From the beginnings of the Cold War to efforts to control Saddam Hussein's weapons program, this indispensable guide to the history and workings of the UN system shows how this widely misunderstood organization has helped to make the world a safer place and what its future prospects are likely to be. Rising from the ashes of World War II, the UN's birth was announced on October 24, 1945. Its military arm began in 1948 with the deployment of just 36 soldiers, tasked with supervising a fragile cease-fire in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Since then it has undertaken more than 50 peacekeeping missions and concluded 500 multilateral conventions on human rights, arms control, environment, terrorism, and many other subjects. The United Nations System examines the continuing controversy that surrounds this organization. Whereas conservatives accuse the UN of wavering in the face of gross violations of its own resolutions by Saddam Hussein, many liberals have lambasted it for failing to take decisive action against genocide in the Balkans and in Rwanda. Highly readable and packed with useful facts and illustrations, this book is essential reading for those who wish to make up their own minds. Features the original texts of key UN documents such as the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Details the chronology of the UN system and the changes that have occurred since its founding in 1945

This volume honors the lifetime achievements of distinguished scholar Chadwick F. Alger on the occasion of his 90th birthday. Carolyn Stephenson presents Prof. Alger as a Pioneer in the Study of the Political Process and on NGO Participation in the United Nations. Part 1 offers an autobiographical note and a comprehensive bibliography of his academic publications. Part II includes three texts on "The Political Process in the UN," namely "The Researcher in the United Nations: Evolution of a Research Strategy," "Interaction in a Committee of the United Nations General Assembly" and "Interaction and Negotiation in a Committee of the UN GA." In Part III, which focuses on "Civil Society Organizations in the UN System (NGOs)," three chapters deal with "Evolving Roles of NGOs in Member State Decision-making in the UN System," "The Roles of NGOs in the UN System: From Article 71 to a People's Millennium Assembly" and "Strengthening relations between NGOs and the UN system: Towards a research agenda."

This is the third volume to commemorate the 90th birthday of the distinguished scholar Chadwick F. Alger to honor his lifetime achievement in international relations, as President of the International Studies Association (1978-1979) and as Secretary General of the International Peace Research Association (1984-1987). After a brief introduction by Chad F. Alger this volume presents six of his key texts on Peace Research and Peacebuilding, covering "The quest for peace: What are we learning?"; "The Emerging Toolchest for Peacebuilders"; "Peace Studies as a Transdisciplinary Project"; "Challenges for Peace Researchers and Peace Builders in the Twenty-First Century: Education and Coordination of a Diversity of Actors in Applying What We Are Learning"; "The escalating peace potential of global governance", "There Are Peacebuilding Tasks for Everybody", and "What Should Be the Foundations of Peace Education?"

This is the second volume to commemorate the 90th birthday of the distinguished scholar Chadwick F. Alger to honor his lifetime achievement in international relations and as President of the International Studies Association (1978-1979). After a brief introduction by Chad F. Alger this volume presents six of his key texts on The UN System and Cities in Global Governance, focusing on "Cities as arenas for participatory learning in global citizenship"; "The Impact of Cities on International Systems"; "Perceiving, Analysing and Coping With the Local-Global Nexus"; "The World Relations of Cities: Closing the Gap Between Social Science Paradigms and Everyday Human Experience"; "Japanese Municipal International Exchange and Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific: Opportunities and Challenges" and on "Searching for Democratic Potential in Emerging Global Governance: What Are the Implications of Regional and Global Involvements of Local Governments?".