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.

How well is the field of political studies doing and where is it headed? Such questions are examined and answered in this broad world overview of political science, along with the advances and shortcomings, as well as the recommended prescriptions for the future decades of the new century. The book includes three world regional assessments of the discipline, along with an in-depth survey of various sub-disciplinary fields and a concluding critical essay on the future of political studies. This is the final volume in a book series on the development of political science, created in 2000 by Research Committee 33 of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) on the study of political science as a discipline. Contents include: Political Science in Three Asian Democracies: Disaffected (Japan), Third-Wave (Korea), and Fledgling (China) * Political Science in Europe: Its Development as a Discipline * Political Science in North America and Other Continents: Is There a Genuinely International Discipline? * Issues and Trends in Political Science at the Beginning of the 21st Century (Series: The World of Political Science - The Development of the Discipline)

Modernizing the United Nations system is necessary to deal with the anarchy of globalization. Significant institutional change means winners and losers in the game of power. To make the UN more competent it must have more authority, which means constraining sovereignty. Some states fear international organizations interfering in their affairs. Others want to maintain their power over parts of the UN. How can the UN system be modernized if governments are unwilling or unable to do so? This book contends that civil society must mobilize its capacities to bring a new will to national and international politics and oblige governments to act. Modernizing the United Nations System starts by demonstrating the need for institutional change at the UN and then shows how, both in the past and the present, leading individuals and non-governmental organizations, using their knowledge base and their organizational networks, have led the fight for international organizations. After a summary of major UN reform proposals over the years, the book concludes by identifying leading global reformers and elaborating a detailed plan for a global reform movement to spearhead the modernization of the UN system.