The International Library of Politics and Comparative Government is an essential reference series which compiles the most significant journal articles in comparative politics over the past 30 years. It makes readily accessible to teachers, researchers and students, an extensive range of essays which, together, provide an indispensable basis for understanding both the established conceptual terrain and the new ground being broken in the rapidly changing field of comparative political analysis. These two volumes include articles which examine the system, the structure, the function and the future of the United Nations.

This guide to the workings of the United Nations details the purposes and structure of the organization, with specific chapters on peace and security, disarmament and human rights. In the final chapter, the problems facing the UN are examined. Tables provide information on the size and distribution of UN membership, peace-keeping operations and the use of the Security Council veto. It also includes the full text of the UN Charter.

This Handbook provides in one volume an authoritative and independent treatment of the UN's seventy-year history, written by an international cast of more than 50 distinguished scholars, analysts, and practitioners. It provides a clear and penetrating examination of the UN's development since 1945 and the challenges and opportunities now facing the organization. It assesses the implications for the UN of rapid changes in the world - from technological innovation to shifting foreign policy priorities - and the UN's future place in a changing multilateral landscape. Citations and additional readings contain a wealth of primary and secondary references to the history, politics, and law of the world organization. This key reference also contains appendices of the UN Charter, the Statute of the International Court of Justice, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Procedure of the UN Security Council is the definitive book of its kind and has been widely used by UN practitioners and scholars for nearly 40 years. This comprehensively revised edition contains over 450 pages of new material documenting the extensive and rapid innovations in the Council's procedures of the past two decades. A one-stop handbook and guide, with meticulous referencing, this book has served diplomats, UN staff and scholars alike in providing unique insight into the inside workings of the world's preeminent body for the maintenance of international peace and security. Thoroughly grounded in the history and politics of the Council, it brings to life the ways the Council has responded through its working methods to a changing world. The book explains the Council's role in its wider UN Charter context and examines its relations with other UN organs and with its own subsidiary bodies. This includes the remarkable expansion in UN peacekeeping, peacebuilding and political missions, sanctions and counter-terrorism bodies, and international legal tribunals. It contains detailed analysis of voting and decision-taking by the Council, as well as the place, format, and conduct of meetings. It also seeks to illuminate the personalities behind the Council's work - ranging from the diplomats who sit on the Council itself to the UN Secretary-General, and those outside the Council affected by its decisions. It concludes with reflections on the improvements that have made to the Council's procedures over many decades, and the scope for further reform.