What's wrong with the United Nations and how to fix it / Thomas G. Weiss.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Weiss, Thomas G. (Thomas George), 1946-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United Nations.

Physical Description:

xx, 292 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; Malden, MA : Polity, 2008.

Summary:

Six decades after its establishment, the United Nations and its system of related organizations are perpetually in crisis. While World War I and World War II gave rise to ground-breaking efforts at international organization in 1919 and 1945, the UN today seems ill-equipped to deal with contemporary challenges to world order. Neither the end of the Cold War nor the aftermath of 9/11 has led to the “next generation” of multilateral institutions.

But what exactly is wrong with the UN, and how can we fix it? Is it possible to retrofit the world body? In this succinct and illuminating analysis, Thomas G. Weiss takes it diagnosis-and-cure approach to the world organization’s inherent difficulties. In the first half of the book, he considers: the problems of international leadership and decision making in a world of self-interested states; the diplomatic difficulties caused by the artificial divisions between the industrialized North and the global South; the structural problems of managing the UN’s many overlapping jurisdictions, agencies, and bodies; and the challenges of bureaucracy and leadership. The second half shows how to mitigate these maladies and points the way to a world in which the UN’s institutional ills might be “cured”. His remedies are not based on pious hopes of a miracle cure for the UN, but rather on specific and encouraging examples that could be replicated. With considered optimism and in contrast to received wisdom, Weiss contends that, substantial change in intergovernmental institutions is plausible and possible.

This indispensable book will spark debate among students; scholars, and policy-makers concerned with international political, as well as anyone genuinely interested in the future of the United Nations and international cooperation.

Contents:

Part 1 Diagnosing the Ills 17

1 Westphalia, Alive But Not Well 19

2 North-South Theater 49

3 The Feudal System, or Dysfunctional Family 72

4 Overwhelming Bureaucracy and Underwhelming Leadership 107

Part 2 Palliatives if Not Cures 125

5 Redefining National Interests 127

6 Moving Beyond the North-South Divide 154

7 Truly Delivering as One 173

8 Reinvigorating the International Civil Service 191

Conclusion: What's Next? 215.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-267) and index.

ISBN:

9780745642987

0745642985

0745642977

9780745642970

OCLC:

244314613