Famine,genocide, and refugees

He has written widely on the subjects of genocide, famine, and refugees. He is co-author (with Frank Chalk) of The History and Sociology of Genocide: Analyses and Case Studies.     

The United Nations International Criminal Tribunals: The Former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, William A. Schabas

The United Nations International Criminal Tribunals: The FormerYugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone is the first book entirelydevoted to these three United Nations jurisdictions, providinga comprehensive account of their respective mandates and ofthe main characteristics of their work. The author, William A. Schabas, Director of the Irish Centrefor Human Rights in Galway and former Commissioner     

Legitimacy Deficit: Chinese Leadership at the United Nations

This paper examines the likelihood of China’s legitimation as the global hegemon during an era of relative U.S. decline. Using Rapkin’s (1990) legitimacy deficit framework, the author tests China’s prospects for international legitimacy through the analysis of Chinese leadership at the United Nations (UN). While China’s recent exponential increase in contributions to UN peacekeeping and the UN regular budget signal growing Chinese global leadership, their consistent focus on regional interests, as displayed in UN Security Council and UN General Assembly debate and discussion, indicates the absence of an internationally supported agenda. In concluding, this paper asserts that recent Chinese legitimation efforts through UN leadership have been stonewalled by an inability to provide an international agenda with globally held values and beliefs.     

Reform of the United Nations Security Council: equity and efficiency

Rents and political motives are present in many aspects of public policy. This article considers the role of rents, rent seeking, and the political choice of environmental policy. Rents are introduced into the political choice of price and quantity regulation under conditions of uncertainty. The model shows how political-economy aspects affect the choice between price and quantity regulation. The contesting of rents associated with different policies affects the regulatory structure and influences the political choice of an environmental policy target. The primary conclusion is that the political choice of environmental policy depends on the interaction between the efficiency of rent transfer and the size of rent-seeking groups within the economy.     

The determinants of election to the United Nations Security Council

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is the foremost international body responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. Members vote on issues of global importance and consequently receive perks—election to the UNSC predicts, for instance, World Bank and IMF loans. But who gets elected to the UNSC? Addressing this question empirically is not straightforward as it requires a model that allows for discrete choices at the regional and international levels; the former nominates candidates while the latter ratifies them. Using an original multiple discrete choice model to analyze a dataset of 180 elections from 1970 to 2005, we find that UNSC election appears to derive from a compromise between the demands of populous countries to win election more frequently and a norm of giving each country its turn. We also find evidence that richer countries from the developing world win election more often, while involvement in warfare lowers election probability. By contrast, development aid does not predict election.     

The Refugee Crises: a Study of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees

Recent events in international relations have raised the prospect of the United Nations organization attempting to provide a much more positive role in world affairs. This is also true for the constituent parts of the United Nations, in particular the United Nations High Commission for Refugees whose responsibilities have grown in recent years as the world's refugee population has multiplied and changed in character. The paper analyses the general development of the UNHCR from its establishment in 1951 and assesses its contemporary role as an actor in a post-Cold War environment. The claims of both critics and supporters of the UNHCR are considered on the light of the contemporary, political and financial pressures facing the organization. The paper also considers the character of UNHCR policy and durable solutions to the problem of a rising refugee population. The general analysis is illustrated by the changing role of the UNHCR in dealing with the arrival of the Vietnamese Boat People into Hong Kong from 1979.     

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan: Impartiality in New UN Peace Operations

Abstract

Set within the complex contemporary context of international interventions, UN peacekeeping operations have now evolved into peace operations. The emergence of the concepts of human security and the responsibility to protect have raised expectations that UN peace operations should deal with both macro and micro level insecurity in conflict and post-conflict situations, especially in the case of failed or collapsed states. Reflecting this development, the question of an appropriate framework in which to conceptualize peace operations has also been debated. This essay considers a conceptualization of UN peace operations from a conflict resolution perspective and analyses the case of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), using a framework of conflict transformation. It argues that the impartiality of UN operations has been reconceived in terms of the values of ‘human security’ and the ‘responsibility to protect’, making it vital to explicitly articulate the meaning and implications of ‘value-based’ impartiality.     

Who controls the machine,revisited: command and control in the United Nations reform effort

Revisiting an analysis done ten years ago during one of the periodic efforts to reform the United Nations, the article suggests that the problem of control and accountability of the programming and budgeting process of the United Nations has not yet been resolved. Noting that the existing process does not allow for major changes in programmes and priorities and that it does not give the Secretary-General or the Member States a means for determining the organization's effectiveness, it argues for a new approach to command and control based on a service-delivery approach and adjustment of existing institutions. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

United Nations Peacekeeping and Civilian Protection in Civil War

Does United Nations peacekeeping protect civilians in civil war? Civilian protection is a primary purpose of UN peacekeeping, yet there is little systematic evidence for whether peacekeeping prevents civilian deaths. We propose that UN peacekeeping can protect civilians if missions are adequately composed of military troops and police in large numbers. Using unique monthly data on the number and type of UN personnel contributed to peacekeeping operations, along with monthly data on civilian deaths from 1991 to 2008 in armed conflicts in Africa, we find that as the UN commits more military and police forces to a peacekeeping mission, fewer civilians are targeted with violence. The effect is substantial—the analyses show that, on average, deploying several thousand troops and several hundred police dramatically reduces civilian killings. We conclude that although the UN is often criticized for its failures, UN peacekeeping is an effective mechanism of civilian protection.     

《联合国反腐败公约》及其借鉴意义

《联合国反腐败公约》详细规定了反腐败的预防机制、定罪与执法机制、国际合作机制以及资产的追回机制,对我国反腐机制的完善具有重要的借鉴价值。我国也应通过建立预防性反腐败机构,进一步完善公务员制度,建立利益冲突避免机制,做好政务公开,提高反腐工作的社会参与度等措施加强对腐败的预防;通过修订和完善刑法,完善证人制度和加大制裁力度等措施确保腐败犯罪分子受到与其所犯罪行严重性相当的制裁;通过加强金融监管,落实金融实名制和加大对洗钱与窝赃的打击力度等措施降低腐败收益;通过订立双边或多边协定加强国际合作,做好对犯罪分子的引渡工作和犯罪所得的追回工作。