About Form and Function: An Overview and Typology of UN Reforms Since the 1990s

The article examines UN reform efforts over the last quarter-century, during the tenures of Secretaries-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon. The harvest of innovations introduced into the UN during this period proves to be quite rich, including the creation of new institutions like UNAIDS, UN Women and the International Criminal Court, new intergovernmental bodies like the Human Rights Council and the Peacebuilding Commission, new concepts like the responsibility to protect, new goals like the MDGs and the SDGs, and much more. All this is presented in the form of a typology, in response to the questions what, how & when, who and why. This approach helps analyse, in addition to the many forms that reform may take, the modalities, timing, actors and root causes that lead to it. The article ends with a brief assessment of reform trends in the first months of Antonio Guterres’ tenure as UN Secretary-General and some overall remarks on the past, present and future of UN reform.     

United Nations Security Council Reform Revisited: A Proposal

The United Nations [UN] came into being following the Second World War. Resembling earlier efforts of co-operation by the most powerful states of the international system, it was an attempt to effect global governance through the maintenance of international peace and security amongst states. However, led by its main executive organ, the Security Council, the UN has been unable to prevent and effectively deal with armed conflicts and mass atrocities in a number of situations. Over the years, the inability of the UN Security Council to take collective action has resulted in its ineffectiveness in dealing with war and humanitarian crises. This situation has led to calls for Security Council reform and has generated several initiatives to that end. This analysis discusses major shortcomings of the Security Council, analyses prominent reform initiatives, and introduces a proposal, the “Two-Layered Regional Model,” for Security Council reform.     

联合国安理会改革的程序与决策--以对日本的影响为中心

随着60届联大的闭幕,围绕着扩大安理会进行的一系列论战也告一段落。但是由此引发的各种问题,如联合国的发展方向、安理会的作用以及联合国改革的未来影响等都值得去重新思考。在这些问题中,安理会的扩大、加入的程序、成员国的资格等也都需要再继续认真研究。对于所有国家来说,加入安理会常任理事国涉及程序性的问题,也涉及策略性的问题,这些问题不解决就无法实现“常任梦”。从这种意义上说,日本“争常”的思想与行为对于深入研究联合国改革及其影响具有典型意义。     

Squaring the circle? Collective and distributive effects of United Nations Security Council reform

Changing the composition and voting system of the Security Council, in an effort to increase the institution’s global legitimacy, is proving to be one of the most difficult hurdles to overcome for the global community of states represented in the United Nations (UN). This paper demonstrates that due to institutional hurdles, it is considerably more difficult today than it was in the early years of the UN to reach a winning coalition in the General Assembly to secure Security Council reform. In addition, the paper analyzes the effects that adapted patterns of voting, as prescribed by recent reform proposals, would have on the distribution of power among UN member states in the Security Council and on the probability that this institution can form a winning coalition, i.e., reach decisions. Our power and decision capacity computations are based on (modified) Penrose-Banzhaf-Coleman measures.     

Notes on contributors

Despite the apparent virtues of UN sanctions in terms of legitimacy and universality, attention in recent years has focused on their questionable achievements and adverse consequences. In particular, the cost of imposing sanctions is unevenly spread, while comprehensive measures harm the civilian population in the target and spare those responsible for the offending policies. This article discusses the merits of UN sanctions in the context of the membership and practice of the Security Council and looks closely at flaws in sanctions programmes and in their administration. Experience suggests careful review of alternative means of pressure as well as reform of existing procedures.     

United Nations sanctions: Lessons of experience

Despite the apparent virtues of UN sanctions in terms of legitimacy and universality, attention in recent years has focused on their questionable achievements and adverse consequences. In particular, the cost of imposing sanctions is unevenly spread, while comprehensive measures harm the civilian population in the target and spare those responsible for the offending policies. This article discusses the merits of UN sanctions in the context of the membership and practice of the Security Council and looks closely at flaws in sanctions programmes and in their administration. Experience suggests careful review of alternative means of pressure as well as reform of existing procedures.     

后金融危机时代非洲国家对亚洲的战略性依赖

21世纪之初，世界格局面临大动荡和大调整的历史转折时期，非洲与亚洲又开始了新一轮的重新接近与合作。这种接近、合作及互为战略依托的趋势注定将是一个较长的历史过程。非洲国家认为在国际金融与经济危机爆发大背景下登上世界舞台中心的二十国集团（G20）已迅速成为推动构建新的国际政治经济秩序、提升新兴大国影响力的主要国际机制和重要平台之一。虽然非洲国家认为自己在G20中的代表性不足，但仍乐见从G8到G20的全球治理机制的转变，并希望加强与新兴大国的合作并从中获益。在涉及国际政治核心权力重新分配的安理会改革问题和气候变化问题上，非洲也十分倚重亚洲的支持与合作。     

In Search of a European Dimension in the UN Security Council

Both Belgium and Italy want to give their current mandate in the UN Security Council a European dimension. Yet, the conclusion that they are natural partners in doing so may be premature. Before focussing on Belgian and Italian objectives, the article presents the current state of the ongoing reform processes in Brussels and New York and of EU actorness in the Security Council more generally, as both are critical for estimating the prospects for a stronger European profile. It concludes by discussing the possibilities and constraints that the non-permanent members face within this framework.     

Sustainability and peace building: a key challenge

The overarching challenge facing the growing number of international peace-building interventions is to achieve sustainable peace. This paper illustrates this proposition through a brief investigation of the situation in Timor-Leste as the UN mission withdraws at the five-year state-building mark, and in Haiti as a ninth UN mission is established. Adopting the view that participatory democratic governance will best ensure long-term peace, the paper maintains that to build sustainable peace requires transformation on three interrelated fronts: (a) transformation of the society from one that resorts to violence to one that resorts to political means to resolve conflict, requiring that the elite negotiate and that there should be widespread social dialogue and reconciliation; (b) reform of the governance framework to seek to ensure both that a negotiated governance arrangement between parties prevents future conflict and the adoption of basic democratic governance; and (c) the creation of meaningful institutions that will be sustainable after the mission leaves. These institutions cannot be imposed from outside, but must be bodies that re able to perform their core function and are committed to doing so.     

The British and the 1960 soviet attack on the office of united nations secretary-general

This article examines the 1960 soviet attack on Dag Hammarskjold and its proposal to reform the office of the UN Secretary-General into a troika and the Soviet lines, the article seeks to show that the British had sufficiant concerns about the direction Hammarskjold was taking the office of Secretary-General to be more in line with Soviet attitudes than they would have been willing to admit publicly. British support for Hammarskjold in the Congo crisis was not unqualified and the article notes that following Hammarskjold's death, it was not Britain's interest to see Hammarskjold's successor being given the political freedom he had enjoyed.     

Accredited to Africa: British diplomatic representation and African experience,c. 1960–95

This article examines the 1960 soviet attack on Dag Hammarskjold and its proposal to reform the office of the UN Secretary-General into a troika and the Soviet lines, the article seeks to show that the British had sufficiant concerns about the direction Hammarskjold was taking the office of Secretary-General to be more in line with Soviet attitudes than they would have been willing to admit publicly. British support for Hammarskjold in the Congo crisis was not unqualified and the article notes that following Hammarskjold's death, it was not Britain's interest to see Hammarskjold's successor being given the political freedom he had enjoyed.     

UN sanctions burden sharing: Article 50 of the UN charter and assistance to third states

This article proposes the establishment by the UN Security Council of a system of mutual support for third states whose economies have been adversely affected as a result of UN non-military sanctions. This system consists of several components: (1) creating new markets for the sale of goods and services of third states; (2) crafting of a logical UN sanctions costs methodology; (3) bringing into UN Security Council for a those bilateral and regional efforts involving cases of UN sanctions compensation; (4) devising norms and procedures for acquiring and pooling of the requisite funds out of which states' claims for damages attributable to UN sanctions might be satisfied; and (5) establishing a mechanism for the adjudication of such claims. While many obstacles admittedly exist to creating such a system of mutual support, the article argues that effective UN sanctions burden sharing is nevertheless important to international relations theory and practice, since UN sanctions appear to be increasing in frequency as they undergird many of the Security Council's contemporary enforcement actions.     

Globalization and the Reform of the International Financial and Monetary Systems

The outbreak of the global financial cdsis has called into question U.S.-style ＂financial capitalism.＂ Protectionism, currency multilateralism, decentralization of financial decision-making power and the nationalism of resources are gaining ground. The emerging economies are on the rise. The world power order is becoming multi-polar. Relations between countries are growing more diverse. The global governance model is undergoing fundamental changes. Global governance mechanisms, which are more representative and reflective of the diverse interests （such as the G20 and the UN climate change conference）, along with a reform of the international monetary system, will also help shape the future world order.     

UN sanctions burden sharing: Article 50 of the UN charter and assistance to third states

abstract

This article proposes the establishment by the UN Security Council of a system of mutual support for third states whose economies have been adversely affected as a result of UN non‐military sanctions. This system consists of several components: (1) creating new markets for the sale of goods and services of third states; (2) crafting of a logical UN sanctions costs methodology; (3) bringing into UN Security Council for a those bilateral and regional efforts involving cases of UN sanctions compensation; (4) devising norms and procedures for acquiring and pooling of the requisite funds out of which states’ claims for damages attributable to UN sanctions might be satisfied; and (5) establishing a mechanism for the adjudication of such claims. While many obstacles admittedly exist to creating such a system of mutual support, the article argues that effective UN sanctions burden sharing is nevertheless important to international relations theory and practice, since UN sanctions appear to be increasing in frequency as they undergird many of the Security Council's contemporary enforcement actions.     

IAI Activities for the first quarter 1972

Responding to the increasing inadequacy of the UN and especially the Security Council (SC) in dealing with today's challenges and threats, Italy has actively taken part in the reform debate. Since the 1993 Memorandum and through the experience of the Coffee Club in the 1990s, the United for Consensus movement initiated in 2004 and its current mandate as non-permanent member of the SC for the 2007–08 period, Italy has campaigned against any increase in the number of individual permanent seats, which it feels would undermine its role and be an obstacle to a genuine European approach to SC issues. Yet, given the difficulties of SC reform, Italy cannot afford to limit itself to a merely obstructionist policy, which could prove sterile in the long run. Italy must promote and implement concrete initiatives that have the potential to re-establish the body's authority and relaunch multilateral dynamics at the international level, while reaffirming its own importance in the global arena.     

The Role of the Practitioner-Scholar: Johan Kaufmann's Contributions to Scholarship on Decision Making in the United Nations System

The significant role that practitioner-scholars can play in research on the UN system is illuminated through analysis of the contributions of Johan Kaufmann who represented The Netherlands as Permanent Representative to UN agencies in New York and Geneva and to OECD in Paris. He combined scholarship with practice throughout his thirty-eight years in the Foreign Service and until his death in 1999. He was a keen observer of the impact on UN decisions of different negotiating styles, psychological and cultural characteristics, and professional backgrounds, as well as the significance of the diversity of roles played by representatives of states, elected officers of UN bodies, UN Secretariats, regional organizations, and NGOs. He had a penetrating awareness of the importance of the physical surroundings of conference diplomacy. He was a systemic thinker, continually placing activities near at hand in the larger context of the UN system and beyond. His scholarship most certainly reveals that practitioner-scholars can make vital contributions to international studies.     

German Military Reform 1998–2004: Leadership and the Triumph of Domestic Constraint over International Opportunity

Abstract

The article analyses the processes and outcomes of military reforms during the two Schröder governments (1998–2005). These reforms are the litmus test for Germany's willingness and ability to play an important role in crisis-management tasks as part of NATO, CESDP and the UN. The study argues that, despite its strengths, the concept of strategic culture provides only a partial explanation of military reform in Germany. The article illustrates the strongly self-referential nature of Bundeswehr reform, despite adaptational pressures from the EU and NATO and the role of ‘international structure’. The domestic politics of base closures, ramifications for social policy, economic and financial restrictions consequent upon German unification and commitment to EMU's Stability and Growth Pact were critical in determining the outcomes of the reform processes undertaken by Defence Ministers Rudolf Scharping and Peter Struck. The study also draws out the important role of policy leaders in the political manipulation of reform as entrepreneurs, brokers or veto-players and in controlling the extent of adaptational pressure from NATO and the EU. In doing so, the article shifts the focus of leadership studies in Germany away from the Chancellor to an examination of the role of ministerial and administrative leadership within the core executive.     

U.S. Foreign Aid and UN Voting: An Analysis of Important Issues

Many previous studies assessed the effectiveness of U.S. foreign aid by focusing on voting coincidence rates of all UN votes and found no relationship between U.S. aid distribution and UN voting coincidence rates. Most UN resolutions, however, are simply not important enough for the U.S. to expend its scarce resources in influencing the outcomes. The U.S. government would not be likely to exercise pressure on all UN resolutions but would do so on issues considered vital to America's national interests. If there is any effect from receiving U.S. foreign aid on political outcomes in the UN, it is therefore most likely to emerge in voting coincidence rates on important issues. Using data collected for sixty-five developing countries between 1984 and 1993, a pooled cross-sectional and time-series research design is adopted to examine this hypothesis. Contrary to the argument that foreign aid is an ineffective policy instrument in the pursuit of America's global influence, the currentfindings suggest that the U.S. government has successfully utilized foreign aid programs to induce foreign policy compliance in the UN on issues that are vital to America's national interests.     

The UN factor in the “regional power role” and the Turkish case in the 2000s

This article aims to explore the relationship between regional powers and the United Nations (UN) with respect to regional issues by examining UN-Turkish ties concerning the Middle East during the 2000s. Bidding for a leading regional role in the Middle East, especially in the 2000s, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in Turkey has increasingly used international platforms, including the UN, to gain a significant regional position in the Middle East. Turkey’s relationship with the UN in this respect could provide a relevant example to explore multilateralism and multilateral instruments in Turkey’s perceived regional power role during the last decade. The term “regional power” will be used as a conceptual framework to explore Turkey’s behavioural pattern with respect to the UN in view of the regional-global linkage, as global activism is nearly a standard behaviour of any state with a leading regional power role/claim. In view of this, the period during which Turkey held a temporary seat on the UN Security Council between 2009 and 2010 will be given particular attention in order to identify any significant link or at least any tentative correlations between Turkey’s then-closer involvement in the UN and its regional power role/claim in the Middle East. Moreover, fluctuations recorded in Turkey’s relations with the UN with respect to the Middle East during the last decade will be taken into account to examine a variety of challenges involved in any regional state’s relations with the UN regarding regional issues. Conducting a periodical analysis of Turkey-UN relations with respect to the Middle East could provide some provisional answers regarding both limitations and opportunities related to the future state of relations between any regional power and the most universal organization of world politics.     

Withering consent,but mutual dependency: UN peace operations and African assertiveness

Consent has always been a cornerstone of UN peacekeeping. However, consent in peace operations is often elusive, as recent events in a number of African countries, where the heads of state have explicitly requested the departure or the downsizing of UN missions, have demonstrated. This paper uses evidence from Côte d'Ivoire and Chad to explore the game of conflicting priorities and mutual dependency that underlines UN peacekeeping missions' relations with African host states. It argues that such a dynamic renders consent ambiguous and volatile. African leaders maximise possible benefits that they can obtain from a UN mission, while minimising the potential menace that ‘liberal peace’-style peace-building may pose to their rule. Withdrawal of consent may be facilitated when alternative ‘resources of extraversion’ become available, such as those provided by natural goods or by emerging commercial players. The current situation poses a difficult dilemma to the UN, balancing between keeping peacekeeping missions on the ground with limited or no consent, or leaving and risking breaking its implicit engagements with the civilian population.