and the conclusion of the Millennium Development Goals and framing of the Sustainable Development Goals.
After seven decades of existence has the UN become obsolete? Is it ripe for retirement? As Jussi Hanhimäki proves in the second edition of this Very Short Introduction, the answer is no. In the second decade of the twenty-first century the UN remains an indispensable organization that continues to save lives and improve the world as its founders hoped. Since its original publication in 2008, this 2nd edition includes more recent examples of the UN Security Council in action and peacekeeping efforts while exploring its most recent successes and failures. After a brief history of the United Nations and its predecessor, the League of Nations, Hanhimäki examines the UN's successes and failures as a guardian of international peace and security, as a promoter of human rights, as a protector of international law, and as an engineer of socio-economic development. This updated edition highlights what continues to make the UN a complicated organization today, and the ongoing challenges between its ambitions and capabilities. Hanhimäki also provides a clear account of the UN and its various arms and organizations (such as UNESCO and UNICEF), and offers a critical overview of the UN Security Council's involvement in recent crises in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Libya, and Syria, and how likely it is to meet its overall goals in the future. Regardless of its obstacles, the UN is likely to survive for the foreseeable future. That alone makes trying to understand the UN in all its manifold - magnificent and frustrating - complexity a worthy task. With this much-needed updated introduction to the UN, Jussi Hanhimäki engages the current debate over the organizations effectiveness as he provides a clear understanding of how it was originally conceived, how it has come to its present form, and how it must confront new challenges in a rapidly changing world. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
This major new handbook provides the definitive and comprehensive analysis of the UN and will be an essential point of reference for all those working on or in the organization.
This collective work brings together scholars, international civil servants and field practitioners who examine a wide range of theoretical and practical problems as well as challenges confronting the world and the United Nations at the dawn of the twenty-first century. The papers in this volume have been organized under themes which focus on problem areas and challenges that mankind must unavoidably deal with collectively in the years ahead, much as it has attempted to do during the past half-century. The contributors address the triangular relationship between peace, security and development and raise questions about the relevance of the UN system in the decades to come. The authors do so through reflection on past experiences and relevant philosophical inquiries. They examine specific cases and experiences that are representative of the relevance or irrelevance of past collective actions in the security and non-security fields and suggest new ideas and concepts that attempt to marry theory and practice. In this connection, aspects of peacemaking and peacekeeping, arms control, economic development, human rights and the critical role of education are amongst the topics analyzed and assessed. One of the underlying themes of the volume is that the challenges of the twenty-first century will be of unprecedented magnitude. Unless the UN system is reformed and revitalized it runs the risk of becoming irrelevant.
Preventing humanitarian atrocities is becoming as important for the United Nations as dealing with inter-state war. In this book, Ramesh Thakur examines the transformation in UN operations, analysing its changing role and structure. He asks why, when and how force may be used and argues that the growing gulf between legality and legitimacy is evidence of an eroded sense of international community. He considers the tension between the US, with its capacity to use force and project power, and the UN, as the centre of the international law enforcement system. He asserts the central importance of the rule of law and of a rules-based order focused on the UN as the foundation of a civilised system of international relations. This book will be of interest to students of the UN and international organisations in politics, law and international relations departments, as well as policymakers in the UN and other NGOs.
