United Nations politics: international organization in a divided world

Chapter 1 The United Nations at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century 1

The United Nations in a New Age of Insecurity 2

Taking Politics Seriously 6

The Contours of UN Politics 8

A Changed Landscape for UN Politics 11

Outline of the Study 13

Chapter 2 The Evolution of an Institutional Form 21

Recreating World Order Anglo-American Style 22

Taking the Edge Off Anarchy 25

Making the World Safe for Global Capitalism 28

Assembling the Pieces and Creating the UN 31

The Origins of Politics at the United Nations 38

Chapter 3 The UN Charter and Beyond 42

Commitment and Capacity in the UN Charter 44

The Maintenance of International Peace and Security 44

International Economic, Social, and Humanitarian Problems 47

Human Rights and Basic Freedoms 50

The Equal Rights and Self-Determination of Peoples 53

Structural Reconfiguration and Institutional Erosion 54

The Ascendance of the Security Council 55

The Decline of the General Assembly 57

The Marginalization of the Economic and Social Council 60

The Tip of the Explanatory Iceberg 62

Chapter 4 The United Nations: The Last Bastion of Sovereignty? 64

The Last Bastion of Sovereignty? 64

Some Contending Manifestos 67

Battling Across Many Fronts 69

Humanitarian Intervention 69

Human Rights 73

The Political Situation Surrounding NGOs 81

National Sovereignty at the United Nations 84

Chapter 5 In Search of Leadership 88

Who Is Leading at the UN Today? 90

Structural Leadership 92

American Unilateralism 93

The European Union and "Effective Multilateralism" 97

The Group of 77 and the General Assembly 102

Entrepreneurial Leadership 105

Intellectual Leadership 111

Constrained Multilateral Leadership 115

Chapter 6 The Politics of Culture 117

The United Nations and Human Rights 119

Universalism Under Siege: The 1993 World Conference on Human Rights 123

Preparing for the Vienna Conference 124

Vienna 1993 126

A Dialogue Among Civilizations: The Continuing Politics of Culture at the United Nations 128

The Politics of Culture 135

Chapter 7 Peacekeeping: Paper, Preparation, and Politics 137

The Brahimi Report 139

The Reform of UN Peacekeeping Operations 146

The Commitment Gap 151

Chapter 8 Development and Its Discontents 159

Structural Contexts of UN Development Politics 160

Convoluted Norms and Restrained Institutional Forms 161

Institutional Incapacity 163

The Politics of Development in a New Perspective 172

Dead End or New Beginning? 176

Chapter 9 Reconsidering the United Nations 181

The New Reform Agenda 182

Reassessing the United Nations 186

Adapting to the Twenty-First Century 190

Democratizing International Institutions 194

Incorporating International Civil Society 197

Appendix A The United Nations System 200

Appendix B Charter of the United Nations 202.