United Nations Reform: Heading North or South?

ISBN-13: 9780415477208 / Angielski / Twarda / 2009 / 240 str.

Spencer Zifcak

Opis

This book examines recent attempts at reform within the United Nations in the wake of the institutional crisis provoked by the invasion of Iraq. It contends that efforts at reform have foundered owing to fundamental and bitter political disagreements between the nations of the global North and South. Following profound discord in the Security Council in the lead up to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, this book considers the ambitious programme of reform instigated by then serving UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The author of this highly topical work, Spencer Zifcak, subjects six of Annan's principal proposals for reform to scrutiny: the reform of the Security Council, the General Assembly, and the Human Rights Council, and suggested alterations to international law with respect to the use of force in international affairs, the 'responsibility to protect', and UN strategies to counter global terrorism. On the basis of these detailed case-studies, the book demonstrates why so few proposals for reform were eventually adopted. It argues that the principal reason for this failure was that nations of the North and South could not agree as to the merits of the reforms proposed, exposing the sharply differing visions held by member states for a future and improved United Nations. Founded upon extensive interviews with diplomats at the United Nations, the book provides a rare 'insider' account of UN politics and practice. It will be of vital interest to students, scholars and practitioners of International Relations, International Law, and International Institutions.

Kofi Annan’s report In Larger Freedom contained the most wide-ranging proposals to reform the United Nations since it was founded in the wake of the Second World War. The plan contained recommendations for the reform of the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Commission for Human Rights and several other UN organs. However, there is little to show for all this initiative.

This book describes, analyzes and evaluates Kofi Annan’s endeavor to reform the United Nations. Spencer Zifcak seeks to understand not only why reform was unsuccessful in so many cases, but also how global politics and wider ideological divisions played so forcefully into the many and varied intra-institutional debates. He argues that UN reform ran aground because the nations of the North and the South could not agree either on the process or the content of the reforms and that if reform is to be more successful in the future, a comprehensive understanding of the complex politics and dynamics of the world body must be an essential pre-requisite.

Making an important and valuable contribution to current debates about the future of this most crucial international, intergovernmental organization, this book will be of interest student and scholars of international law, international politics and the study of international institutions.

Spis treści

1. The Grand Vision  2. The Security Council  3. The General Assembly  4. The Human Rights Council  5. The Use of Force in International Affairs  6. The Responsibility to Protect  7. Counter-Terrorism Strategy  8. Explaining What Happened  9. The UN’s North-South Divide  10. Epilogue

O autorze

Spencer Zifcak is Professor of Law and Director of the Institute of Legal Studies at the Australian Catholic University and a Visiting Fellow at the Faculty of Law, University of Bristol.