Updated and revised, this book is an introduction to the United Nations. It describes the operation of the UN, and analyzes it by institutional parts - the Security Council, the General Assembly, ECOSOC, the World Court and the International Law Commission, the Secretariat and the budget.;The book also analyzes the UN's role in the international political system. The overall theme is whether or not the UN has failed. The survey of the organization answers that question by considering its "effectiveness" and how the institution could be improved and made more effective. The final chapter has been replaced with a new chapter, dealing with the major developments since the late 1980s. Evan Luard was the author of the two-volume "History of the United Nations", and the revising editor is the author of "Citizenship: The Civic Ideal in World History, Politics and Education".

'This book is exactly what the subtitle indicates. It is a highly knowledgeable, realistic - yet positive - review and assessment of the United Nations. Convenient for use in courses on international organization. The reviewer would particularly recommend it to individuals connected officially or otherwise professionally concerned with the United Nations'. American Journal of International Law In the first edition of this book the late Evan Luard questioned whether or not the UN had failed and suggested ways in which the institution could be improved. Into this context he placed analyses of the operation of the Security Council, the General Assembly, economic and social bodies, the World Court and the International Law Commission, the Secretariat and the budget. In preparing this new edition Derek Heater has up-dated the core material and written a new concluding chapter showing how, since the mid- 1980s, the UN has perhaps been acquiring a new lease of life.