Download or read book Inside the United Nations written by Samir Sanbar and published by . This book was released on 2016-11-29 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Samir Sanbar, a journalist and graduate of the American University of Beirut, left his native Lebanon in the 1960's for a job at United Nations Headquarters in New York, he could hardly have imagined the rich opportunity and adventure it was to offer him over the coming 33 years. His latest book "Inside The United Nations" is a memoir of his life at the UN.On his retirement, Sanbar had risen to the rank of Assistant Secretary-General, the UN Secretariat's highest-ranking civil servant from the Arab world. Much loved and respected by his staff and members of the diplomatic community alike, he had worked with five UN Secretaries-General, and developed working and personal relationships with many world leaders. As Head of the UN Department of Public Information, he amassed an encyclopedic knowledge not just of the structure and workings of the United Nations, but also of its people - the staff, diplomats and heads of state he dealt with in the UN offices next to the East River. As an expert Arabist, Samir Sanbar was at times assigned to nation-building missions or cloak-and-dagger operations in the Middle East, sometimes so secretive that the payroll unit, unaware that he still existed, stopped paying his salary. The book reads at times like a spy thriller, at times like a history book, at times like a satirical magazine. With his Ustinov-like anecdotes, and impish yet discerning sense of humor, Sanbar casts a critical eye on the UN system and the diplomatic and political intrigue that goes on next to New York's East River. He provides fresh insight into historical events that didn't quite seem to hang together at the time. Was there ever an �minence grise at UN HQ, and if so, who was it? Not afraid to name names and cite real-life examples, Sanbar decries the lack of leadership in UN diplomacy, which he attributes to cronyism, abandonment of its institutional memory, disloyalty to the UN 'Oath of Office' and lack of the sort of leadership shown by its founding fathers, such as Dag Hammarskjold.We also see the human side of Samir Sanbar. He speaks movingly of his own family, but it is obvious that he sees the UN as a family too. He was exasperated by a suggestion to save money at UN HQ by replacing the tour guides with talking machines and so lose their 'human warmth'. He points out that some famous people started their careers as UN tour guides. When Luciano Pavarotti was appointed the first UN Messenger of Peace, Sanbar struck up an immediate friendship and arranged a meeting with him for which even the Secretary General cancelled all previous appointments.Students of politics, history and diplomacy, will find this book essential to their understanding of the UN system and its place in history, and those who simply enjoy a good read will appreciate its insightful and witty observation of life in that extra-territorial enclave across First Avenue, which has never yet been so thoroughly depicted.
Download or read book The Security Council Chamber written by Jørn Holme and published by . This book was released on 2018-11-20 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Security Council Chamber at the UN headquarters in New York is a symbolic meeting point for the international community. It is also a telling expression of its era - a testament to the seriousness and optimism of the years immediately following the Second World War. Few people, however, know that this celebrated meeting space was created entirely by Norwegian artists and designers. This book tells, for the first time, the entire history of the twentieth century's most remarkable rooms. Exhibition: The National Museum - Architecture, The Vault, Oslo, Norway (15.06. - 23.09.2018).
Download or read book The United Nations in the 21st Century written by Karen A. Mingst and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Inside the United Nations written by Gert Rosenthal and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-03-16 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inside the United Nations illustrates some of the parameters surrounding consensus-building at the United Nations, seeking to provide new insights beyond what is already known. The author spent twelve years as P.R of Guatemala at the UN, offering him privileged observatories in all three of the main inter-governmental organs: the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and the Security Council. In this book Rosenthal focuses on six case studies that offer the breadth and scope of what the UN does, and illustrate some of the main elements of the dynamics of consensus-building, providing concrete examples of the ingredients that shape decision-making in a multilateral setting. The chapters: cover the origin, preparation, and outcome of two successful international conferences: the 2000 Millennium Summit and the 2002 International Conference on Financing for Development; look at the 2000 negotiation on the scale of assessments to finance the UN’s budget in the General Assembly’s fifth committee (2000-2001); focus on the relevance of the Economic and Social Council; consider the internal politics involved in vying for elected posts in intergovernmental bodies by focusing on the campaign to be elected to the Security Council between Guatemala and Venezuela in 2006; reflect on the peculiarities of decision-making in the Security Council. Providing an insider’s view on the UN and exploring different facets of multilateral diplomacy at the UN, this book will be of great use and interest to scholars of international relations as well as the diplomatic community.
Download or read book Act of Creation written by Stephen C Schlesinger and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2009-04-24 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Act of Creation , Stephen C. Schlesinger tells a pivotal and little-known story of how Secretary of State Edward Stettinius and the new American President, Harry Truman, picked up the pieces of the faltering campaign initiated by Franklin Roosevelt to create a "United Nations." Using secret agents, financial resources, and their unrivaled position of power, they overcame the intrigues of Stalin, the reservations of wartime allies like Winston Churchill, the discontent of smaller states, and a skeptical press corps to found the United Nations. The author reveals how the UN nearly collapsed several times during the conference over questions of which states should have power, who should be admitted, and how authority should be divided among its branches. By shedding new light on leading participants like John Foster Dulles, John F. Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson, Nelson Rockefeller, and E. B White, Act of Creation provides a fascinating tale of twentieth-century history not to be missed.
Download or read book The Essential UN written by United Nations and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Everything you always wanted to know about the United Nations in one book! This primer to the United Nations is designed for all global citizens. It covers the history of the UN, what it does and how it does it. As the world's only truly global organization, the United Nations is where countries meet to address universal issues that cannot be resolved by any one of them acting alone. From international peace and security to sustainable development, climate change, human rights, and humanitarian action, the United Nations acts on our behalf around the world." --
Download or read book The United Nations System written by Nigel D. White and published by Lynne Rienner Publishers. This book was released on 2002 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on the legal rather than political aspects of the United Nations, White (international organizations, U. of Nottingham) evaluates the goals, purposes, and values of the UN system, analyzes the institutional machinery created to fulfill those purposes, examines the implementation of the organization's goals, and comments on the UNOs effectiveness in the key areas of security, justice, human rights, the environment, and economic development. White intends this academic text to provide a useful basis from which to consider the long-term effects of recent dramatic world events, and the responses of the international community. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book The United Nations A Very Short Introduction written by Jussi M. Hanhimäki and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-05-05 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book A United Nations Renaissance written by John E. Trent and published by Verlag Barbara Budrich. This book was released on 2017-12-04 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This short introduction to the United Nations analyzes the organization as itis today, and how it can be transformed to respond to its critics. Combiningessential information about its history and workings with practical proposalsof how it can be strengthened, Trent and Schnurr examine what needs to bedone, and also how we can actually move toward the required reforms. Thisbook is written for a new generation of change-makers — a generation seekingbetter institutions that reflect the realities of the 21st century and that can actcollectively in the interest of all.
Download or read book What s Wrong with the United Nations and How to Fix It written by Thomas G. Weiss and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-09-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seven decades after its establishment, the United Nations and its system of related organizations and programs are perpetually in crisis. While the twentieth-century’s world wars gave rise to ground-breaking efforts at international organization in 1919 and 1945, today’s UN is 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 that makes it incapable of confronting contemporary global challenges and, more importantly, can we fix it? In this revised and updated third edition of his popular text, leading scholar of global governance Thomas G. Weiss takes a diagnose-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 complications 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.” Weiss’s 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, he contends that substantial change is both plausible and possible.
Download or read book Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the International Court of Justice written by United Nations and published by UN. This book was released on 2015-08-30 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Charter of the United Nations was signed in 1945 by 51 countries representing all continents, paving the way for the creation of the United Nations on 24 October 1945. The Statute of the International Court of Justice forms part of the Charter. The aim of the Charter is to save humanity from war; to reaffirm human rights and the dignity and worth of the human person; to proclaim the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small; and to promote the prosperity of all humankind. The Charter is the foundation of international peace and security.
Download or read book Building States written by Eva-Maria Muschik and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2022-04-13 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Postwar multilateral cooperation is often viewed as an attempt to overcome the limitations of the nation-state system. However, in 1945, when the United Nations was founded, large parts of the world were still under imperial control. Building States investigates how the UN tried to manage the dissolution of European empires in the 1950s and 1960s—and helped transform the practice of international development and the meaning of state sovereignty in the process. Eva-Maria Muschik argues that the UN played a key role in the global proliferation and reinvention of the nation-state in the postwar era, as newly independent states came to rely on international assistance. Drawing on previously untapped primary sources, she traces how UN personnel—usually in close consultation with Western officials—sought to manage decolonization peacefully through international development assistance. Examining initiatives in Libya, Somaliland, Bolivia, the Congo, and New York, Muschik shows how the UN pioneered a new understanding and practice of state building, presented as a technical challenge for international experts rather than a political process. UN officials increasingly took on public-policy functions, despite the organization’s mandate not to interfere in the domestic affairs of its member states. These initiatives, Muschik suggests, had lasting effects on international development practice, peacekeeping, and post-conflict territorial administration. Casting new light on how international organizations became major players in the governance of developing countries, Building States has significant implications for the histories of decolonization, the Cold War, and international development.
Download or read book China in the United Nations written by Wei Liu and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2014 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines China''s participation in the United Nations (UN). There are two research components. First, the author seeks to find a pattern of China''s multilateral diplomatic behavior in the UN by examining China''s behavior toward peacekeeping operations and arms control issues during different leadership periods under Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin respectively. Second, a model is proposed to explain this pattern of behavior. By marrying rationalism and constructivism, this model argues that the amelioration of China''s external security environment changes in its projected self-image. Furthermore, China''s consistently strong view of sovereignty determines its evolving pattern of behavior in the UN. Contents: Introduction; China and the United Nations; China''s Pattern of Participation; Explaining China in the UN; China''s UN Policy Under Mao''s Leadership (1971OCo1982); China''s UN Policy under the First Stage of Deng''s Leadership (1982OCo1989); China''s UN Participation in the Second Stage of Deng''s Leadership (1990OCo1996); China''s UN Participation under Jiang''s Leadership (1996OCo2006); Conclusion. Readership: Graduates, academics and professionals who are interested in Chinese politics and society.
Download or read book The Indigenous Space and Marginalized Peoples in the United Nations written by J. Dahl and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-12-05 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the UN, indigenous peoples have achieved more rights than any other group of people. This book traces this to the ability of indigenous peoples to create consensus among themselves; the establishment of an indigenous caucus; and the construction of a global indigenousness.
Download or read book The United Nations In Action written by David J. Whittaker and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-11-01 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a clear survey of the role played by the United Nations in the major political crises of the post-war world. In covering its high-profile, peace-keeping role, its support of new nations, and its involvement in new initiatives such as famine relief and drug control, the author presents an introduction to the UN in action.
Download or read book Transforming the United Nations System written by Joseph E. Schwartzberg and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2016-09-02 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global problems require global solutions. The United Nations as presently constituted, however, is incapable of addressing many global problems effectively. One nation– one vote decisionmaking in most UN agencies fails to reflect the distribution of power in the world at large, while the allocation of power in the Security Council is both unfair and anachronistic. Hence, nations are reluctant to endow the United Nations with the authority and the resources it needs. Extensive reform is essential. This analysis is rooted in the proposition that the design of decisionmaking systems greatly affects their legitimacy and effectiveness. Joseph Schwartzberg proposes numerous systemic improvements to the UN system, largely through weighted voting formulas that balance the needs of shareholders and stakeholders in diverse agencies. It indicates ways in which the interests of regions can supplement those of nations while voices of nongovernmental organizations and ordinary citizens can also be heard. In numerous contexts, it promotes meritocracy and gender equity. The book's aim is not to create an unrealistic utopia, but rather to establish a workable world in which the force of law supplants the law of force; a world committed to justice and continuous yet sustainable development. The author argues that, given the many existential threats now confronting our planet, the time frame for decisive action is short. The task is daunting and success is not guaranteed, but in view of the urgency of our situation, we can find ways of mustering the will, imagination, and resources to do the job.
Download or read book A Workshop for Peace written by George A. Dudley and published by MIT Press (MA). This book was released on 1994 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book he unfolds the first eyewitness account of the creation of a landmark building that was functionally and symbolically important in its time, marking the emergence of modern architecture as the dominant language of postwar institutions and cities.
