Global Governance and the UN

Ramesh Thakur, Thomas G. Weiss

Description

How gaps in global governance impact the world's most challenging problems

In the 21st century, the world is faced with threats of global scale that cannot be confronted without collective action. Although global government as such does not exist, formal and informal institutions, practices, and initiatives—together forming "global governance"—bring a greater measure of predictability, stability, and order to trans-border issues than might be expected. Yet, there are significant gaps between many current global problems and available solutions. Thomas G. Weiss and Ramesh Thakur analyze the UN's role in addressing such knowledge, normative, policy, institutional, and compliance lapses. The UN's relationship to these five global governance gaps is explored through case studies of some of the most burning problems of our age, including terrorism, nuclear proliferation, humanitarian crises, development aid, climate change, human rights, and HIV/AIDS.

Contents
List of Boxes, Tables, and Figures
Series Editors' Foreword Louis Emmerij, Richard Jolly, and Thomas G. Weiss
Foreword John Gerard Ruggie
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations

Introduction: The Problématique of Global Governance
1. Tracing the Origins of an Idea and the UN's Contribution

Part 1. International Security
2. The Use of Force: War, Collective Security, and Peace Operations
3. Arms Control and Disarmament
4. Terrorism

Part 2. Development
5. Trade, Aid, and Finance
6. Sustainable Development
7. Saving the Environment: The Ozone Layer and Climate Change

Part 3. Human Rights
8. Generations of Rights
9. Protecting against Pandemics
10. The Responsibility to Protect

Notes
Index
About the Authors
About the United Nations Intellectual History Project

Sujets

• Environmental Policy
• Public Policy
• International Relations
• Political Science
• Social Science
• Histoire
• News
• General officer
• Theory
• Social sciences
• Politics
• General
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 23 avril 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780253004154
• Langue: English

Extrait

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE AND THE UN
UNITED NATIONS INTELLECTUAL HISTORY PROJECT
Ahead of the Curve? UN Ideas and Global Challenges
LOUIS EMMERIJ , RICHARD JOLLY, AND THOMAS G. WEISS
Unity and Diversity in Development Ideas: Perspectives from the UN Regional Commissions
EDITED BY YVES BERTHELOT
Quantifying the World: UN Ideas and Statistics
MICHAEL WARD
The UN and Global Political Economy: Trade, Finance, and Development
JOHN TOYE AND RICHARD TOYE
UN Contributions to Development Thinking and Practice
RICHARD JOLLY, LOUIS EMMERIJ, DHARAM GHAI, AND FR D RIC LAPEYRE
UN Voices: The Struggle for Development and Social Justice
THOMAS G. WEISS, TATIANA CARAYANNIS, LOUIS EMMERIJ, AND RICHARD JOLLY
Women, Development, and the UN: A Sixty-Year Quest for Equality and Justice
DEVAKI JAIN
Human Security and the UN: A Critical History
S. NEIL MACFARLANE AND YUEN FOONG KHONG
Human Rights at the UN: The Political History of Universal Justice
ROGER NORMAND AND SARAH ZAIDI
Preventive Diplomacy at the UN
BERTRAND G. RAMCHARAN
The UN and Transnational Corporations: From Code of Conduct to Global Compact
TAGI SAGAFI-NEJAD IN COLLABORATION WITH JOHN H. DUNNING
The UN and Development: From Aid to Cooperation
OLAV STOKKE
UN Ideas That Changed the World
RICHARD JOLLY, LOUIS EMMERIJ, AND THOMAS G. WEISS FOREWORD BY KOFI A. ANNAN
Global Governance and the UN
An Unfinished Journey
Thomas G. Weiss and Ramesh Thakur
Foreword by John Gerard Ruggie
Indiana University Press
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No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Weiss, Thomas George.
Global governance and the UN : an unfinished journey /
Thomas G. Weiss and Ramesh Thakur ; foreword by John Gerard Ruggie.
p. cm. - (United Nations intellectual history project)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-253-35430-3 (cloth : alk. paper)-ISBN 978-0-253-22167-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. International organization. 2. International cooperation. 3. United Nations.
I. Thakur, Ramesh Chandra, 1948- II. Title.
JZ1318.W447 2010
341.23-dc22
2009036271
1 2 3 4 5 15 14 13 12 11 10
CONTENTS
List of Boxes, Tables, and Figures
Series Editors Foreword
Louis Emmerij, Richard Jolly, and Thomas G. Weiss
Foreword
John Gerard Ruggie
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
INTRODUCTION The Probl matique of Global Governance
1 Tracing the Origins of an Idea and the UN s Contribution
PART 1 International Security
2 The Use of Force: War, Collective Security, and Peace Operations
3 Arms Control and Disarmament
4 Terrorism
PART 2 Development
5 Trade, Aid, and Finance
6 Sustainable Development
7 Saving the Environment: The Ozone Layer and Climate Change
PART 3 Human Rights
8 Generations of Rights
9 Protecting against Pandemics
10 The Responsibility to Protect
Notes
Index
About the Authors
About the United Nations Intellectual History Project
BOXES, TABLES, AND GRAPHS

Box 2.1. The Difficulty of Reaching Consensus about the Nature, Causes, and Consequences of Major International Events: The Case of Iraq
Box 2.2. The International Crisis Group
Box 3.1. Policy Gaps and the World Court Project
Box 3.2. The Revolving Door of Personnel for the Three UNs
Box 5.1. ODA as 0.7 percent of GDP
Box 5.2. The International Promotion and Protection of Children s Rights: UNICEF and the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Box 5.3. UNDP
Box 5.4. Millennium Development Goals and Targets
Box 7.1. Definitions of Climate Change
Box 7.2. UN Milestones in Protecting the Environment
Box 7.3. The Human Development Report 2007/2008
Box 9.1. Celebrities as Actors in Global Governance
Box 9.2. The World Health Organization

Table 3.1. World Military Expenditures, 1950-2005
Table 3.2. Number of Nuclear Warheads in the Inventory of the Five NPT Nuclear Weapons States, 1945-2005
Table 8.1. Child Mortality Rates in Iraq, 1960-2005
Table 9.1. Regional Breakdown of HIV/AIDS Statistics, 2007
Graph 3.1. World Military Expenditures and Gross World Product, 1960-2005
Graph 3.2. World Military Personnel and Population, 1960-2005
Graph 3.2. World Arms Exports, ODA, and International Trade, 1970-2005
SERIES EDITORS FOREWORD
We began the United Nations Intellectual History Project (UNIHP) ten years ago to fill a surprising and serious omission, the lack of any comprehensive study of the history of the UN s contributions to economic and social thinking and action. Now, with some satisfaction, we can look back at thirteen published volumes that document the UN s work in these areas. The final three volumes of the series, of which this is one, are in press. The project has unearthed some important findings that are still not adequately recognized: that ideas have been among the UN s most important contributions; that the quality of the UN s work has, at its best, been outstandingly good; that in its intellectual work, the UN has often been ahead of the curve (and ahead of the Bretton Woods institutions); and finally, in terms of impact, that the UN s leading contributions have literally changed history. This is reflected in the title of our capstone volume-a synthesis of the major conclusions of the entire project- UN Ideas That Changed the World. 1
We are pleased that over the last decade, the landscape of UN history has been changing due to the work of others. Books documenting the history of the UN Development Programme; the World Food Programme; the International Labour Organization; UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; and other UN funds and specialized agencies have been produced or are in the process of being written. 2 The record of the UN s contributions is now more accessible. But though all this is welcome, we should underline that it is no more than what should be expected of all public organizations, especially internationally accountable ones. We look forward to enhanced efforts among these UN funds and agencies to organize, improve, and open their archives so that independent researchers can dispassionately analyze their efforts and achievements. All of this is an essential part of what is needed to improve international cooperation.
The United Nations Intellectual History Project, launched in 1999, is an independent research effort based in the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. We are grateful for the enthusiastic backing from Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General when the project was launched, and of many UN staff. Generous financial support from five foundations and eight governments has ensured total intellectual and financial independence. Details of the project can be found on our Web site: www.UNhistory.org .
The work of the UN can be divided into two broad categories: economic and social development, on the one hand, and peace and security, on the other. Though UNIHP started by focusing on the former, the project grew to encompass three volumes in the areas of peace and security. All the volumes have been or are being published in a series by Indiana University Press. In addition, the project has completed an oral history collection of seventy-nine interviews of persons who have played major roles in launching and nurturing UN ideas-and sometimes in hindering them! Extracts from these interviews were published in 2005 as UN Voices: The Struggle for Development and Social Justice. 3 Authors of the project s various volumes, including this one, have drawn on these interviews to highlight substantive points made in their texts. Full transcripts of the oral histories are also available from the UNIHP secretariat in electronic book form as a CD-ROM to facilitate work by other researchers and interested persons worldwide.
There is no single way to organize research, and that is certainly true for such an ambitious project as this one. This UN history has been structured for the most part by topics, ranging from trade and finance to human rights, from transnational corporations to development assistance, from regional perspectives to sustainability. We have selected world-class experts for each topic, and the presentation and argument in all of the volumes is the responsibility of the authors whose names appear on the cover. All have been given freedom and responsibility to organize their own digging, analysis, and presentation. Guidance from us as the project directors as well as from peer review groups is provided to ensure accuracy and fairness in depicting where the ideas came from, how they were developed and disseminated within the UN system, and what happened afterward. We trust that future analyses will build upon our series and go beyond. Our intellectual history project is the first, not the last, installment in depicting the history of the UN s contributions to ideas.
This present volume, Global Governance and the UN: An Unfinished Journey, bridges the themes and topics of earlier volumes and seeks to draw them together in terms