In 2000, at the United Nations Millennium Summit, world leaders agreed to the Millennium Declaration. The Declaration included development targets to be reached by 2015, which were to become known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Progress has been made towards the achievement of the MDGs, but poverty remains widespread. With the terminal year approaching, the international community has begun the process of determining the goals which might follow the MDGs. While the UN is driving the process, there has been very little introspection on its own organizational capacity to help countries to meet the goals and is being increasingly sidelined by other more effective development organizations and initiatives. Based on extensive original research that has critically examined the role and functions of the organizations of the UN development system, this book seeks to capture in a single volume a comprehensive review of the UN's performance and prospects for development. The contributors each offer extensive experience and familiarity-as practitioners and researchers-with the UN and development; and the book will contribute to the urgently needed debate on the reform of the UN development system at a critical juncture. The main rationale for this book, and its timing, is the unusual opportunity provided by the 2015 threshold to re-think the UN development system and to empower it to support a new development agenda and will be of interest to students, scholars of International Organizations and development studies.

In 2000, at the United Nations Millennium Summit, world leaders agreed to the Millennium Declaration. The Declaration included development targets to be reached by 2015, which were to become known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Progress has been made towards the achievement of the MDGs, but poverty remains widespread. With the terminal year approaching, the international community has begun the process of determining the goals which might follow the MDGs. While the UN is driving the process, there has been very little introspection on its own organizational capacity to help countries to meet the goals and is being increasingly sidelined by other more effective development organizations and initiatives. Based on extensive original research that has critically examined the role and functions of the organizations of the UN development system, this book seeks to capture in a single volume a comprehensive review of the UN's performance and prospects for development. The contributors each offer extensive experience and familiarity-as practitioners and researchers-with the UN and development; and the book will contribute to the urgently needed debate on the reform of the UN development system at a critical juncture. The main rationale for this book, and its timing, is the unusual opportunity provided by the 2015 threshold to re-think the UN development system and to empower it to support a new development agenda and will be of interest to students, scholars of International Organizations and development studies.

With the rupture of the UN Security Council in March 2003 over the US spearheaded intervention in Iraq, the attempts made to subject the use of force to the rule of law had failed. Widespread Europe-US disagreement of the role of the UNSC has hindered more effective decisions for China and its European and American counterparts in the Security Council.

Iraq, China and the UN Security Council examines the role of China's policy behaviour in relation to the Iraq intervention, in order to develop a better understanding of this fast-rising power within the UN. It looks at key questions such as: What consequences may arise if China s actions are based on a set of values and national interests far removed from those of the major Western powers? Could China s attitude disrupt the traditional working and normative practice of the United Nations?

The book will be of interest to scholars and students of international relations and Chinese Politics.

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The United Nations has been at the forefront of developing the international law of human rights for nearly seven decades. This volume brings together the leading research articles on the development of human rights law by the United Nations and also includes essays on issues relating to standard-setting, institutional evolution, and the creation of monitoring procedures.

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.

Since the 1950s, European integration has included ever more countries with ever-softening borders between them. In its apparent reversal of integration and its recreation of borders, Brexit intensifies deep-seated tensions, both institutional and territorial, within and between the constitutional orders of the United Kingdom and Ireland. In this book, leading scholars from the UK and Ireland assess the pressures exerted by Brexit, from legal, historical, and political perspectives. This book explores the territorial pressures within the UK constitution, connecting them to the status of Northern Ireland before exploring how analogous territorial pressures might be addressed in a united Ireland. The book also critically analyses the Brexit process within the UK, drawing on Irish comparative examples, to assess unresolved tensions between popular mandate, legislative democracy, and executive responsibility. Through practical application, this book explores how constitutions function under the most intense political pressures.

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.

The United Nations Security Council has primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. In discharging its powers it must act in accordance with the Purposes and Principles of the UN, and observe the rules governing voting and procedure established in the Organisation's Charter. The Council adopts mandatory resolutions that may establish obligations for members and non-members, and such obligations trump conflicting obligations originating from any other international agreement. Member States must cooperate with the Organisation and among themselves, in the implementation of any action prescribed by the Council against States whose behaviour the Council considers an act of aggression, or a threat to, or breach of, international peace and security. This book analyses resistance to Security Council resolutions and puts forward a theory of lawful resistance. Sufyan Droubi takes a positivist approach to the UN Charter regarding it as a constitution. Special emphasis is placed on the construction of the Charter's meaning through the practice of both organs and Members of the UN and on the need to enhance the effectiveness of the Organization with due respect to the rule of law. The book proposes that nonviolent resistance to a mandatory resolution of the Security Council, on grounds that the latter is incompatible with the Charter or jus cogens norms, may be considered lawful under the Charter if some elements are present. In exploring a number of case studies of individual and collective State resistance to mandatory Council resolutions, the book proposes that resistance may function as a rudimentary instrument of accountability and protection of the Charter and jus cogens, in the absence of more mature mechanisms of judicial review. The book will be of excellent use and interest to scholars and students of constitutional international law and international relations.

Does size matter in international negotiations? This book examines the interplay between an institutional design that expresses the principle of the equality of states and the real world size differences of states in an innovative, multi-method investigation of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Panke demonstrates that size-related capacities influence states' participation and effectiveness in international negotiations. Based on extensive interviews with diplomats of smaller and bigger states in a variety of geographical regions, this book develops a theoretical framework linking resources and incentives to states' inclination of formulating national positions and acting upon them. It distinguishes between the policy-initiation, negotiation and decision-taking stages in the policy cycle, illustrating the difference in activity between nations, which affect the dynamics and outcomes of negotiations between member states. This book reveals that there are real and politically significant limits to the effects of size and identifies specific conditions under which smaller states can punch above their weight. It will appeal to scholars of political science, international relations, diplomacy, comparative politics and public policy.

This book provides an in-depth analysis of UNICEF's development and operations, whilst exploring the significance of UNICEF's achievements and the reasons behind them. UNICEF is one of the best known organizations of the United Nations system and the oldest of the UN's development funds. It is also the part of the UN which consistently receives support from all countries round the world, including the United States. This book brings out the wider reasons for UNICEF's success and popularity, setting them in the context of UNICEF's evolution since 1946 and drawing lessons for other international organizations. The book argues that, despite its problems, international action for children, built substantially on non-economic foundations, is not only possible, but can be highly successful in mobilizing support, producing results and making a difference to the lives of millions of children. This will be of great interest to all scholars of international organisations, development, human rights and the United Nations system.

This book presents a multi-faceted approach to one of the most crucial challenges facing Human Rights institutions today - the implementation gap that exists between human rights norms and their enforcement by States. Comprising contributions from renowned international scholars in the field of human rights, New Institutions for Human Rights Protection examines how the human rights commitments entered into by States might be translated more effectively into protection for individuals in practice and the crucial role that human rights institutions, at both a national and international level, have to play in this endeavor.
Focusing on recent developments in respect to institutions such as the UN Human Rights Council and the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), these essays present a thorough account of the challenges and objectives facing the international community today with respect to human rights. From an account of the origins and aims of the UN Human Rights Council to its potential conflict with the missions of other Treaty bodies and from an observation on the role of institutions in the field of racism and discrimination to the potency of human rights norms and institutions to uphold minority interests, this volume offers original and diverse perspectives on the role of fledgling human rights institutions.

The groundwork for the Asian economic miracle was established in the last quarter century-the time period covered in this book. China and Vietnam started substituting pragmatism for communist ideology and Thailand started on a path toward greater democracy. The timing was perfect for an American United Nations representative to arrive in the two communist countries because for the first time, both placed a premium on improving relations with the US and both were moving toward a market economy. This book acquaints the reader with evolving political, economic and social conditions in these countries and the role played by UN organisations in promoting reform. A chapter on the South Pacific is included to apprise the reader of a little-known part of the world and the challenges of providing useful development assistance in small isolated countries. The book also reveals a hidden side of the United Nations which is the role played by more than thirty UN agencies, funds and programmes in providing development and humanitarian assistance-a role rarely covered in the popular press. The past quarter century was also a period of great upheaval and challenge in Asia. There were enormous events and developments involving the United Nations which are analysed in the book. These include the Tiananmen crisis in China; 300,000 Cambodian refugees escaping the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge camped along the Thai border; more than two decades of effort to rid the Golden Triangle of opium production; the sensitive diplomacy required in fostering economic cooperation among North Korea, South Korea, China and Mongolia; and a firsthand account of negotiating the international agreement creating the Mekong River Commission. The book is intended for the general reader.

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.

This book brings together a complete set of approaches to works by female authors that articulate the black Atlantic in relation to the interplay of race, class, and gender. The chapters provide the grounds to (en)gender a more complex understanding of the scattered geographies of the African diaspora in the Atlantic basin. The variety of approaches displayed bears witness to the vitality of a field that, over the years, has become a diasporic formation itself as it incorporates critical insights and theoretical frameworks from multiple disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities, thus exposing the manifold character of (black) diasporic interconnections within and beyond the Atlantic. Focusing on a wide array of contemporary literary and performance texts by women writers and performers from diverse locations including the Caribbean, Canada, Africa, the US, and the UK, chapters visit genres such as performance art, the novel, science fiction, short stories, and music. For these purposes, the volume is organized around two significant dimensions of diasporas: on the one hand, the material-corporeal and spatial-locations where those displacements associated with travel and exile occur, and, on the other, the fluid environments and networks that connect distant places, cultures, and times. This collection explores the ways in which women of African descent shape the cultures and histories in the modern, colonial, and postcolonial Atlantic worlds.

This book examines the application of the UN Security Council's mandatory sanctions since 1946, and, in particular, the regimes adopted for specific types of conflict. Beginning in the Cold War period with South Africa and Southern Rhodesia and continuing today, following the post-9/11 experience with Al Qaeda and the Taliban, sanctions are a key tool in the UN's efforts to deal with conflict. This book argues that the type of threat greatly influences the types of sanctions measures applied by the Security Council, who is targeted, as well as the objectives tied to the sanctions. The question of sanctions application is approached by classifying all 29 mandatory Security Council sanctions regimes into four conflict types: interstate; intrastate; international norm-breaking states; and support to terrorism. All of the sanctions regimes within each conflict type are analysed for: the objectives sought by the Council through the application of sanctions measures the targets chosen what measures are applied and in what sequence compared to other Security Council tools (such as peacekeeping missions or peace negotiations). The book sheds new light on how the Security Council approaches international peace and security beyond the application of force. Offering an excellent summary of the ins-and-outs of UN sanctions, and useful summary tables of UN sanctions regimes by conflict type, this book will be of great interest to students of international organisations, peace and conflict studies, conflict resolution, security studies and international relations or politics in general.

This book examines the important role of the chairmanship office in multilateral negotiations within the UN setting. Although chairmanship is a generic feature of international politics, negotiations, and decision-making, it has been scarcely researched. The neutrality and impartiality assumptions that have been long associated with the chair have veiled the chair's potential in moulding negotiation outcomes. The authors seek to develop an analytical framework for the systematic study of the chairmanship office and its potential impact on multilateral negotiations. It elaborates on its origins, the parameters and conditions of chair's effectiveness, and the performance of the chair's functions. Focusing on the UN, this work seeks to go beyond existing accounts, offering further insights and extending the discussion beyond the Security Council. Without ignoring the pivotal importance of the Security Council, the book broadens the scope of analysis to other significant UN bodies and institutions including ad hoc Working Groups and several Conferences set up for specific international issues. Evaluating material from a wide range of sources and providing a deeper understanding of UN political dynamics, this work will appeal to scholars of the UN system, international organisations and global governance.

When in 1950 the United Nations called upon its members to provide aid to South Korea, more than forty nations responded. Some of these sent troops which fought under the United Nations Command, some sent commodities and medical supplies. Some nations offered moral and political support but for a variety of reasons were not able to send aid. This book looks at the nations involved, what was behind their willingness to provide troops or aid, or what prevented them from doing so. The military contribution of the nations involved is discussed. The combination of troops, and their individual needs, made the logistics of this enterprise difficult, but in the end troops from 17 nations fought together to defend the freedom of South Korea.

The world has vowed "Never again" in memory of the 800,000 Rwandans and other groups slaughtered by genocidaires. Yet, ever since the Holocaust, the international community has repeatedly betrayed its pledge, most notably in 1994 with regard to the Rwandan Tutsi, and again ten years later in Darfur. This book examines how the UN failed to prevent or halt the Rwandan genocide: the most efficient mass killing in history. It offers a new explanation, focussing on the structure of the UN and four mechanisms which were pertinent to UN conflict management at that time: early warning; bureaucratic rationalisation; organisational learning; and Western normalisation. The author sees the Rwandan case as a 'child of its time', or a focal point in which the dysfunctions of the ailing conflict management mechanisms of the 1990s combined with devastating consequences. The book proceeds to examine the transformation of these mechanisms from Rwanda to Darfur - a development which is regarded as indicative of a wider tendency - or direction - in UN conflict management over the past ten years and in the foreseeable future. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of political science, international relations, ethnic politics, international organizations and conflict studies.

This open access book examines why Japan discontinued its quarter-century history of troop contribution to UN Peacekeeping Operations (1992-2017). Japan had deployed its troops as UN peacekeepers since 1992, albeit under a constitutional limit on weapons use. Japan's peacekeepers began to focus on engineering work as its strength, while also trying to relax the constraints on weapons use, although to a minimal extent. In 2017, however, Japan suddenly withdrew its engineering corps from South Sudan, and has contributed no troops since then. Why? The book argues that Japan could not match the increasing "robustness" of recent peacekeeping operations and has begun to seek a new direction, such as capacity-building support.

The United Nations Human Rights Council was created in 2006 to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights. The Council's mandate and founding principles demonstrate that one of the main aims, at its creation, was for the Council to overcome the Commission's flaws. Despite the need to avoid repeating its predecessor's failings, the Council's form, nature and many of its roles and functions are strikingly similar to those of the Commission. This book examines the creation and formative years of the United Nations Human Rights Council and assesses the extent to which the Council has fulfilled its mandate. International law and theories of international relations are used to examine the Council and its functions. Council sessions, procedures and mechanisms are analysed in-depth, with particular consideration given to whether the Council has become politicised to the same extent as the Commission. Whilst remaining aware of the key differences in their functions, Rosa Freedman compares the work of the Council to that of treaty-based human rights bodies. The author draws on observations from her attendance at Council proceedings in order to offer a unique account of how the body works in practice. The United Nations Human Rights Council will be of great interest to students and scholars of human rights law and international relations, as well as lawyers, NGOs and relevant government agencies.

China has emerged in the 21st century as a sophisticated, and sometimes contentious, actor in the United Nations Security Council. This is evident in a range of issues, from negotiations on Iran's nuclear program to efforts to bring peace to Darfur. Yet China's role as a veto-holding member of the Council has been left unexamined. How does it formulate its positions? What interests does it seek to protect? How can the international community encourage China to be a contributor, and not a spoiler? This book is the first to address China's role and influence in the Security Council. It develops a picture of a state struggling to find a way between the need to protect its stakes in a number of 'rogue regimes', on one hand, and its image as a responsible rising power on the world stage, on the other. Negotiating this careful balancing act has mixed implications, and means that whilst China can be a useful ally in collective security, it also faces serious constraints. Providing a window not only into China's behaviour, but into the complex world of decision-making at the UNSC in general, the book covers a number of important cases, including North Korea, Iran, Darfur, Burma, Zimbabwe, Libya and Syria. Drawing on extensive interviews with participants from China, the US and elsewhere, this book considers not only how the world affects China, but how China impacts the world through its behaviour in a key international institution. As such, it will be of great interest to students and scholars working in the fields of Chinese politics and Chinese international relations, as well as politics, international relations, international institutions and diplomacy more broadly.

Since 1945, the UN has been actively engaged in conceptualizing strategies for both economic development and a sustainable environment. From a broad historical perspective, Development without Destruction sketches the role played by organizations and individuals in the UN system in developing and consolidating principles of international law and international governance with respect to natural resource management. Nico Schrijver highlights the UN's efforts to generate and implement strategies to resolve tensions between economic development and environmental protection, conservation and exploitation, sovereignty and internationalism, and armed conflict and peaceful access to natural resources. Schrijver's thorough analysis is an indispensable guide to management of the critical environmental issues on today's global agenda.

The emergence of The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) in 2005 was the culmination of a long and contentious process. In this work Rob Jenkins provides a concise introduction that traces the origins and evolution of peacebuilding as a concept, the creation and functioning of the PBC as an institution, and the complicated relationship between these two processes. Jenkins discusses how continued contestation over what exactly peacebuilding is, and how its objectives can most effectively be achieved, influenced the institutional design and de facto functioning of the PBC, its structure, mandate and origins. He then moves on to examine the peacebuilding architecture in action and analyses the role that the PBC has carved out for itself, reflecting on the future prospects for the organization. The theory and practice of peacebuilding has assumed increasing importance over the last decade, and this work is essential reading for all students of conflict resolution, peace studies and international relations.

This book comprehensively examines the different proposals put forward for reforming the UN Security Council by analysing their objectives and exploring whether the implementation of these proposals would actually create a representative and more effective Security Council. The book places the discussion on reform of Security Council membership in the context of the council's primary responsibility, which is at the helm of the UN collective security system. The author contends that only a Council that is adequately representative of the UN membership can claim to legitimately act on the members' behalf. This book offers an inquiry into the Council's constitutional framework and how far that framework still reflects the expectations and intentions of the founding nations, whilst remaining flexible enough to satisfy today's, and possibly tomorrow's, membership. Through the use of policy-oriented jurisprudence and elements of the International Law/International Relations theory this book explores how reform can best be realised. Reforming the UN Security Council Membership will be of particular interest to scholars and students of International Law and International Relations.

With the rupture of the UN Security Council in March 2003 over the US spearheaded intervention in Iraq, the attempts made to subject the use of force to the rule of law had failed. Widespread Europe-US disagreement of the role of the UNSC has hindered more effective decisions for China and its European and American counterparts in the Security Council. Iraq, China and the UN Security Council examines the role of China's policy behaviour in relation to the Iraq intervention, in order to develop a better understanding of this fast-rising power within the UN. It looks at key questions such as: What consequences may arise if China's actions are based on a set of values and national interests far removed from those of the major Western powers? Could China's attitude disrupt the traditional working and normative practice of the United Nations? The book will be of interest to scholars and students of international relations and Chinese Politics.