Page 141 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

1918 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

United Nations Secretary
General Thant on the

Importance of the
United Nations U.N. effectively implement results-based budgeting? How
will the U.N. fix its infamous bureaucratic backlog and
As we watch the sun go down, evening after
systematic managerial problems?
evening, through the smog across the poisoned
The U.N. continues to be an undeniable force in world
waters of our native earth, we must ask our-
affairs. The determination of the administration of U.S.
selves seriously whether we really wish some
President George W. Bush to receive U.N. sanction for
future universal historian on another planet to
the 2003 Iraq War demonstrates the continued legitimacy
say about us: “With all their genius and with all
of the organization.To be sure, the U.N.’s inability to act
their skill, they ran out of foresight and air and
in the majority interests of member countries against this
food and water and ideas,” or, “They went on
war also threatens how future crises will be handled.The
playing politics until their world collapsed
2004 emergency in Darfur, Sudan, called “the next
around them.”
Rwanda” by critics, will test the U.N.’s ability to act as an
Source: U.Thant, United Nations Secretary General, speech, 1970. international body working, in the words of its charter,“to
save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”
Gabby K.Templet
(1994) genocides have threatened its credibility. Moreover,
we cannot ignore the role that individual national interests See also League of Nations
play in the cohesion of U.N. member countries. For exam-
ple, U.S. domestic politics have yielded many unilateral
decisions, namely the decision not to sign the Kyoto Pro- Further Reading
tocol on climate change or to ratify the Convention on the Goodpaster, A. (1996). When diplomacy is not enough: Managing multi-
national military interventions: A report to the Carnegie Commission
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against on Preventing Deadly Conflict. New York: Carnegie Corporation of
Women. The U.N.’s ability to work in the interest of all New York.
Meisler, S. (1997). United Nations:The first fifty years. New York: Atlantic
member countries has been routinely challenged.
Monthly Press.
O’Neill, B. (1996). Power and satisfaction in the UN Security Council.
Reform Needed The Journal of Conflict Resolution, 40(2), 219–237.
Roberts, A., & Kingsbury, B. (Eds.). (1993). United Nations, divided
U.N. reform is needed in order to evaluate seriously the world:The UN’s roles in international relations. Oxford, UK: Oxford
following questions: How can the imbalance of power University Press.
Wellens, K. (Ed.). (2001). Resolutions and statements of the United
between the Security Council, composed of the so-called
Nations Security Council (1946–2000): A thematic guide. New York:
Great Powers, and the General Assembly be remedied? Kluwer Academic.
At what point during a civil conflict should nonviolence
mean stability and result in the exit of U.N. peacekeepers?
Should the U.N. have its own military force and end its
reliance on contributor countries for armed needs? How Universe,
should national sovereignty be redefined in light of the
genocides committed by the governments of Rwanda and Origins of
Iraq and the differing international reactions that these
regimes received from the international community? n all cultures that we know of, accounts of the histo-
How can arms control be made more effective for indus- Iries of particular communities are embedded in
trialized and developing countries alike? How should the accounts of the history of landscapes, animals, the earth,
U.N. work with other transnational associations such as the stars, and the universe as a whole.All cultures under-
the North AtlanticTreaty Organization (NATO)? Can the stand that history begins with the origins of the universe.